By Brian Fisher, AdmissionsQuest

A new conference approach has enhanced the way educational consultants & schools exchange information. Hello Speed Meetings. Nice to meet you.

The speed meeting approach gives admission officers and educational consultants a quick, defined time to exchange substantive information. It could be a new introduction. It could be catching up on what’s new.

This new approach represents a purposeful exchange. Schools & consultants agreed that it’s an excellent modification to the conference format.

By Peter Baron, AdmissionsQuest

Enjoy this set of photos from the opening day of the conference. You can check out the originals by visiting the IECA’s Flickr pool:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

By Peter Baron, AdmissionsQuest

This afternoon I attended “School Showcase: The Carolinas and the South.” It reminded people that Southern boarding schools offer a series of programs & approaches across the educational spectrum.

Representatives from 14 schools of all types- from all-boys boarding to military to single gender to co-ed boarding/day- highlighted a series of opportunities & characteristics that help define their institutions and make them special.

Some highlights from the session:

American Hebrew Academy (co-ed, boarding/day) offers a dual curriculum- both Jewish & secular studies.

Asheville School (coed, boarding/day) remains purposely small (fewer than 300 students) and focused on boarding education. Arch Montgomery, Asheville Head said, “we are a boarding community. Not a day school with a boarding program.”

Blue Ridge School (all-boys, boarding) offers a Tuition Lock program. If you pay your first year tuition by August 1, you lock that rate for the entire time you’re enrolled at the school.

Learned that Breneau Academy (all-girls, boarding/day) is part of Breneau College in Georgia. Academy students use the College’s facilities and take college-level course while in school. New this year, students can earn an Associates degree from the college along with their high school diploma at no additional cost.

Christ School (all-boys, boarding/day) outside of Asheville, NC, is a place that helps boys become a more mature expression of what they’re intending to be.

Chatham Hall (all-girls, boarding/day) is an ideal place for girls who are ready to step out of their comfort zone and embrace new & different experiences.

Darlington School (coed, boarding/day) offers two competitive sports academies- soccer & tennis. Both provide high-level training & competition.

Since the 1950s, Fork Union Military Academy (all-boys, military, boarding/day) has offered the One Subject Plan- five 7 1/2 week semesters during which students focus on one primary academic course.

McCallie School’s (all-boys, boarding/day) commitment to character development covers five areas: Honor Code; Spiritual Emphasis; Public Speaking; Resident Advisor Program; & Voluntary Community Service (85% participation rate).

St. Mary’s School’s (all-girls, boarding/day) My Achievement Plan ensures that students have the same advisor all four years; each student, her parents & teacher participate in the design of the plan; each plan is custom tailored; & students meet daily with their advisors.

Salem Academy’s (all-girls, boarding/day) January Term program includes three components. School Trip for the upper schoolers; On Campus program for the 9th & 10th graders; and internship opportunities.

Virginia Episcopal School (coed, boarding/day) emphasizes community. School-wide discussion about issues that affect the community & the world are a regular part of school life.

The Webb School (co-ed, boarding/day) is the oldest coed boarding program in the South.

Woodberry Forest School offers a Nolan Fellowship that funds independent student research projects.

By Brian Fisher, AdmissionsQuest

The first official morning just concluded. Formats and offerings have changed and that’s good.

I talked with Mark Sklarow from the periphery of the Speed Meeting sessions to get his take on the conference and the new approaches.

In a word, there’s more meat. The conference has tightened its focus on professional experiences and information. There’s still networking to be sure, but serious education and professional development are in the fore here in Charlotte. As Mark said, the conference priorities have shifted from “a little education with a lot of networking to a lot of education with a little networking.”

Mark found that schools and consultants were looking for more content- more return on their conference experience.

The pre and post conference workshops now book-end the conference with intense detailed presentations covering serious topics and current research.

Check back soon to see video conversation recorded at the Speed Meetings. We’ll work hard to post them as soon as we can (we recorded 17 so it may take a bit, but be patient).

by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA from the IECA Conference in NC

I am blogging live from the Speed Meetings, one of the pre-conference events here in Charlotte, NC. The speed meetings allow schools and consultants to hold a series of brief (7 minute) one-to-one meetings. Held back-to-back through the morning, the meetings will allow schools to meet or re-aquaint themselves with about 20 consultants.

On the surface, seven minutes does not seem like a lot of time, but so far the event seems to be going extremely well! Consultants have time to “discover” a new school, and schools have enough time to explain their philosophy, major initiatives, and create sufficient interest that may lead to follow-up conversations or campus visits. IECA Professional member May Peach just told me that the seven minutes was “perfect” for getting basic information and establishing a good contact.

We are well aware that this is a new initiative and school representatives and consultants alike have been asked to provide feedback over the course of the morning. So, far all are enthusiastic. As an added bonus, AdmissionsQuest is interviewing school representatives and will be posting video to IECA networking sites (see links below) so those not attending the sessions will gain some knowledge and sense of the event.

Links to IECA Networking sites:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IECA.IndependentEducationalConsultantsAssn
Blog: http://www.iecaonline.com/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ieca (#IECAconference)
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/IECA
Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/IECAonline)