Call for Speakers

Update: The call for speakers has been closed. See the completed conference agenda here or download our conference brochure here.

DeHavilland Associates is organizing a two-day national conference on building effective education partnerships, to be held in Fairfax, Virginia (just a few miles from downtown Washington DC) on July 10 th and 11 th of next year. We expect attendance between 300 and 400 professionals working in the area of community/school partnerships.

This conference is intended to bring together the various stakeholders in business/education partnerships, including businesspeople, coalition leaders and members (such as chambers of commerce, roundtables, independent partnership groups), school leaders, and other players to share case studies and practical tips on building and maintaining effective partnerships.

The emphasis is on the practical: we want attendees to leave the conference with a long list of things they can take home and immediately apply to their local efforts. And we want to present diverse voices, from both inside and outside the schools, so that attendees can hear the perspectives of various people involved in the typical partnership.

I. Themes

Based in large part on input from people in the field, we have identified the following major themes for this conference:

  • Managing Resources – How to identify, acquire, and manage resources effectively; how to maximize the impact of the resources you have; how to minimize operational and program expenses; and how to measure the return on the resources you invest in your programs.
  • Building Effective Partnerships – How to identify and approach prospective partners of all stripes (businesses, coalitions, higher education, foundations, internal partners, etc.), and how to nurture and grow those relationships over time.
  • Designing and Managing Projects – How to effectively build and manage partnership-driven projects. This includes setting desired outcomes prior to project design (both educational and partner-oriented outcomes), tapping into available research to guide the design of your project, tracking activity and measure outcomes, and building sustainable programs.

Presentations should address one or more of these aspects of building effective education partnerships; however, we will not rigidly adhere to these themes, such as having one breakout session on each. We imagine that many presentations (though not all) will focus more on a case study approach, which will cover most or all of these.

II. Compensation

Presenters will be given free admission to the conference (a $499 value) and will be recognized at the conference and through pre/post outreach efforts.

III. Audience

EEPC is designed to serve practitioners in the field, including the following:

  • Principals, superintendents, and other school/district leaders
  • School/district partnership specialists
  • Business coalition leaders (chambers, roundtables, etc.)
  • Businesspeople
  • State/federal agency representatives interested in community engagement
  • Nonprofit, education association, and policy organization representatives interested in the role of effective partnerships in education

IV. What We’re Looking For

We want presentations that help attendees do their jobs. This means:

  • Case studies and examples must be replicable or realistic: attendees have to be able to draw lessons that they can apply to their own situations.
  • Presentations must be practical: policy debates are out of place, save for partnerships in which partners work together to advocate for a particular change.
  • Handouts and samples are encouraged.
  • Where appropriate, address the intended and unintended outcomes of your efforts.

V. Presentation Parameters

Conference sessions will be one hour long; presenters are encouraged to leave time for questions and/or group discussion. A/V equipment will be available on demand; please specify A/V needs in your proposal.

VI. Proposal Submission

Each organization or individual may submit up to two session proposals. Proposals must be received by DeHavilland Associates no later than Friday, December 31, 2007 by email to brett@dehavillandassociates.com. Please limit proposals to 2-3 pages.

Proposals should include:

  • Session title
  • Session objectives (what, specifically, attendees will learn from this session)
  • Name/contact information for presenter(s)
  • A/V equipment needs
  • Description of anticipated handouts
  • A description of your session – content, approach, information on which elements of the conference themes (found on the previous page) you will address

For additional information, please contact Brett Pawlowski by phone at 704-940-3201 or by email at brett@dehavillandassociates.com.