by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consulting Association

We are still in the early stages of conference registration for IECA’s Fall National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, we have already passed 600 attendees and are looking forward to a wonderful gathering. Here are six new, improved, or unique aspects to the conference that you may have missed in our registration packet:

(1) Cincinnati is surprisingly easy to fly in to and worth visiting. The Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati (CVG) airport is a hub for Delta airlines, but this new, modern airport offers 200 incoming flights a day with direct service to more than 80 cities. Cincinnati was a major stop of the Underground Railroad for slavesseeking freedom in the north. The Underground Railroad Freedom Center is my favorite place in the city. Also don’t miss the Museum Center (our conference logo) at Union Station where four museums, plus several restaurants, are housed under one roof.

(2) There will NOT be an opening keynote speech. Instead we have invited several educational leaders and innovators (all currently university presidents) to have a round-table discussion about the future of American education on Wednesday afternoon. We will get to “listen in” to their conversation and raise some questions and discussion points. This will be a unique opportunity to hear educational opinion leaders from Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

(3) We have made nine changes to the schedule impacting therapeutic schools & programs and educational consultants serving those resources. Among other things, a special ‘professional exchange’ time at the end of the School Fair on Thursday, Program Showcases on Saturday, an overlap in the schedule when all conference attendees are together, and a wonderful Master Class on Saturday featuring Dr. Paul Keck, president-CEO of the Lindner Center speaking about bipolar disorder.

(4) There are five pre-conference opportunities. We are offering two 3-1/2 hour pre-conference workshops: One on social networking for consultants and the other exploring autism spectrum disorders. In addition, our one-on-one speed meetings will feature traditional schools. All these are scheduled for Wednesday morning. In addition, IECA is offering tours of Ohio and Kentucky colleges Monday through Wednesday, and a number of schools and programs are extending offers for visits throughout the Great Lakes region.

(5) Conference Central has emerged as a major meeting, learning, exploring place during conferences. For those who have not attended a conference in over a year, wait until you experienceconference central: refreshments, cyber-lounge, bookstore, exhibit booths, member services, raffles, and give-aways, just to name a few of the attractions. We have added comfortable seating to make sure the Conference Central area is a place to relax, network, and much more.

(6) Special events from beginning to end. Wednesday’s dinner; Friday’s reception with plenty to eatand drink; Murray Banks, the amazing Thursday lunch speaker; a Friday general session featuring the Kinship Center, the nation’s leading voice on adoption issues are among all that we have scheduled. We’ll also be featuring the amazing movie “In 500 Words or Less” on Thursday night with the film’s creators in attendance, leading a discussion after the film. We’re even be including pizza and drinks for this special movie night!

We hope to see you in Cincinnati. Registration is open and hotel rooms are still available in the IECA block. Plan your travel to take full advantage of all we have going on. Join us as we “Come Together in the Heartland.”

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by Mark H. Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

Yesterday, I was able to spend several hours in Los Angeles with some of IECA’s local members. In all, 27 members took part in our gathering—a wonderful number by any standard, but almost remarkable in the short notice we provided. More remarkable still is that they gathered not to hear an expert on educational testing or a panel of admission directors, but rather to hear me talk about the state of the educational consulting profession, trends as I see them, and then to share their questions, thoughts, and hopes for the field and the association.

Most in the room were surprised to learn of two major, critical studies announced in the last year that readers of this blog may recall: a major survey demonstrated that 26% of high achieving students use educational consultants in their college search; and the second was the recently released study by Harvard on what they called the “aspiring profession” of educational consulting that identified IECA’s leadership over and over again. That so few of our members knew of these studies (let alone their potential significance) was a reminder that we must rely on traditional forms of communication as well as new media.

More importantly was the genuine enthusiasm in the room about the importance of these studies and ideas for ensuring that the college community understands the significant and important role IECA plays. Many seemed ready to assist in our outreach efforts.

Of course we also discussed the ups and downs of boarding school and therapeutic program advising and how the economic downturn has had a major impact, particularly on the latter. I shared my view that the days when nearly 100% of students in special needs programs came from IECA client referrals were likely gone but, like boarding schools, programs will discover that consultant referrals may be the difference between a program being 2/3 full or completely full (perhaps the difference between a program closing its doors, or not). More significantly, many programs freely admit that the students sent by consultants (as opposed to the Web) are a better match for their program.

I was rightly asked if we made any changes to the conference program based on the survey of consultants and program reps. When I mentioned many of the changes were implemented (we accepted all recommendations but one), there was genuine satisfaction that IECA was responding to attendees. I also noted one frustration from members that we’d like to help change. In recent years special needs programs have been sending MARKETING representatives to conferences. Overwhelmingly IECA members tell us they want counselors and therapists to attend, rather than marketers.

I was asked about the movie “In 500 Words.” We not only plan to show the film at our Fall Conference, but the creators will actually be on site to lead a discussion. Over 200 registrants have already signed up to watch the movie and discuss! We were asked to look into the possibility of co-branding with the producers to gain rights to the film and workbook so members could use these with clients.

There were a number of questions about education and training, and using new technologies like webinars to bring education to members.

What struck me the most was the genuine excitement in the room about joining together (and the genuine regret from dozens more local members who were not available). I found it a bit sad that we needed name tags, until I realized that new members and growing numbers are signs of a healthy, growing organization (despite our east coast beginning, IECA now has more members in California than any other state!). Attendees excitedly discussed establishing a couple of regional IECA groups: one for Los Angeles, the other for Orange County. As I listened to discussions, ideas, and planning, I realized the tremendous power that comes from members joining together, acting together, comparing notes and ideas. It is this collaboration that makes IECA so strong, and their work with families so successful and rewarding.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

Recently I came across a comment on a blog where someone expressed an implied criticism of IECA. The criticism was that the Independent Educational Consultants Association does not focus its energies exclusively in school selection, application, and admission. The criticism actually kept me up all night—quite a feat for those who know me—yet I tossed and turned. But not for the reasons you may think. I’m certainly not thin-skinned, and so I can take any criticism. In this case I was restless because I was confounded. How could someone have written those words believing them to be critical, when to me they express the very difference that makes IECA and its members so uniquely qualified? Critical? No—to me it was the ultimate praise.

How can one even imagine preparing to send students away for school, but not understand issues like adolescent depression or anxiety? Should we apologize for bringing in the top experts in the country to present about the latest developments in research on brain theory, gender differences, attachment, and the impact of adoption? We know full well how such things impact the ability to succeed both in class and with peers. Should we not support our members who wish to do career exploration or employ the dynamic information gained in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?

Some of the criticism, I suspect, was related to some of the topics at IECA conferences. Does the person offering the critique believe that those assisting in college or school admission should confine their discussion to majors, Greek life, financial aid and ‘where you can get in?’ All that should be noted, but every single person working with adolescents, if they wish to be taken as a true professional, should gain some understanding of some growing trends of concern: Internet and gaming addictions (the numbers of kids who land in a dorm room and play World of Warcraft or other games 24 hours a day, skipping class, is scary!), abuse of prescription drugs (a growing campus trend), campus bullying (using social media), eating and body-perception disorders, and so much more.

It seems that some think college admission can be accomplished using a chart: standardized test scores in column A, GPA in column B, activities in column C, and voila…”Here’s your list of schools, Sally!” Let’s remember that adolescents are not a simple commodity where we plug in the proper numbers and out pops the result. IECA’s strength comes from our realization—make that commitment—to seeing every child as an individual, with abilities and weaknesses, emotional strengths and scars, unique talents, and needs. Yes, this is indeed what makes IECA unique, and more importantly, what makes our members uniquely qualified to really serve the best interests, the true needs of every child.

That anyone can think otherwise, will keep me up at nights.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

(Part 2 of 2)

Yesterday we published the results of  the specific suggestions we received for making the conference more valuable to IECA members, schools, and programs that work in the area of emotional and behavioral needs. With the results we noted the numerous changes we are making to the conference schedule to ensure more interaction between consultants and programs and between programs and traditional schools. As part of the same survey we concluded with an open-ended request for comments, thoughts, or questions about the conference schedule. We read hundreds of such remarks. Eleven suggestions/comments seemed to come up often enough that we wanted to respond. In doing so we note that we have provided honest, direct answers which do not necessarily satisfy everyone’s concerns.

1.  Can you require IECA Members to attend the Swap? We do encourage them strongly and perhaps we need to do more. But remember, not all consultants do special needs, so some do not attend the Swap, just as some consultants who do ONLY special needs do not attend the School & College Fair.

2. Can you schedule more interactive and point/counterpoint sessions like we had in Charlotte? We agree, please suggest topics!

3.  Can’t we have more conferences in the West? We do need to pay more attention to conference cities. We have Dallas, TX scheduled for 2011 and San Diego, CA scheduled for 2013.

4. Consider holding one conference a year just for schools and colleges, and the other just for special needs. We’ll have the Strategic Planning task Force look into this idea. One fear is that one of those may get many more participants leaving programs or schools very frustrated. It also hurts the effort requested above for more interaction between therapeutic programs and traditional schools. Finally it also raises concerns that we create a fissure between specialties among consultants.

5. Can you offer CEUs for MSWs and psychologists? We’ll look into doing that. If we can, we will.

6.  Why do special needs programs pay for a full week, but only get to attend for a few days? Why don’t we get to attend as much as schools or colleges? This is a misperception that I would like to correct once and for all. Traditional schools, colleges, therapeutic schools and programs all pay the same fee, and all have the same amount of time at the conference. Schools and colleges attend from Wednesday mid-day to Thursday afternoon. Therapeutic programs have attended from Friday morning to Saturday mid-day. When therapeutic programs requested more interaction with traditional school representatives a few years ago, we began allowing school reps to visit the Therapeutic Information Swap one hour prior to its opening. (And based on the change we announced on  this blog yesterday, you will now be attending 2+ days.)  Only consultants attend for the entire 3-1/2 days of the conference. IECA member consultants pay less, as their dues cover a portion of the conference. Everyone is treated as fairly as possible. The conference fee is comparable to other conferences, and unlike some others we do not charge extra for tables at the Swap or Fair.

7.  Have you considered holding one national and several regional conferences each year? The Strategic Planning Task Force, a regional group task force, and the Board of Directors are looking into these issues right now.

8.  Why is the Therapeutic program always at the end? Why not alternate so that every other conference the Therapeutic days are at the beginning? What looks like an obvious possibility is simply not feasible. More than 100 educational consultants participate in college campus visits prior to the start of the conference. Typically this involves 7 – 8 colleges over three days. Others visit 3 – 5 boarding schools. Members consider these visits a central part of their conference experience. When therapeutic schools and programs exist near the conference city, they are typically spread out, allowing one or two such visits. In any case these visits must occur on a weekday. If the college part of the program was set later in the week, Friday and Saturday, it could then take consultants out of the conference hotel on the days that therapeutic programs are available. Remember that 80% of those doing therapeutic placements also do schools or colleges, so the chances of consultants opting for tours over the Swap are unacceptable. A secondary reason is that we commit to certain hotel room pick up (booked rooms per night) years in advance, and we are required to pay for unused rooms. When attendees are unsure of the schedule (due to constant shifts) they tend to book the whole week, only to cancel rooms at the last minute. Such last minute cancellations, which marked our earlier events prior to the format change in 2007, run into hundreds of rooms with penalty fees over $100,000. So while we can’t ‘flip’ the days, we try to do everything we can to meet all attendees needs.

9.  Can you increase the participation of educational consultants? The numbers seemed low in Toronto. It didn’t just seem that way as the number of attending consultants was low. Some attendees LOVED it and said it made for quality discussions. Others felt frustrated. Don’t worry though: no more Canada meetings for a long time. As someone else pointed out in their survey: remember that some of what we all are seeing is the impact of the terrible economy, not necessarily ongoing concerns.

10.  Can we have more clinical sessions? This ties in with a concern we heard from consultants: Programs used to send a therapist or programming person. Today, most send marketing and admission reps. Consultants would prefer hearing from those who work directly with students. The more such attendees we have, the more clinically-based presentations we can offer. (And the happier consultants will be!)

11. Finally: Can’t you do something to allow for more networking during the conference? Conference Central has proved to be a great addition. In Ohio, thanks to your suggestions, we will be expanding the time for breaks to promote more networking. We think you’ll notice the difference.

Colleagues, I hope the information shared over the last two days demonstrates our commitment to keeping a dialogue going toward making all of your interactions with IECA and our members positive, valuable, and cost effective. As you can see, wherever possible we effected change immediately with most suggestions being implemented this fall in November. We’ll be in touch soon after to see whether you noticed the differences.

The 2010 IECA Fall Conference is in Cincinnati, November 4 – 6. Registration will open the first week of August and all information will be available on our Web site. We hope to see you there!

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

(Part 1 of 2)

Last month we invited special needs consultants, as well as representatives of wilderness and emotional growth schools (more than 1,000 professionals), to provide us with feedback on a number of ideas about ways to make the IECA conferences more meaningful and valuable to those working with troubled teens. Hundreds responded and we are grateful for the honest feedback. We promised to reply, and here are the survey results along with an explanation of what we will do, might do in the future, and won’t do!

Tomorrow we will post the 11 most common questions or suggestions that we received in the open feedback section of the questionnaire.

[1] One suggestion was to extend the Traditional Boarding School and College Fair by an hour on Thursday morning, and allow special needs program representatives to join consultants for the final hour to allow for school-to-program networking. Of those expressing an opinion on this issue, 85% of respondents were in favor.

Our Response: We have extended the Fair by 45 minutes (the most we could find) in Ohio this fall, and all special needs program representatives will be invited in for the final hour.

[2] The next proposal was to change to an expo format: programs would each get a 10×10 booth to staff for three full days with consultants choosing when they wish to go to the expo hall instead of educational programming. Of those responding, 28% were in favor.

Our Response: We have tabled this proposal and will not move toward a large exposition hall.

[3] We asked you to consider a change that would ensure a period of overlap when all conference attendees—schools, colleges, special needs programs, and consultants—would all be in attendance at the same time. Of those giving us an opinion on this topic 93% were in favor.

Our Response: Much of the Ohio program was already created, but we were able to rework it. After the final hour of Thursday morning’s School & College Fair there will be breakouts and a lunch with a wonderful speaker, for all attendees. There will also be opportunities while everyone is in attendance for networking in Conference Central.

[4] We asked how you felt about the desire of IECA members to have some educational sessions just for consultants, allowing them opportunities for free discussion on topics of particular interest to them. Of those responding 86% (and more than 95% of IECA members) were in favor.

Our Response: We will implement this change. This will mean more breakout times for special needs representatives, but that one or two at each time period will be designated for educational consultants only.

[5] We asked about bringing back the Saturday morning “Program Showcases” (short presentations by programs) from time to time. Of those with an opinion, 72% were in favor.

Our Response: We will hold two showcases on Saturday morning in Ohio, allowing up to 30 programs to offer brief presentations. There will be no cost to programs to be included, although there will be limited number of spots available.

[6] We asked about the proposal we’ve heard from some to eliminate the Information Swap completely and let networking occur more naturally. Just 23% were in favor of this option.

Our response: We won’t go there!

[7] We asked about the Master Class that has been featured with a nationally known expert offering an intense three-hour session. The responses:

24% wanted to keep them as they are
21% wanted to keep them, but shorten them a bit
23% wanted to eliminate them
12% wanted us to switch to something more interactive
20% wanted to eliminate all Saturday programming

Our Response: Clearly opinion is all over the place, although most IECA members wanted to keep the Master Class concept either in its present form or shorter. In Ohio we have arranged for one of the nation’s top experts on bipolar disorders. The session will be two hours (rather than three), in part to ensure time for the Program Showcases.

[8] We asked about shifting to one conference a year rather than two. Of those with an opinion, 56% were in favor.

Our Response: This question impacts more than just the therapeutic community, and so we need the opinion not just of the Special Needs schools and consultants but the college, traditional boarding schools, vendors, gap year, consultants, etc. All results will go to the Board, as this represents a policy decision. The Board will see your opinion.

Bottom line, we are working actively to incorporate as many ideas as we can, within the structure of existing contracts. We appreciate all those who responded and offered their opinion. Tomorrow we’ll respond to the questions that came up most: frequency, location, daily schedule of conferences, and much more.

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by Mark H. Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

June 30th marks the close of our Fiscal Year and IECA’s 34th serving as the principal voice of the profession of independent educational consulting. We entered the year committed to helping our members thrive, and exploring ways to strengthen the profession, promote the value of the work we do, and enhance the services offered by the Association to students, families, schools, and our member consultants. And while it was a difficult year for some, with many parts of the country suffering a deep economic recession, we have continued to move forward together.

Some of our progress occurred right here as we greatly expanded our efforts in electronic communication and social networking sites. This blog saw more than 200 original posts and over 150 comments. There are readers who come to our blog from our Web site, while others read it on Facebook, and well over 200 subscribers choose to receive it via e-mail. I have spoken to reporters as well as school and program heads, and college vice presidents that mention things they read on our blog. We have 300 followers on Twitter, more than 600 views on our Flickr photostream, 162 IECA members connecting on our LinkedIn group, and 900 fans (and growing) on Facebook. We have worked to assist members to master this new world of communication and will continue and even expand that effort in the coming year.

Of course all this attention to new media is meant to provide two key benefits: increased communication between and among IECA and its publics (consultants, school reps and the general public) but also to encourage more visits to the IECA Web site. In the past year the number of unique visitors increased 14%. More than 28,000 people searched the “find a consultant” feature of the Web site alone. Our goal to connect families to members is working and we intend to increase that effort in the coming year. A central core piece of our mission is to change the public’s sense of educational consulting from “what is a consultant?” to “I need a consultant, and I’ll only look to IECA as the assurance I need of competence.”

This past year we completed two member surveys: one that focused on the field of consulting to help us better understand where things stand, so we can better respond to future needs; and the second one that focused on educational needs of members to help guide our committees and shape future initiatives. A major development came from a survey that we did not conduct. An independent national study showed a far larger percentage of “high achieving students’ than anyone had ever imagined were working with educational consultants (26%). Such widespread use of consultants can have a major impact on the actions of college admission officers and IECA has been reaching out to them in unprecedented ways.

While a number of educational organizations saw membership decline this past year, IECA continued its moderate growth with a 5% increase in members. Our conferences in North Carolina and Toronto were extremely successful as local host committees (made up for the first time with school representatives as well as consultants) worked to raise the academic content (the new Master Classes and Point/Counterpoint sessions, for example), and we also introduced an active Conference Central that included a bookstore (and author book signings), networking cyber-lounge, and much more, designed to increase networking and sharing.

IECA’s signature training programs: the Summer Training Institute continues to ‘sell out’ as does the Transitioning to Private Practice Seminar which IECA runs in partnership with NACAC. The first ever certificate program in independent educational consulting is now being offered by U.C. Irvine in a program jointly designed and taught by the university and IECA and its members. We have been working more closely with our association colleagues at SSATB, NAIS, NATSAP, and more. We manned a booth for the first-time ever at LDA this past year and are committed to extending our efforts into the LD and therapeutic communities in the year ahead. Internally, our new Affinity groups have expanded to involve dozens of members in planning and leadership roles.

The Board of Directors, working with a new Long-Range Plan, found members articulating their priorities for the coming year: educate the public so they are more aware of the role of independent educational consulting, ensure that the public identifies IECA as the ‘gold standard’ of the profession, increase outreach to affiliated professional communities, emphasize ethics, and enhance education. These will form the basis of the work that the IECA office staff, Board, and volunteers will highlight for the Association’s coming 35th year.

The staff feels honored to work on behalf of our members and in promoting this important field. We are excited by what the coming years have in store.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

One of the unexpected consequences of holding our first-ever meeting outside of the United States has been the musings of some about whether “consultants are really going to Canada” for the conference, or, in the minds of IECA members, whether schools, colleges, and program representatives are planning to leap the border to take part. On a near daily basis we get e-mails and phone calls asking if “most” of the attendees will be coming from Canada. So with our early bird deadline a little behind us, and now eight weeks prior to the opening of the conference, I wanted to respond to those inquiries.

We completed the early-bird registration with over 550 attendees—a number that will grow steadily over the remaining two months. Among colleges and traditional day and boarding schools, our early registration figures are up as compared to a year ago, with the number of consultants, therapeutic programs, and vendors steady. In fact we are close to having more colleges registered here—at eight weeks still to go—as we had at our San Francisco conference. Our best guess now is for a terrific turnout—but not so crowded that networking and meeting are inhibited in any way.

So are they all Canadians? Hardly. We are excited by the many Canadian institutions that are joining us. Among the first-time attendees are 14 colleges from five Canadian provinces, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia (and many who have joined us in the past). Between these new schools, unaffiliated consultants, and incredible presenters on topics from innovative teaching to adolescent brain theory and EQ, our Canadian participants will add tremendously to the New Perspectives many seek at IECA Conferences. Yet for every Canadian college participating, two U.S. colleges are registered. Among summer, gap year, and traditional boarding schools, 95% are U.S.-based, and among the 230 therapeutic school and program participants already signed up, all but a handful are from the States. Among consultants, we have registrants from Canada, Africa, Asia, and South America, but the overwhelming number, more than 90% are American.

If you have not yet decided about attending, please explore the conference schedule, our list of breakouts, and presenters (all of this information can be found on our Web site). We have a number of exciting new events planned in Conference Central and throughout the conference. We look forward to seeing you in Toronto this spring!

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Sixteen years ago, my first day with IECA was at the start of the spring conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. I believe there were fewer than 250 attendees, including some 80 IECA members. There was no NATSAP back then, Small Boarding School Conferences were intimate events, and The Association of Boarding Schools, just separating from NAIS, was years away from hosting its own conference. Today with more school conferences, therapeutic conferences, college conferences, plus LDA, CHADD, and more, I contemplated the role of IECA gatherings. I wondered if we are we simply duplicating efforts, and more importantly, whether IECA makes a significant contribution to the welfare of students.

To be sure the IECA conferences have grown. Upwards of 1,200 people have attended our conferences, including as many as 300 consultants. There has been a surge in college participation, while attendance from schools and special purpose programs grew rapidly in the first half of the decade and has stabilized. Even as the economy turned sour and where other associations reported 25 to 30 to even 35% percent drops in attendance, IECA has exceeded expectations with only minor declines. As a friend of mine, the director of another educational association, said to me recently, “The rest of us feel lucky to be hanging on…IECA is doing great and YOU’RE the one wondering how to change, improve, and redesign conferences? People come because there’s value to attending.” But again I wonder, with so many other choices out there, what IS the value? What makes IECA conferences unique and valued?

I recently asked a representative of Wintergreen Orchard House, a veteran of trade shows from coast-to-coast, about our conference. “The IECA Conference is a must-attend,” she told me. “It goes on my calendar first.” When I asked why, I was told “No where else can I meet people across disciplines: those in college placements, boarding school administrators, LD experts…it allows me to connect with all of the communities we want to reach.”

I asked an IECA member who has been around for years, someone who I’ll see at NACAC or other regional gathering from time to time. Her view was that IECA conferences provide something no one else does: a holistic view of adolescents. “We see teens as far more than a commodity to be placed or a potential student at a small private college. We know that to understand placement you need to understand the entire child: hopes, fears, learning style, anxieties, traits, and flaws. No where else do I get workshops on so wide a range of topics.”

While attending NATSAP last month I sat down and spoke with the head of a small emotional growth boarding school. He indicated that a few events each year are “musts.” This includes the two IECA conferences, because “…no where else can I speak to educational consultants who directly deal with students and families who are desperate and emotionally spent, and need a real professional to help them through a crisis; and then, turn around and talk to wilderness programs that could feed into my school, then traditional schools that we may feed into, and even colleges who want to understand better who we serve. Where else could I find that?”

And one more: a dean of admission from a college who jokingly told me many years ago that he would “never” tell his admission colleagues about IECA because it was one of the best kept secrets: “The last thing I want is more colleges to come. No where else do I get this wonderful opportunity to talk about my school with professionals who are MUCH more likely to work with students considering private colleges and MUCH more likely to explore colleges out of state. Why would I want my competitors to know about IECA?”

What then does IECA offer? First of all, the unique crowd that assembles: colleges, traditional boarding schools, gap year programs, emotional growth schools, therapeutic programs, and summer opportunities—all who believe in a holistic view of the student. Also, a schedule of workshops that range from NCAA rules to Asperger’s, and from learning communities to parent advocates. And we have worked in recent years to strengthen the academic offerings, even while expanding opportunities for networking in both formal and informal settings. As I look toward Toronto, I can say with confidence that “No Where Else” will such a gathering be possible.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Based on overwhelmingly positive feedback from consultants and school representatives, we are pleased to announce that the Speed Meetings test-run in 2009 will return as part of IECA’s upcoming Spring Conference, although a few key changes will make them even more valuable. Two sets of Speed Meetings have been planned: one for traditional boarding schools and the other for special purpose and therapeutic schools and programs. They will run simultaneously on Wednesday morning, May 12, just prior to the opening of the conference.

The Speed Meetings are designed to have a maximum of 40 consultants in each session, with a similar number of schools or programs. The event features a series of eight-minute private one-on-one meetings to give the consultant a feel for a school’s philosophy, approach, and unique offerings. The cost to schools is just $175, a very cost-effective way to get quiet networking time with more than 15 consultants. The $35 fee charged to consultants is refunded after they complete their full slate of “appointments.”

A few other changes are based on feedback. We’ve increased the time of the meetings from six to eight minutes, and schools may now have two representatives present. We urge only one of these to be an admissions representative with the other being an administrator, counselor, or other school professional.

Here are a few comments we heard after the trial Speed Meetings run in Charlotte:

from Dana Harbert, Eagle Hill: “Eagle Hill School participated in the consultant speed conferencing. I am grateful that we as a school were chosen for this venue. I think six minutes for conferencing proved to be a decent amount of time to start discussions (and in some cases to finish the discussions). I want to stress, however, that these speed conferencing sessions should always be in addition to the swap on Thursday morning. This was my eleventh IECA conference and it was by far the best.”

from Andrew Weller, Ridley College: Thanks for selecting Ridley College for the first of the speed meetings—it was great. You asked for feedback and I only have one thing really: It would have been great to have at my table a list not just of all the consultant attendees but a list of the ones I was seeing—in order. On the whole, I heard very positive comments from folks and imagine you did as well. Most people in the room were disappointed when it ended! That said, the one criticism I heard from others was that six minutes was not long enough. I respectfully disagree. I think these meetings function best when the goal is to assess whether or not the conversation needs to continue outside the scope of the event (meet later, visit someone in their office, have them to campus, etc.). I imagine those unhappy with the short time probably did not have a good game plan or were expecting too much in just a short time. My singular goal for each meeting was to simply determine if there was mutual interest in continuing the conversation—and the time allotted was sufficient for that.

from Maryline Deschamps Kruger, educational consultant: I had my doubts about the speed meeting format, but after participating in the therapeutic program Speed Meetings I’d like to report that I was pleasantly surprised. I found them extremely informative and believe that the information I gathered will prove to be helpful to my consulting practice. Thank you IECA!

From Brian Fisher, AdmissionsQuest: 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.

(from an anonymous source in conference evaluation:) Overall, this was the best IECA conference I have attended in six years. It was so well attended, and I enjoyed all the opportunities to network. The speed conferencing was spectacular. I thought six minutes would be too little time. It was fine though. Probably ten minutes would be perfect.

(another evaluation comment) I participated in the Speed Meetings. These were GREAT! Made the IECA conference more valuable than any I have attended in years. The time flew by for me and the use of breaks during the morning was helpful and sufficient. I do hope more consultants sign up next year. I feel as though the information from Rachel about what to bring and what to prepare was helpful and accurate. I felt really ready for my meetings and the time with the consultants was really valuable. Only change (aside from two to three more minutes) I would suggest is making it longer so we can meet with more consultants!

Schools will be given the opportunity to apply to participate in the Speed Meetings AFTER they complete their conference registration. For consultants, the registration for Speed Meetings is part of the conference registration process. Those who may have already registered for the conference but wish to add participation in the Speed Meeting, may access their online registration by following the directions on their confirmation e-mail.

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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.

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