President's Academy 2010

Information for the 2010 President's Academy went out last week. We are very excited to announce the new structure of this year's conference. There will be three training tracks available; one for incoming President's, one for (iServe) members, and one for any other collegiate member who would like to attend. There has been some discussion about the October 19th registration deadline for the President's so we're taking to the staff blog to explain why this decision was made.

For the first time there is now a full time staff member dedicated to educational programming and conferences. This means that the Fraternity will become significantly more organized and conferences will be planned at least one to two years ahead of time. This means there will be more opportunities to increase attendance because of advanced planning and more time to market each conference. We will begin this new trend with President’s Academy. In addition, President’s attend this event because of a grant from the Foundation. It is our hope to provide the opportunity for the President from each of our colonies and chapters to attend at no cost to the local chapter. By booking flights well in advance of the holiday, we keep transportation costs down which allows us the chance to invite more Presidents’s to attend at no cost. In addition, those flights are all booked by the staff which takes weeks of comparing costs, booking, and communicating those flights to the attending member.

The Holidays are a very difficult time for us to reach chapter members, as they are preparing for and taking exams in addition to traveling home for winter break. Many of our members leave campus before Thanksgiving and do not return until after the New Year. Keeping a registration deadline before November allows us to recruit members to attend, have ample time to book transportation, and the opportunity to send all major information about the conference to attendees before they leave campus for the Holiday. This helps us ensure that all communications are received before members become more difficult to reach over the winter break.

We would like all of our chapters and colonies to begin electing their President earlier in the fall term which allows for a more successful transition. The President of the United States is elected in November and takes office in February. The time after his election is spent preparing for his term in office by shadowing the current President to create a smoother transition. This is what we would like to see from our own chapters. The President should be elected in October, spend time transitioning and shadowing the outgoing officer, and then beginning his term in January when members return to school.

I hope this helps you understand why the deadline is earlier this year and will continue to be in October in the coming years. If you have any additional questions about President’s Academy Registration, please let me know at anita@phikaps.org.
To learn more about President's Academy, visit the event page.