preparing a college event for career technical education

Preparing a College Event for Career Technical Education

With Executive Director Kathy Johnson“Vital Link”

Elizabeth WeissIrvine Valley College

Acting Project Director/ CounselorCareer Technical Education

Planning a college career event can be very beneficial in introducing high

school students to the world of w

ork. K

eep in mind that it is very im

portant to invite em

ployers to the event to give students a chance to m

eet new people,

learn about careers they may never

have considered before, and to help them

start thinking about a career path for their future.

Students can get the most out of a

college career event if you organize it to help students understand how

careers and em

ployers relate to each other. It is also im

portant to use the event to teach students about C

areer and Technical Education and guide

them to enroll in courses that w

ill help them

meet their career goals.


Planning a college event is not a simple task, but the benefits make all the efforts

worthwhile. It can usually take 3-6 months to adequately

prepare and organize a successful event, therefore it is very important to develop a

timeline to help keep your event and yourself on track.

Helpful hints…


I attended two very successful events, Digital Media Arts event prepared by Kathy Johnson from Vital Link. This event was held on November 19th in Garden Grove for high school students in the area. Also I went to the Career Launch at Fullerton College for a CTE seminar on October 22nd.

Here are a few helpful hints of what I learned from Kathy Johnson to ease the process…


Scheduling & Planning• Timeline

– Choose the date of your event months in advance (Preferably 3-6 months)

– Coordinate your schedule around other activities that colleges and high schools have on their calendar.

– Determine the number of speakers you would like to invite to the event and the space availability.


– Determine your time frame of the day. Keep movement to a minimum between

sessions by grouping speakers accordingly and having a group of students rotate within the hour. Remember to keep in mind of each room capacity.

– Decide if you will let students select their session of interest or whether you will assign them to a sessions


Once you have a date, have reserved a location

and emailed and or mailed the invitations, what’s next?


Budget

– Typical expenses can include rental of transportation (i.e busses), table rental, food and drinks• For this reason, check with your local restaurants

and businesses to see if a donation can be made to support your event.

• Determine how much food and drinks you will need once you have a count of the number of students attending the event.

– Don’t forget to include the speakers and staff members as well as the volunteers.

Planning a college event can become very expensive.


Need Help?Who do you ask?


Find help• Student volunteers are great resources. They

can help during the planning stages as well as on the day of the college event. For example, they can help with parking and help direct people where they need to go.

Announce the event • Announce the event at the next staff meeting.

Either form a committee to help with the event or ask staff members to recommend guest speakers.



Determine the space availability

This will also determine how many students you can hold in each room/auditorium and the amount of equipment you needto reserve for your event.

• Finalize and confirm the list of guest speakers. – Be sure to have a back up speaker just in case of

cancellations or no shows• Ask if they have any special equipment

needs.• Prepare a list of suggested questions to ask

the guest speakers just in case students seem to run out of questions to ask.

• Finalize the list of students that will in attendance.


Finalizing steps…

• Create an evaluation form to be filled out right before each student receives their lunch.– This can take the place of their lunch ticket so that

you can collect all the evaluations back from the students.

• Finalize the rotation schedule of presentations and groups of students.


• Send out reminders as the event gets closer. Advertise if possible, as the success of your college event will depend on it.


• Designate a “Check-in room or location This way you can easily direct students where they need to go.

One Month

before the event

Send out information to speakers & teachers:– Driving directions-if applicable– Instructions for check-in process – Schedule for the day– Confirmation of equipment needs


• On the day of the event, make sure you are organized.

• Make sure you have multiple lists of the attending schools. – You will sometimes have a few students

show up unannounced or no shows. • Have a central information station set

up where people can ask questions?


The Day of the Event

• Make sure the equipment requested by guest speakers is in it’s location and working.

• Confirm the food and drink order with the caterer, and confirm the delivery time and location to drop it off.



Volunteer duties– Escort guests speakers to assigned classroom

and students as they arrive.– Be available for any special needs, such as

water for guest speakers or equipment set-up– Be at the Check-in table to check off students

as they arrive.



• Distribute any important material along with the agenda to every teacher to give to their students upon arrival.

• Assist guest speaker with set-up.• Assist in directing each group of students to their

location.• Keep track of time

– This way each presenter doesn’t exceed their time limit which will help the event run smoothly and on time.

• Collect evaluation forms before lunch.• Help distribute drinks and lunch to speakers,

students and other staff members.


Volunteer responsibilities continue…

• Be easily available the day of the event. • If it’s in your budget, supply

refreshments or a snacks during the event.

• Do a walk through around every classroom to see how things are going.

• Most importantly, have fun and you event will be successful!


Simple last steps to follow…


Vital Link Sessions…

The End

Elizabeth Weiss

Irvine Valley College

Thank you to Kathy Johnson from Vital Link for taking time out to go over her structure of organization in

preparing for a college career event.http://www.vitallinkoc.org/

http://www.vitallinkoc.org/

preparing a college event for career technical education

Documents

college event

college career event

event months

career launch

career path

career goals

fullerton college

digital media arts event