Session Opportunity
The California Higher Education Collaborative (CHEC) committee is accepting session proposals for the upcoming 2023 CHEC Conference.
Innovative procurement, imaginative solutions in sustainability, leveraging technology, effective service-oriented strategies, and cross-campus operations are just some of the categories for this year's event. This conference, with a theme of New Opportunities – Common Challenges, convenes administrative leaders and professionals from the three segments of California public higher education, to encourage the exchange of ideas and practices, which may improve administrative performance, service, and outcomes.
If you would like to present a session at the conference, please Submit a Session Proposal
You will be required to create a password-protected account to submit a presentation proposal. This submission tool will allow you save incomplete sessions and return at a later period to complete your submission.
All submissions must be submitted by Friday, May 12, 2023.NOTE: At least one of the session presenters must be an employee at a campus or system office within the CSU, CCC, or UC systems, and submissions that appear overly commercial or promote a product or service will not be considered.
Compensation/Registration
Up to three (3) presenters per accepted session will receive a 50% discount on their 2-day conference registration.
Best Practice for Session Descriptions
To assist attendees in searching and understanding the content of the proposed session, we encourage submitters to both describe the material they wish to present, as well as what the attendees will take away from the session. Doing this will increase both the quality and clarity of the proposal and make it easier for attendees to determine if the session is appropriate for them.
All session should pertain to at least one of the following themes:
1. Culture & Engagement: Submissions to this track should focus on 1) efforts to improve culture and engagement in your existing workforce and teams; 2) efforts to more effectively measure and evaluate culture and engagement; 3) efforts aimed at improving integration of new staff and team-members to the culture of your campus; or 4) outward facing community engagement and partnership opportunities either initiated or planned as a direct result of a project.
Some example ideas to aid your brainstorming:
“Strong Campus Culture in a Hybrid Team”, “In-Person Meetings with Zoom? Yes, It Can Work”, “Using Lean Six Sigma on Campus and our Unexpected Results in Team Morale”, “Promoting Agility in Your Institution’s Capital Planning”, “Welcome Aboard: Accelerating New Hire Onboarding”, “Getting Past Survey Fatigue: What is Everyone Really Thinking?"
2. Current Topics: As the landscape of our work environment is constantly changing, this track will focus on how current events affect Higher Education in California. Submissions to this track should focus on current topics that are of particular interest to California Higher Education staff and leadership.
Some example ideas to aid your brainstorming:
“Strong Campus Culture in a Hybrid Team”, “In-Person Meetings with Zoom? Yes, It Can Work”, “Using Lean Six Sigma on Campus and our Unexpected Results in Team Morale”, “Promoting Agility in Your Institution’s Capital Planning”, “Welcome Aboard: Accelerating New Hire Onboarding”, “Getting Past Survey Fatigue: What is Everyone Really Thinking?”
3. Procurement: Submissions to this track should focus on collaborative and innovative procurement, such as efforts aimed at assessing how procurement has changed with campus and workforce shifts, alignment of procurement and campus goals, strategic planning and process improvement, waste diversion, and efforts to improve resiliency, stability, and supplier diversity.
Some example ideas to aid your brainstorming:
“Adding resilience with shared CSU/CCC/UC procurement contracts”, “Shifts in procurement teams: already off-campus, now fully remote?”, “Is Your Procurement Software Delivering on its Promise?”, “Procurement Cross-Training: When and Where it Really Counts”, “Analyzing Campus Spend and Procurement Opportunity”
4. Sustainability: Submissions to this track should focus on 1) collaborative decarbonization planning and implementation across silos; 2) climate resilience planning and implementation; or 3) efforts to integrate and center equity, diversity, inclusion, and environmental justice in sustainability policies, programs, and projects.
Some example ideas to aid your brainstorming:
“Making Sustainability Everyone’s Job: How Our Campus Drives Sustainability”, “Intersectional Sustainable Procurement and Supplier Diversity”, “Embedding Sustainability in the Campus DNA”, “The Green Campus - a Pipe Dream or a Future Reality?”, “Food Security and the Sustainable Development Goals”
Session Format
Breakout Sessions, November 29-30. (60-minutes including Question and Answer period)
- PowerPoint with Discussion and Q&A
- Lecture with Q&A
- Panel Discussion with Q&A
- Facilitated Exercise with Q&A
Acceptance Criteria
The Conference Committee will accept presenter applications based on the following criteria:
- Relevance to Conference Tracks
- Collaborative Across Campuses or Departments
- Scope of Topic and Breadth of Audience Appeal
- Speaker's Credentials in Presenting Material
- Organization and Clarity of Proposal
Notification of Acceptance
How
will I know if I have been selected to present?
The Conference Committee will contact chosen presenters by e-mail no later than May 12, 2023. It is expressly understood that the presentation submitted may be scheduled at any time and on any of the two conference dates at the discretion of the conference program committee.
If selected, all Presenters will be required to register to attend the conference using the special Speaker's Discount Code sent in a separate communication.
For those not chosen, a notification will be sent by email on or before May 17, 2023. *This date is subject to change based on programming. Your submission will be kept on file in case of any cancellations.