My To-Do List After NACA Live

I don’t know about you, but NACA Live both seems like yesterday and also ten weeks ago. Believe it or not, though, here we sit, one short week after NACA Live. After I got unburied from emails, I got started on my post-NACA Live work list. As you too are diving back into day-to-day work life, I thought I’d share five things that have been on my to-do list in the event you are hoping to put a bow on your NACA Live experience. 

1. As a presenter, I emailed our slide deck to the NACA Education Team to have it added to the Resource Library. If you presented, you too can do this by emailing [email protected]. 
2. As a manager of professional staff, we had talked about goals for NACA prior to heading to Columbus. In our first team meeting back, we had a follow up discussion to chat about what we all learned and how we plan to apply those concepts in our work. Even if you didn’t have the pre-discussion, consider having one after. For some other NACA experiences, I’ve also asked my staff to write a brief page reflection of their biggest takeaways from the conference. It’s helpful for them to practice their professional writing skills and gives us a document to reference back to in our developmental conversations. 
3. In Marketplace and the Welcome Lounge, I had the chance to connect with a lot of great associates showcasing what’s new and exciting in our industry. When I got back to campus, I sent some follow up emails to vendors to confirm orders or solidify dates. There were a few things in marketplace I saw that I needed more information on so I sent some emails requesting information on those as well.  
4. Working at a university in an urban area, I connected with other universities in the area to see what they are looking to bring to campus. If we had similar interests for acts or services, we started coordinating to see if we can work together to save money to bring them to Chicago. 
5. To extend discussion and connection a bit further, I also make it a point to share via LinkedIn and other socials about my NACA Live experience. This may been a given for many, but it truly is a great way to continue the experience of Live back home.  

I hope you too had a wonderful experience at NACA Live! Don’t forget that we have a few more in-person experiences coming up, including NACA Milwaukee and our summer institutes. Also, save the date for NACA Live 2027 in Columbus from February 19-22, 2027!