by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Our spring conference registration opened less than a week ago, and registration is already approaching 250. Early bird discounts end THIS FRIDAY (February 26), so if you are planning to attend our gathering in Toronto (May 12-15), get your registration completed right away. Full details on the conference are posted on the IECA Web site (http://www.iecaonline.com/conferences.html) and additional information, including details on all breakout sessions, will be added to the site in the next few days.

I have gotten a few questions and welcome this opportunity to clarify:

“I really don’t work with Canadian schools or universities (or ‘We don’t really get any students from Canada’). So maybe there won’t be as much for me at this conference.” Hold on!  Just because we are meeting in Canada for the first time doesn’t mean our focus is shifting. Of the first 225 registrants, just 15 are Canadian consultants, schools, or universities. The other 210 are from the U.S. What we expect is full participation by our IECA members from across the U.S. with a bit of an uptick in non-U.S. participation, reflecting how much easier it is for consultants in Asia, South America, and Europe to travel to Canada. We expect all of the schools, colleges, and programs that typically attend IECA conferences to be joining us in Toronto, but with the added bonus of greater participation by Canadian institutions. Remember, school, program, and college representatives from Nova Scotia to Vancouver helped us plan the conference!

“There’s so much going on before and after the conference, I’m still trying to figure out what to do, so I can’t register yet.” Wait a minute! We don’t want you to lose out on the early bird discount. Register for the conference now and get your discount. You can always sign back on using our Web-based registration system and modify your registration. That way you won’t miss the discount. We know there’s a lot going on: pre-conference activities include IECA tours of Ontario universities; special tours of Ontario boarding school and gap year programs; the popular Speed Meetings—actually two of them: one for traditional boarding schools and the other for therapeutic programs; and a pre-conference workshop on LD issues as well as one on Web-based marketing. Whew!! Post-conference activities include TWO different college tours: one of universities in upstate New York and the other in Nova Scotia. There’s a school tour in Nova Scotia as well.

“I just got a conference/tour price list via e-mail and it looks like the prices really went up.” NO! That was an e-mail from some other association! Don’t be confused. The cost of our three-day college tours (pre- or post-conference) is still just $95—not the $200 the other group charges. Our conference fee for members, including meals and special events and even including a pre-conference workshop, is unchanged at $395 ($370 early bird)—not the $595 the other group just e-mailed for their conference and pre-conference registration. IECA works hard to keep our costs as low as possible (with thanks to our conference sponsors). As proof: our membership dues have not changed in 30 years! Finally, even non-members can save a bundle. Our conference and pre-conference workshop full registration for non-member consultants is $530—not the $745 others are charging, according to that e-mail. Of course, cost is just part of the story. We are confident that everyone will get a great deal out of participating in the IECA conference: amazing speakers, great educational sessions, and lots of opportunities for networking.

by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

In a special agreement with College Board, IECA Member Educational Consultants will have an exclusive opportunity to order quantities of SAT materials for students in their practices. For the last several years College Board has decided to send such materials only to schools, but makes the significant exception for IECA Members. Over the last two days scores of boxes have arrived at the IECA office, and members will receive ordering information next week.

Available materials: Since both IECA and College Board are making concerted efforts to “go green” by reducing the amount of paper we use and expanding resources online, please be conservative when ordering as most families and students access this information and apply online, or get these same materials at school. Your help saves IECA paper, time, and thousands of dollars in shipping

• SAT Code List (limited to 1 per office)
• SAT Paper Registration Guides
• SAT Practice Booklets
• SAT Practice Tests
• SAT International Booklets
• SAT Flyers – “This is Your SAT”

In addition members should watch for information soon about the availability of the Common Application, also being made available exclusively to IECA members from the IECA office.

Many IECA College Consultants have been intrigued by Naviance and became particularly interested when Naviance offered deep discounts and special features exclusively to IECA members. Unfortunately there was no way for members to “try it out” and see what Naviance could do for their practice, until now. We’ll soon be announcing the ability of IECA members to try Naviance for a one week period, in order to get a sense what it can do.

We’ll be announcing shortly that Naviance has agreed to allow IECA members a seven day trial in order to see for  yourself what the counseling office software package can do.  Information on how to apply for the Naviance trial will be distributed from our Member Services office this week, along with new information about how members and schools can accept credit card payments at IECA’s negotiated discounts and how everyone can gain from discounted FedEx shipping.