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    Executive Board Meets with Three Primary Areas of Focus

    August 3rd, 2010
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    by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

    The Executive Committee of the IECA Board of Directors met Monday and Tuesday this week to examine current issues and ensure the Association’s future is on track, incorporating member feedback and planning for upcoming meetings of the Board of Directors.  While the officers examined numerous topics (e.g., conference changes, affinity groups, ethics, and relationships with affiliated organizations) most discussions led back to three central themes of communication, education, and IECA’s role as the preeminent organization for educational advising in the world.

    Given that IECA is the leading professional association for educational consultants, the Executive Committee emphasized a three-year goal of membership growth to include the vast majority of all competent, ethical, knowledgeable, qualified consultants.  The effort revolves around the simple belief that just as the nation’s leading doctors join the AMA and leading psychologists join the APA, the nation’s (and world’s) leading educational consultants should be members of IECA. The result, while ensuring some growth, will guarantee greater awareness by the general public, general acceptance by admission directors, and partnership with leading educational organizations.

    Such an effort will challenge IECA to act decisively to ensure effective communication.  This includes communication among our members, communication between the association’s national staff and the membership, as well as communication between our members and the admission and broader educational communities.

    IECA has made a commitment to maintain publishing: brochures, fliers, directory and Insights.  While other groups have abandoned ‘hard copies’ we believe such printed material gives us an unequaled presence.  At the same time, our web site is updated regularly and will continue to be renewed. When families search for an educational consultant, we are committed to ensuring that IECA emerges at the top of that search.   Our social media and new media efforts are well ahead of most other associations with thousands now connecting to us through Facebook, LinkedIn, our blog, the TalkList and other efforts.  Increasingly these new communication tools will connect members with each other and with the general public.

    The growing importance of our committees, of affinity groups (like the two newest groups for consultants with small children and consultants in dual roles and the coming group for BestNotes users), and newly developing regional groups are all part of the emphasis on communication.  They are also an important part of education, the last piece of our trifecta.

    Members in recent surveys have indicated a desire for more educational opportunities.  Having just completed our Summer Training Institute, I know that no organization anywhere does a better job of educating consultants.  Our training is unequaled.  Now we will be looking at new training opportunities, for those just starting out, as well as for those in the process of growing their practices or adding new specialties, as well as for those more senior and experienced members looking to keep up with new technologies and changes in the world of admissions and adolescents.  This is also likely to include a new, online ethics course that all new members of IECA will need to complete during the months following their acceptance to the organization.

    A central aspect of IECA’s role is our deep belief that the profession–and students–are best served by our members’ commitment to sharing: through mentoring, presenting at conferences, teaching at the STI and other workshops and seminars.  Sharing is central to our mission.

    The fundamental message of the Executive Committee’s work is that IECA intends to be the leader in the field by providing exceptional service and educational opportunities to our members, and by expanding awareness of the profession and recognition of IECA from coast-to-coast and increasingly, around the world.

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    Permalink   |   Affinity Groups, Educational Consulting Growth, IECA, IECA Leadership, Marketing, Strategic Plan, educational consultants, educational consulting, international consulting, member services |   No Comments »

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    AFTER the Summer Institute: Where to Go From Here?

    August 1st, 2010
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    by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

    In some ways the Summer Training Institute lasts far longer than the 4 days attendees spend in Swarthmore, PA.  First, in a practical sense, it could takes months just to read everything in their workshop binders.  Hundreds of articles, reproduced blogs, resource lists, sample contracts, intake forms, campus visit checklists and more make the binder a valuable resource for years. IECA education director Sue DePra put together an amazing textbook.

    In addition, the attendees are able to start their journeys into the profession knowing they can rely on IECA for support.  Each can immediately link through this blog and the IECA facebook page.  As they seek Associate or Professional Membership they will discover the value IECA offers:  assigning mentors, joining campus tours, gaining discounts on everything from insurance to FedEx.  As a member they will discover the amazing opportunities, products and discounts offered by our partners including College Essay Organizer, Wintergreen Orchard House, Princeton Review, Kaplan, and more than 30 others.  Attending our national conferences in the fall and spring, reading Insights, and participating in LinkedIn discussions all will allow those who took part in this past week’s training to continue to learn and grow.

    Yet above all there are the wonderful connections the participants made with each other.  Stretching from San Diego to Maine, and Vancouver to Miami, the STI Class of 2010 seems poised to keep these new relationships alive: visiting schools together, sharing expertise, providing business and counseling support and guidance.  Since 2003, we have seen the incredible value the summer training graduates find in remaining in touch, supporting each other, and raising up their classmates.  We at IECA look forward to their continued involvement.

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    • Ann Marie McDonald
      The Institute made me realize how much I still have to do. However it also gave me a framework to ...

    Permalink   |   Campus Tours, Consulting Business, Educational Consulting Growth, IECA, IECA member consultants, Member benefits, Summer Training Institute, Uncategorized, educational consultants, educational consulting, member services |   1 Comment

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    IECA: From Great to Remarkable

    January 4th, 2010
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    by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

    I admit to being a person who is rarely satisfied with the way things are. I believe in the need to change and that includes both personal change and actions to ensure that the Independent Educational Consultants Association continues to move forward, developing new approaches, new programs and new initiatives so that we are always meeting member needs. Allow me to illustrate using just one example. Following an IECA Summer Training Institute in Claremont, California, I sat down with Sue DePra and Steve Antonoff to review the participant evaluations. They were off the charts with virtually every attendee giving the Summer Institute nearly perfect scores, and comments from most attendees that it was among the best training sessions they had ever attended. The three of us then spent the next two hours re-writing the curriculum, developing new interactive elements, implementing ‘labs’ and strengthening the program further. The result was taking a great training program and making it remarkable.

    Now as I reflect back on 2009, I feel great about the excellent work of staff, Board and committee leadership, and volunteer members who combined to make it a great year. We advanced dramatically in our efforts to use social networking to promote IECA and the profession, and to improve communications. We initiated new program in learning disabilities and adopted our new Standards of Excellence. We implemented significant changes during our conference: from Speed Meetings to Conference Central and from point/counterpoint sessions to master classes. Participation among colleges has never been higher, and despite the economic downturn our membership is up, conference participation is up, and our training workshops were larger than ever.

    But as I look ahead, I know what I want to achieve in the coming year for IECA and for my own work as Executive Director: to take IECA from a great organization to a remarkable one. Looking at the success of America’s most lauded associations, I hope we use their example to become an exceptional force for our members. To become ‘remarkable,’ I think Board, staff and volunteers need to meet these expectations:

    • Member Service—we exist as an association for one reason: to meet the needs of our membership. That commitment to member service should always be the top priority.

    • Align all services, conferences, and activities with IECA’s mission. That mission, unchanged in 30 years, is to help professional consultants to serve the interests of students and families in their educational decision-making.

    • Seek feedback and input from members and our related constituencies. In the next several weeks, members will be asked to complete a strategic planning survey and a survey from the Education & Training Committee. These will set our priorities over the next several years. We have now begun to involve schools, colleges, and programs in conference planning and regularly seek their advice on programming.

    • Be willing to fail. As we look to be innovative, creative, and dynamic, we must be willing to accept that success require risk-taking and that means we will fail from time to time. Such failure is inevitable and will lead to new successes.

    • A nimble, flexible, national office that is able to meet changes in the marketplace and ensure that such changes are quickly and capably brought to our members to help them succeed in their own work.

    • Building alliances with not-for-profit and for-profit companies, institutions, and organizations that will help us further our mission and better serve clients and students.

    I look forward to hearing ideas from our members, colleagues, and families on how we can best serve each to make 2010 and IECA remarkable in the year ahead. Join us in this effort: volunteer, get involved in committees, affinity groups, or other efforts, and above all, offer your ideas on what IECA should be doing.

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    Permalink   |   Economy and Consultants, IECA, IECA Conference, IECA Leadership, IECA member consultants, Learning Disability Consulting, Social Networking Technology, Summer Training Institute, member services |   No Comments »

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