We had a great Winter Board meeting and I returned pretty excited about what we are putting
together for WACA 2014.
Check out the WACA Website - for ideas, videos/resources, and of course to register for the
conference! If you go to the video section - Ryan has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of
amazing resources. I refer to this at least once a month for a mini-lesson or inspirational start to a
week.
So - most of the info I need to pass along is about the conference. Save this for future reference:
The WACA Conference, WACA 2014 – Help! (Beatles theme) is just around the corner! I love
that each year, we evaluate the conference and try to add new elements to make it stronger.
For example, this year, the WACA conference will have a yearbook! Seriously, every delegate
will receive a “yearbook” of our conference. One of our vendors, Balfour Yearbooks (Kerri
Smead, out of Renton), is offering the service. Balfour will take photos of each delegate,
and candids of the various activities, and they’ll create a yearbook. Then they will deliver a
yearbook to each delegate (no charge!) soon after the conference ends. Way cool!
If you’ve checked out the website, then you know that we’re offering an extra Pre-Conference
session this year. Since we’re headed to the Tri-Cities, President Tim Turner thought it would be
great to offer a Hanford site tour! So he arranged for a tour of the historic B-Reactor. The tour
starts early – Wednesday morning at around 8am; we’ll ride out to the site and have a grand tour,
and have lunch on the return trip… about 4 hours in all. It’s at the regular pre-conference fee.
What a cool opportunity, especially if you plan to drive over on Tuesday. One condition though
– the tour is based on a minimum number of attendees (but has a maximum of 40). So, if you’re
interested, be sure to sign up. The deadline for reserving your spot is February 15th
The WACA Social: In past years, at the end of the awards banquet, we’ve had some
entertainment prior to the official start of the social. Well, this year we have a special speaker
– Mr. Robert Fulghum. If you’re familiar with the name, you’re already jumping up and
down. If you’re not sure, he’s the author of the book All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in
Kindergarten (He has a number of books to his name, all great reads, all filled with inspiration,
humor, and down-home wisdom.) So be prepared for an hour of warmth and laughter after
dinner on Thursday.
Additional Housekeeping details:
Meals: If you’re doing a pre-con, lunch on Wednesday is included. Dinner on Wednesday
is “on your own” - but we've moved the keynote earlier and left the rest of the evening open
for dinner so you don't have to stress about making it back in time for the presentation. (The
predominant feedback on conference evaluations suggested that people wanted Wednesday
night to touch base with friends. If you want suggestions for dining in the area, check out the
“conference location” bullet on the conference 2014 menu of the website). Thursday, all of your
meals are taken care of. On Friday, breakfast is provided, and we’ll close the conference and
send you off with a “box lunch."
•Lodging: The Hilton Garden is already full, but the Red Lion has lots of room. And there
are several other hotels in the immediate area. Check out the website for a list, and for contact
information.
• Attire: Casual attire is the conference norm. Some folks dress up a bit for the Awards
Banquet on Thursday. And everyone wears school colors on Friday (wear your favorite school
shirt/sweatshirt).
• Don’t forget that part of the conference involves elections. President-Elect, the Middle-Level
Representative, and even Area Representatives are all up for election. In addition, we’ll take
applications for two appointed positions, the Program Coordinator and the Treasurer. Check out
the website for position descriptions, or chat with me – I’ll be happy to share ideas/info with you.
Those applications will be due Thursday afternoon.
• Past-President Kari Bradley is organizing the Resource Table this year. She wants me to
remind you that she will have lots of books and other items to peruse/purchase this year. So file
those POs, warm up those P-cards, dust off those checkbooks, and get ready to haul away some
great resources.
In our Area Meetings, we always have give-aways/drawings. This year, I'm asking for your
participation in 3 things:
Chocolate Basket - bring your favorite chocolate and receive a ticket to enter the
raffle for the basket(s) I usually make several out of the donations.
Salty/Sweet Basket - bring your favorite salty or sweet (non-chocolate) snack. Same
concept as the chocolate basket.
Spirit Gear/Event Shirt Idea Exchange - Bring samples of some of your favorite t-
shirt designs from events at your school (or the ASB/Leadership general shirt, etc.) At
the second meeting, we will set them up around the room so people can take pictures
of the designs. At the end of the conference, if you want to swap, you can, but you
don't have to. This way, you go home with lots of ideas instead of just one new t-shirt
that might not fit. This has been popular in other Area…thought we would give it a
try this year. =0)
Finally - we need presenters!!! If you haven’t presented at a previous conference, perhaps this is
your year. As I’ve mentioned, besides sharing and caring, being a presenter is great because you
get a copy of every presenter’s handouts from that session. Let me know if you have ideas for
things you would like to see, or if you are thinking about presenting. It’s actually fun and you
present in front of the most supportive group of people you will ever encounter.
That’s all for now…I hope everyone had a successful first semester, and you are off to a great
start to the second half of the year. =0)
Thanks,
Jen Nelson
WACA Area 9 Representative
together for WACA 2014.
Check out the WACA Website - for ideas, videos/resources, and of course to register for the
conference! If you go to the video section - Ryan has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of
amazing resources. I refer to this at least once a month for a mini-lesson or inspirational start to a
week.
So - most of the info I need to pass along is about the conference. Save this for future reference:
The WACA Conference, WACA 2014 – Help! (Beatles theme) is just around the corner! I love
that each year, we evaluate the conference and try to add new elements to make it stronger.
For example, this year, the WACA conference will have a yearbook! Seriously, every delegate
will receive a “yearbook” of our conference. One of our vendors, Balfour Yearbooks (Kerri
Smead, out of Renton), is offering the service. Balfour will take photos of each delegate,
and candids of the various activities, and they’ll create a yearbook. Then they will deliver a
yearbook to each delegate (no charge!) soon after the conference ends. Way cool!
If you’ve checked out the website, then you know that we’re offering an extra Pre-Conference
session this year. Since we’re headed to the Tri-Cities, President Tim Turner thought it would be
great to offer a Hanford site tour! So he arranged for a tour of the historic B-Reactor. The tour
starts early – Wednesday morning at around 8am; we’ll ride out to the site and have a grand tour,
and have lunch on the return trip… about 4 hours in all. It’s at the regular pre-conference fee.
What a cool opportunity, especially if you plan to drive over on Tuesday. One condition though
– the tour is based on a minimum number of attendees (but has a maximum of 40). So, if you’re
interested, be sure to sign up. The deadline for reserving your spot is February 15th
The WACA Social: In past years, at the end of the awards banquet, we’ve had some
entertainment prior to the official start of the social. Well, this year we have a special speaker
– Mr. Robert Fulghum. If you’re familiar with the name, you’re already jumping up and
down. If you’re not sure, he’s the author of the book All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in
Kindergarten (He has a number of books to his name, all great reads, all filled with inspiration,
humor, and down-home wisdom.) So be prepared for an hour of warmth and laughter after
dinner on Thursday.
Additional Housekeeping details:
Meals: If you’re doing a pre-con, lunch on Wednesday is included. Dinner on Wednesday
is “on your own” - but we've moved the keynote earlier and left the rest of the evening open
for dinner so you don't have to stress about making it back in time for the presentation. (The
predominant feedback on conference evaluations suggested that people wanted Wednesday
night to touch base with friends. If you want suggestions for dining in the area, check out the
“conference location” bullet on the conference 2014 menu of the website). Thursday, all of your
meals are taken care of. On Friday, breakfast is provided, and we’ll close the conference and
send you off with a “box lunch."
•Lodging: The Hilton Garden is already full, but the Red Lion has lots of room. And there
are several other hotels in the immediate area. Check out the website for a list, and for contact
information.
• Attire: Casual attire is the conference norm. Some folks dress up a bit for the Awards
Banquet on Thursday. And everyone wears school colors on Friday (wear your favorite school
shirt/sweatshirt).
• Don’t forget that part of the conference involves elections. President-Elect, the Middle-Level
Representative, and even Area Representatives are all up for election. In addition, we’ll take
applications for two appointed positions, the Program Coordinator and the Treasurer. Check out
the website for position descriptions, or chat with me – I’ll be happy to share ideas/info with you.
Those applications will be due Thursday afternoon.
• Past-President Kari Bradley is organizing the Resource Table this year. She wants me to
remind you that she will have lots of books and other items to peruse/purchase this year. So file
those POs, warm up those P-cards, dust off those checkbooks, and get ready to haul away some
great resources.
In our Area Meetings, we always have give-aways/drawings. This year, I'm asking for your
participation in 3 things:
Chocolate Basket - bring your favorite chocolate and receive a ticket to enter the
raffle for the basket(s) I usually make several out of the donations.
Salty/Sweet Basket - bring your favorite salty or sweet (non-chocolate) snack. Same
concept as the chocolate basket.
Spirit Gear/Event Shirt Idea Exchange - Bring samples of some of your favorite t-
shirt designs from events at your school (or the ASB/Leadership general shirt, etc.) At
the second meeting, we will set them up around the room so people can take pictures
of the designs. At the end of the conference, if you want to swap, you can, but you
don't have to. This way, you go home with lots of ideas instead of just one new t-shirt
that might not fit. This has been popular in other Area…thought we would give it a
try this year. =0)
Finally - we need presenters!!! If you haven’t presented at a previous conference, perhaps this is
your year. As I’ve mentioned, besides sharing and caring, being a presenter is great because you
get a copy of every presenter’s handouts from that session. Let me know if you have ideas for
things you would like to see, or if you are thinking about presenting. It’s actually fun and you
present in front of the most supportive group of people you will ever encounter.
That’s all for now…I hope everyone had a successful first semester, and you are off to a great
start to the second half of the year. =0)
Thanks,
Jen Nelson
WACA Area 9 Representative