Special Needs IECA Survey Results

Last month we invited you, along with more than 1,000 of your colleagues, to provide us with feedback on a number of ideas about ways to make the IECA conferences more meaningful and valuable to you, your practice, your business or school or program. Hundreds responded and we are grateful for your honest feedback. We promised to respond and so here are the survey results along with an explanation of what we will do, might do in the future, and won't do! First, you should know that of the responses we got, 37% were from IECA members, 7% from program therapists or counselors, 50% from program administrators or admission/marketing staff with the balance representing vendors, and other colleagues.

[1] One suggestion was to extend the Traditional Boarding School and College Fair by an hour on Thursday morning, and allow special needs program reps to join consultants for the final hour to allow for school-to-program networking. Of those expressing an opinion on this issue, 85% of respondents were in favor.

Our Response: We have extended the Fair by 45 minutes (the most we could find) in Ohio this fall, and all special needs program reps will be invited in for the final hour.

[2] The next proposal was to change to an expo format: programs would each get a 10X10 booth to staff for 3 full days with consultants choosing when they wish to go to the expo hall instead of educational programming. Of those responding, 28% were in favor.

Our Response: We have tabled this proposal and will not move toward a large exposition hall.

[3] We asked you to consider a change that would ensure a period of overlap-when all conference attendees: schools, colleges, special needs programs and consultants would all be in attendance at the same time. Of those giving us an opinion on this topic 93% were in favor.

Our Response: Much of the Ohio program was already created, but we were able to rework it. After the final hour of Thursday morning's School & College Fair there will be breakouts and a lunch with a wonderful speaker, for all attendees. There will also be opportunities while everyone is in attendance for networking in Conference Central.

[4] We asked how you felt about the desire of IECA members to have some educational sessions just for consultants, allowing them opportunities for free discussion on topics of particular interest to them. Of those responding 86% (and more than 95% of IECA members) were in favor.

Our Response: We will implement this change. This will mean more breakout times for special needs representatives, but that one or two at each time period will be designated for educational consultants only.

[5] We asked about bringing back the Saturday morning "Program Showcases" (short presentations by programs) from time-to-time. Of those with an opinion, 72% were in favor.

Our Response: We will hold two showcases on Saturday morning in Ohio, allowing up to 30 programs to offer brief presentations. There will be no cost to programs to be included, although there will be limited number of spots available.

[6] We asked about the proposal we've heard from some to eliminate the Information Swap completely and let networking occur more naturally. Just 23% were in favor of this option.

Our response: We won't go there!

[7] We asked about the Master Class that has been offered with a nationally known expert offering an intense 3-hour session. The responses:
24% wanted to keep them as they are
21% wanted to keep them, but shorten them a bit
23% wanted to eliminate them
12% wanted us to switch to something more interactive
20% wanted to eliminate all Saturday programming

Our Response: Clearly opinion is all over the place, although most IECA members wanted to keep the Master Class concept either in its present form or shorter. In Ohio we have arranged for one of the nation's top experts on bi-polar disorders. The session will be 2 hours (rather than 3) in part, to ensure time for the Program Showcases.

[8] We asked about shifting to one conference a year, rather than two. Of those with an opinion, 56% were in favor.

Our Response: This question impacts more than just the therapeutic community, and so, we need the opinion not just of the Special Needs schools and consultants, but the college, traditional boarding schools, vendors, gap year, consultants, etc. All results will go to the Board, as this represents a policy decision. The Board will see your opinion.

We also asked for comments. We read hundreds of them. A few items came up enough that we wanted to mention them and provide the answers you deserve:

A. Can you require IECA Members to attend the Swap? We do encourage them strongly and perhaps we need to do more. But remember, not all consultants do special needs, so some do not attend the Swap, just as some consultants who do ONLY special needs do not attend the School & College Fair.

B. Have more interactive and point/counterpoint sessions like we had in Charlotte. We agree, please suggest topics!

C. Can't we have more conferences in the West? We do need to pay more attention to conference cities. We have Dallas, TX scheduled for 2011 and San Diego, CA scheduled for 2013.

D. Consider holding one conference a year just for schools and colleges, and the other just for special needs. We'll have the Strategic Planning task Force look into this idea. One fear is that one of those may get many more participants leaving programs or schools very frustrated. It also hurts the effort requested above for more interaction between therapeutic programs and traditional schools.

E. Can you offer CEUs for MSWs and psychologists? We'll look into doing that. If we can, we will.

F. Why do special needs programs pay for a full week, but only get to attend for a few days? Why don't we get to attend as much as schools or colleges? This is a misperception that I would like to correct once and for all. Traditional schools, colleges, therapeutic schools and programs all pay the same fee, and all have the same amount of time at the conference. Schools and colleges attend from Wednesday mid-day to Thursday afternoon. Therapeutic programs attend from Friday morning to Saturday mid-day. When therapeutic programs requested more interaction with traditional school representatives a few years ago, we began allowing school reps to visit the Therapeutic Information Swap one hour prior to its opening. (And based on the suggestion above, you will now be attending 2+ days.) Only consultants attend for the entire 3-1/2 days of the conference. IECA member consultants pay less, as their dues cover a portion of the conference. Everyone is treated as fairly as possible. The conference fee is comparable to other conferences, and unlike some others we do not charge extra for tables at the Swap or Fair.

G. Have you considered holding one national and several regional conferences each year? The Strategic Planning Task Force, a regional group task force and the Board of Directors are looking into these issues right now.

H. Why is the Therapeutic program always at the end? Why not alternate so that every other conference the Therapeutic days are at the beginning? What looks like an obvious possibility is simply not feasible. More than 100 educational consultants participate in college campus visits prior to the start of the conference. Typically this involves 7 - 8 colleges over three days. Others visit 3 - 5 boarding schools.
Members consider these visits a central part of their conference experience. When therapeutic schools and programs exist near the conference city, they are typically spread out, allowing one or two such visits. In any case these visits must occur on a weekday. If the college part of the program was set later in the week,
Friday and Saturday, it could then take consultants out of the conference hotel on the days that therapeutic programs are available. Remember that 80% of those doing therapeutic placements also do schools or colleges, so the chances of consultants opting for tours over the Swap are unacceptable. A secondary reason is that we commit to certain hotel room pick up (booked rooms per night) years in advance, and we are required to pay for unused rooms. When attendees are unsure of the schedule (due to constant shifts) they tend to book the whole week, only to cancel rooms at the last minute. Such last minute cancellations, which marked our earlier events prior to the format change in 2007, run into hundreds of rooms with penalty fees over $100,000. So while we can't 'flip' the days, we try to do everything we can to meet all attendees needs.

I. Can you increase the participation of educational consultants? The numbers seemed low in Toronto.
It didn't just seem that way as the number of attending consultants was low. Some attendees LOVED it and said it made for quality discussions. Others felt frustrated. Don't worry though: no more Canada meetings for a long time. As someone else pointed out in their survey: remember that some of what we all are seeing is the impact of the terrible economy, not necessarily ongoing concerns.

J. Can we have more clinical sessions? This ties in with a concern we heard from consultants: Programs used to send a therapist or programming person. Today, most send marketing and admission reps. Consultants would prefer hearing from those who work directly with students. The more such attendees we have the more clinically-based presentations we can offer. (And the happier consultants will be!)

K. Finally: Can't you do something to allow for more networking during the conference? Conference Central has proved to be a great addition. In Ohio, thanks to your suggestions, we will be expanding the time for breaks to promote more networking. We think you'll notice the difference. Colleagues, I hope the above information demonstrates our commitment to keeping a dialogue going toward making all of your interactions with IECA and our members positive, valuable, and cost effective. As you can see, wherever possible we effected change immediately with most suggestions being implemented this fall in November. We'll be in touch soon after to see whether you noticed the differences. The 2010 Fall Conference is in Cincinnati, November 4 - 6. Registration will open the first week of August and all information will be available on our Web site. We hope to see you there!

Have a wonderful summer,

Mark H. Sklarow
Executive Director, IECA