2019 CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS


Thank you for your interest in presenting a workshop at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America National Conference in Charlotte, NC. Before developing your proposal, please take a few minutes to review the information provided below about the various tracks. The Conference team is seeking proposals in these specific content areas such as social justice issues, Matchforce and new technology, and trauma-informed care.


Conference proposals for 75-minute and 30-minute workshops will be accepted online until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, January 22, 2019. We are unable to accept proposals submitted by email or after the deadline.


If you have any questions, please contact us at conference@bbbsa.org.

After submitting your proposal, you will receive a confirmation email. If you don’t receive it, please check your spam folder and then contact us to confirm that we received your proposal.

Session Formats

There are two general formats for sessions.


  • Standard sessions are 75 minutes long. The specific format of a standard session (panel, workshop, etc) should be driven by desired outcomes of the specific session and clear to attendees from the session description. We expect that each workshop topic will have 75-100 attendees. Some attendees will be new to BBBS or new to their role and some will have extensive experience. Roughly 50% of agency attendees are from agencies with less than $700,000 in annual revenue, 30% of agency attendees are from agencies with $700,000-$1,499,000 and 20% are from agencies with annual revenue over $1,500,000. We expect that all workshops will be valuable to leaders with all level of experience and from any size of agency. In your call for presentation, you should explain if your workshop will be best suited for a specific level of expertise or agency size.
  • Intensives are 30-minute workshops that take a deeper look at a specific topic. These intensives concentrate on specific strategies, best practices, tools, and resources around a specific topic (e.g., Social Media, eMentoring, etc.) and are geared toward a wide range of participants. Participants should come away from these intensives with a practical way to apply what they have learned.

 

 

Social Issues Summit

BBBSA has made a strong commitment to facing social issues. The summit will include a range of perspectives on bullying, poverty, social media, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Efforts should focus on including tools on how to tackle these adversities. Sessions proposals are strongly encouraged to reflect this value in their descriptions and the individuals participating as presenters.


Number of Speakers

Each session should have at least one presenter and no more than four who represent different organizations, to ensure a diverse range of voices and perspectives are represented in each session.

 

CONFERENCE CATEGORIES

Since 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been matching youth in meaningful, enduring, professionally supported mentoring relationships with adult volunteers who defend their potential and help them achieve their biggest possible futures. Big Brothers Big Sisters’ evidence-based approach is designed to create positive youth outcomes, including educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, higher aspirations, greater confidence, and improved relationships. Presenters are asked to submit proposals that carry the mission of building a strong infrastructure for growth and the future of the organization. Growth depends on implementation of next generation technology, innovation of one-to-one mentoring models to address community needs, transformational marketing to engage more volunteers and donors, and strengthening the tools, resources, and training for agencies.


There are five categories of workshop topics, along with a sample list of potential topics.

  • Fund Development
    • Moves Management for Major Donors
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Planned Giving
    • Monthly Donor Strategies
    • Bowl For Kids’ Sake
    • Evaluating your special events
    • Grant Writing/ Creating a Strategic Grant Plan
    • Emerging Technologies in Fundraising
    • Stewardships

  • Marketing 
    • Digital Communications
    • Marketing in a smaller market
    • Volunteer Recruitment
    • Client Recruitment
    • Engaging with Alumni
    • Using Data in Marketing

  • Program 
    • How to Review and Assess Data and Provide Feedback to Improve Quality Programming and Outcomes
    • Enrollment & Matching Best Practices
    • Program Evaluation Tools for New Managers
    • Strategies to Engage Bigs
    • Innovative Programs [Bigs in Blue/Workplace Mentoring/Beyond School Walls/High School Bigs/Technology-Enhanced Mentoring]
    • Partnerships with afterschool programs (4-H, Boys & Girls Club)
    • Training Bigs on how to talk to youth
    • Matchforce
    • Serving High School youth
    • Managing Match Relationships in tough situations
    • Parent and Family Engagement
    • Managing Caseloads
    • Child Safety
    • Trauma Informed Care
    • Apps for Programming

  • Board Governance
    • Budgeting for Financial Success
    • Young Professionals Board
    • Board Recruitment
    • Succession Planning

 

  • Leadership Development
    • Succeeding with a small staff
    • How to grow your small agency into a mid-size agency
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Managing Multiple Functions
    • Lead a conversation about serving [immigrant/rural/LGBTQ/low income/minority] communities
    • Time Management

  • Social Issues
    • Social Media and Bullying
    • Diversity
    • Equity
    • Inclusion



If you have any suggestions on external workshop presenters for any of these topics, please contact Charleston.Edwards@bbbsa.org.

Only one speaker for every workshop will receive a reduced conference registration rate of $300. Workshops can have additional speakers or panelists, but additional presenters will not receive discounted registrations as only one discount is being honored for each workshop.


INSTRUCTIONS:


To submit a workshop proposal for the 2019 Big Brothers Big Sisters National Conference, you will need to create a user account. To create a new account, click the Login button in the navigation menu, then click New User. Complete the information in the Profile section. Once all required information is entered, click the Save button.

Next, Click Submissions from the navigation menu and click add new. Note that you can choose to save & continue later, if you are still finalizing your proposal. Once you are ready to submit, click save & submit. You will not be able to edit your proposal once you click save & submit. After submitting your proposal, you will receive a confirmation email. If you don’t receive it, please check your spam folder and then contact us to confirm that we received your proposal.