Presentation Proposal Ideas

Remember the Presentation Proposal is just a quick idea of what you're thinking of doing. Don't even need to have a full presentation yet! Here's the link to the form: 2014 Workshop Presentation Proposal 

We just had an E-board meeting discussing the upcoming State Workshop and how we're hoping to try out a few new things based on some of the trends we've noticed at the Strategic Planning meeting and throughout the years. But we still need some help from the membership to present and help us make the Workshop successful. Below are some of our new themes and potential topics if you need help getting started!

1. Student Track

• One of our main focuses is to engage our students better. So this year, we want to change that to have at least one student-specific presentation at each educational session, and we want to make it general enough that students not going into the field will be able to benefit. 
• Topics of Interest
• Resume and Cover Letter Building
• Interviewing Skills
• How to Network
• Social Media and how to use it appropriately
• Panel of Campus Rec Alumni (not in the field)

2. Micro-Sessions

• I went to a Micro-Session as NIRSA and it was a nice change of pace. Short 15-minute presentations on a topic from various institutions under a common theme. We think this is a great way to show off best practices and get some quick insight from across the state. 
• Topic Themes
• Student Employment and Training
• Marketing
• Technology 
• Sponsorships
• Programming
• Student Development
• Professional Development
• Research and Assessment

3. MIRSA Governance Discussions

• Since we received some great feedback from our Strategic Planning meeting, we want to discuss a few changes with the entire membership since some changes are major. This would also be a way to learn about and shape each committee to move forward with having an active and engaged membership. 
• Topics of Discussion
• Committee Structure and Transition
• Bylaws and Operating Codes
• Elections
• Finance
• Workshop
• Championship and Special Events
• Awards and Scholarships
• Technology
• Student Committee

Strategic Planning Recap

On Monday we held the MIRSA Strategic Planning meeting at Central Michigan University. Representatives attended from Grand Valley, CMU, Wayne State, University of Michigan, Michigan State, and Oakland University from undergraduate students to professionals with 10+ years of experience. 

Stan Shingles, NIRSA's President-Elect, started the event by explaining NIRSA's values to us to use as a framework. From there, small discussion groups took place to figure out what MIRSA's mission, vision, and values should be by thinking about the following questions:

• Who are we? What does MIRSA mean to you? 
• Where are we going? How do you see MIRSA in the future? 
• What is important to you as a MIRSA member? 

As you can see in the photo below, there were plenty of notes jotted down about what MIRSA is and what it should be. 

Next we discussed our committees and what each could be doing throughout the year to make each committee effective and valuable. We did decide to change up the committee terms, so if you are interested in getting involved, look out for more information at Workshop and look for the call for committees to come out later in October!

• By-laws and Operating Codes
• Workshop
•  Championship and Special Events
• Finance
• Awards and Scholarships
• Nominations and Elections
• Technology
• Student 

To wrap up the meeting, we discussed the next questions about how a MIRSA membership can be more valuable:

• What do you want to get out of your MIRSA membership? 
• What leadership opportunities would be beneficial to you? 
• What resources can MIRSA provide? 

We received lots of great feedback and are looking forward to making changes. We'll have the results to share with everyone in about a month's time. 

Huge thanks to everyone that participated and big shout out to CMU's UREC team for being such gracious and generous hosts! We're excited to be back in October for the Workshop!

Welcome

Hello Everyone!

We're testing out the student blog to see how this goes. Bear with us and if you have any suggestions don't hesitate to let me know!

Thanks!
Sarah
distefano@oakland.edu