The conference committee welcomes participants (both students and staff) to present a session as a means of diversifying the perspective and experience of the overall conference. Sessions are great opportunities to feature your association/university's accomplishments, special programs, unique ideas and activities. We would love to receive a session proposal from you!

What are the benefits of presenting a session?

To ensure that presenters benefit as much as their audience. Presenters can expect to:

  • obtain a session presenter certificate.
  • receive recognition at the conference.
  • obtain valuable feedback from your peers.
What are some potential session topics?
  • Building a sense of community; Engaging your followers/community
  • Challenges and advantages of being a leader
  • Building awareness; Advocay
  • Use and impact of technology
  • New ideas for community service projects, outreach, successful leadership transitions, etc.
  • Personal/wellness development
  • The impact of cross-cultural communication
  • Immigration and its implications 

Example of interactive type sessions

How should you go about planning a session?
  • What are you passionnate and/or knowlegeable about?
  • What are the 3 main goals that you want to accomplish during your session? How will you go about accomplishing them?
  • How can this information be helpful to other individuals at the conference?
  • How can you convey this information in an interesting and interactive manner?
  • Could anyone else help you present/facilitate this session?
  • What material will you need? Will you be using powerpoint or prezi to present your session? If so, do you have a back-up of your presentation? Will you have some handouts that you wish to distribute?  
Keep in mind that:
  • conference participants want to be involved and challenged
  • conference participants are looking forward to these sessions as a way to share their own experiences
  • particiaption and seeking others' input can be really insightful and help you enhance your session
  • 60 minutes can go very quickly! Plan for 45 minutes worth of material so that you have about 15 minutes to engage your audience.
What are different ways to structure/present a session?
  • Lectures are ideal for introducing a topic. Keep lectures to 20 minutes or less, and summarize the important points at the beginning and end.
  • Panels are a good way to focus on a specific issue and demonstrate its different interpretations. The more diverse your panel is, the better.
  • Discussions and debates are useful after a lecture, because they allow your audience to ask questions about the concepts that they have just learned. Consider handing out a list of questions or topics to prompt a discussion.
  • Demonstrations work best when you need to show the steps in a process or task. Your audience can try the task out for themselves.
  • Role play, simulation and/or experiential activities are a great way to involve your audience as they may act out a new skill in a simulated environment and learn from feedback provided by their peers.
  • Case studies can help your audience put new information into context. As they process the information and relate it to a situation that's relevant to them, they create mental connections that will help them recall the information later.
What can you expect from the conference team?
  • You will be allotted 60 minutes and you can expect to have an audience of 20-45 individuals. 
  • The majority of the rooms will be set-up in a classroom style.
  • The conference team reserves the right to edit workshop titles and descriptions for length and content for the conference program publication.
  • All presenters must register for the conference.
  • An ISLC host (a student leader who works for the conference) will be instructed to be in the room to check with you and ensure that everything is as expected. The host will then introduce you (based on the bio that you provide in the session form) and your session. Towards the end of your session the host will then remind everyone to complete an evaluation form that he/she will then collect.
  • All of your session evaluations will be compiled and e-mailed to you after the conference.
What equipment will be provided?
  • LCD Projector
  • PC Desktop Computers [please note that if you are bringing an apple device, bring a VGA adapter to connect your apple product to the LCD projector]
  • Internet connection
  • Audio to amplify sound from your laptop
Contact Information:

For any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact Marlee Meikrantz at meikramk@jmu.edu or 540-568-7172.

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Center for Global Engagement International Student and Scholar Services
Holland Yates Hall (formerly Madison Hall)
MSC 5731
100 East Grace Street
Room 2nd Floor
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
Email Us
540/568-5209
Fax: 540/568-3310