Non-Traditional Conference Groups and How They Can Create That Summer Long Buzz

Posted by: Samantha Crossley

Summer is the time of year when many individuals in our field have a real opportunity to shine. Students are gone, faculty have ended their semesters and are enjoying a well-deserved break, but event planners and conference staff? This is our moment to create a new hustle and bustle on our campus. Most traditional camps and conferences create that feeling in the short-term by filling our campuses for anywhere from one day and up to a week. But what if you had the opportunity to create that atmosphere and feeling on your campus all summer long?

We have managed to achieve this by partnering with a large corporate company who employs international students that come to work in the United States on a J-1 visa. These visas are for those who intend to participate in an approved program for the purpose of teaching, instructing, or lecturing, studying, observing, conducting research, consulting, demonstrating special skills, receiving training, or to receive graduate medical education or training.1 These participants, who we lovingly refer to as J-1s, live and eat on our campus within a few days following our College Commencement in May up to and through the beginning of August before our next academic year begins. For the summer of 2024, we had participants from thirteen different countries, ranging from Dominican Republic to Thailand to Kazakhstan.

Read More