2025 Call for Programs

The Omni Nashville Hotel, Nashville, TN | December 9 - 12

Our mission for this year's conference is to craft programs addressing our Knowledge Group areas and the additional trends that career services and employer professionals face. We seek innovative and impactful proposals that advance our commitment to fostering a fair and just environment where all individuals feel valued and represented.

PROPOSALS WILL OPEN LATER THIS YEAR.

Topic examples include:

  • Navigating the current climate to serve all students (Employer/Higher Education)
  • Supporting student success through initiatives and technology (Higher Education)
  • Training new professionals joining your teams (Employer/Higher Education)
  • Recruiting and retaining top talent (Employer/Higher Education)
  • Embracing pay transparency (Employer)
  • Using technology in recruiting (Employer)
  • Connecting creatively with Higher Education partners and students (Employer)
  • Trends in recruiting entry-level talent (Employer)

We encourage members to submit Breakout Session, Roundtable Discussion, and Pre-Conference Session proposals that align with our mission. Enhance your session or breakout by identifying practitioners or employer partners to present with you! The goal is to empower our SoACE members to envision the future of our profession. With your proposal, please be prepared to submit the following:

  • Breakout Session title or Roundtable topic
  • Session Description (200 - word max) 
    • Identify the area it represents (KG, DEI, personal development/self-care) 
  • Brief Description for Conference App (75-word max)
  • Learning Objective (Minimum 1, Applies to Breakout Session submissions only)
  • Preferred presentation days (applies to Breakout Session submissions only)
  • Presenter CVs and Bios
    • These will help us identify sessions that qualify for NBCC/HRCI continuing education credits.

SESSION FORMATS

  • Breakout Sessions: These one-hour sessions can take various forms, from a single presenter or panel presentation to a facilitated networking discussion. Sessions are assigned on December 10th or 11th.

    • One of our breakout session times will focus on three key constituencies; The Director’s Think Tank which was once a pre-conference workshop will take place during a 60-minute breakout session.  We will balance it with sessions for new/early career professionals and mid-level professionals/managers, as well as employers/recruiters of all levels. We look forward to your proposals for these key populations!

  • Roundtable Discussion: Let’s Talk Roundtable Discussions – These 20-minute mini sessions take place during a 90-minute block. Roundtable discussions are designed to let participants race quickly into up to four topics in an open environment for idea sharing, benchmarking, and guided discussion. Roundtable hosts/moderators will facilitate topics but not make a formal presentation. Participants will receive notes or additional information after the conference in the email they provide. 

SESSION TOPICS
Breakout and Roundtable topics should align with the KG areas, DEI topics, and/or personal/self-care.

  • Career Center Leaders: Career competencies/career readiness; Assessment and strategic planning; graduating student outcomes data and reporting; staffing-related topics; creative funding solutions; tapping into local higher ed and counseling programs to help support your staff/operations; how to present your qualitative successes in addition to your quantitative successes; mentoring and developing program and administrative staff members
  • Assessment and Data Analytics: Assessment and strategic planning; graduating student outcomes data and reporting
  • Career Advising/Counseling: Emerging career fields; career counseling/coaching certifications; self-assessment tools; innovative career advising techniques or career development theories; job search (basics and advanced strategies); positive counseling/advising techniques;; senior/graduation-related programming; virtual site visits with employers; connecting with students during summer orientation; The non-academic job search for grad students; marketing research skills for industry; the emotional transition from academic to non-academic career prospects for grad students; assisting alumni career changers.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Advising, recruiting, inclusive programming, and/or strategies that enhance and expand diversity representation related to, but not limited to age, class, disabilities, gender, gender identification, religious affiliation, sexual orientation.  Through a collaborative use of best practices, programs, and resources, college and employer members will be able to better address the diverse needs of students and professionals in the ever-changing landscape of higher education and career services.
  • Employer: Technologies available to companies for recruiting; international hiring best practices; diversity outreach best practices; social media to reach passive candidates; best practices for networking with colleges (what works/what doesn't); leadership; recruiting and on-boarding different generations
  • Employer Relations: Employer development vs. employer relations; database management/CRM technology; relationship development sales models; legal issues in HR; policies; leveraging relationships across departments at a university
  • Experiential Education: Legal issues; effective cost-cutting strategies for intern/co-op offices; successfully merging co-op/intern and career center offices; Co-op vs. Intern: Pros, Cons, Measurements of Success; international internships; experiential education for international students; unpaid internships
  • Small Colleges and Universities: Members working for institutions of higher education who’s enrollment is less than 6500 students.
  • Technology: Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs); LinkedIn best practices; technology best practices panel; resources for international students; mobile recruiting and social recruiting; Skype/Facetime/other remote interviewing/counseling tools; LinkedIn (new changes and innovative techniques for helping students); MOOCs and their potential role in career advising; providing distance career counseling using online software tools that are FERPA compliant

Sessions must be noncommercial in nature. To maintain the educational integrity of the program, presenters may not use their session as a platform for promotion of their products and services, or for monetary gain.

We very much look forward to receiving your breakout and/or roundtable discussion proposals and we thank you in advance for having the interest and taking the time to submit your program!

If you have questions or any problems accessing the form, please be in touch with the SoACE Office. Thank you in advance for submitting!