[Oasfaa] FW: [SWASFAA Team Chatter] SWASFAA Conference Mini-Site

[Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC)]

Another great blog post from Andrew! 

Mendy Schmerer, M.Ed.
Assistant Director
Office of Student Financial Aid
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
1106 N. Stonewall, Rm 301
Oklahoma City, OK  73117
(405) 271-2118, x 48817 (p)
(405) 271-5446 (f)
Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu 
http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/ 

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-----Original Message-----
From: SWASFAA Team Chatter [mailto:blog at swasfaa.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 10:11 AM
To: Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC)
Subject: [SWASFAA Team Chatter] SWASFAA Conference Mini-Site

SWASFAA Team Chatter has posted a new item, 'SWASFAA Conference Mini-Site'

I hope everyone survived the craziness of August. I always feel like I have a touch of PTSD after getting through the first couple of weeks of a new semester.
This year I survived mostly unscathed, just a little sleep-deprived. But I haven’t had a full night’s rest since 1994, so I’m not sure I can blame my restless nature on work stress.

Now that the beginning of school is over, hopefully everyone will have a chance to check out the SWASFAA Conference Mini-Site. This is where you can find details about Boot Camp, the Leadership Workshop, and the Annual Conference.
Hotel information, registration details, tentative agendas, travel information, exhibitor options, restaurants—everything is here, folks, so please take a few minutes to peruse the site.

Here is a rundown of the three main events that will take place during the first week of November:

Boot Camp remains one of the most popular events that SWASFAA offers. This is a great opportunity for people who are new to financial aid and want some intense training, but it’s also an option for more seasoned professionals who need a refresher course on subjects like verification, loans, campus-based aid, R2T4, and SAP. Boot Camp begins at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, November 3rd and will end before lunch on November 5th. You’ll get the equivalent of two full days of financial aid training, but even more importantly, you’ll make lots of friends with other people in the profession—friends that you will rely on to help you throughout your career. 

The Leadership Workshop is a half-day seminar that we decided to offer based on feedback from the financial aid community. People said they needed more training in management issues and on how to take the next step in their careers.
Sometimes we get so bogged down with regulations that we forget that professional development is equally important. Whether you've been in financial aid for six months or thirty years, there’s always room for growth.  At this workshop, you will have the opportunity to learn more about the different personality types, which can help you to interact better with families, co-workers, and students who want their money RIGHT NOW. This workshop will take place on the morning of November 5th, so if you are coming to New Orleans the day before the conference, you can spend the next morning honing your leadership skills. 

 The Annual Conference will start at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 5th. You won’t want to miss our keynote speaker, Sally Ann Roberts, an anchorwoman in New Orleans and sister of Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts. As always, we will have speakers from the Department of Education and NASFAA, who will update us on the hot topics in the financial aid community. Are you still confused about how to determine 150% subsidized loan eligibility? Do you need help preparing a default management plan and developing financial literacy materials?
Is safety on campus a concern at your school? We’ll have sessions on all these things and more. If you still have questions after the sessions, then the trainers will be more than happy to talk to you afterward. We will also have several panel sessions, in which you will learn different perspectives from various sectors in the financial aid community. We’ll finish up with the Federal Update on Friday morning, November 7th.

Even though November seems like a long way off, it will be here before we know it. In the meantime, I will be traveling to the state conferences in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas in the first half of October. I’ll blog about my experiences at the state conferences in the weeks ahead. If I don’t see you at one of the state visits, then I hope to see you when we gather in New Orleans for a several days of training, networking, and (of course) fun!

You may view the latest post at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://swasfaa.org/b/general/minisite/&k=7DHVT22D9IhC0F3WohFMBA%3D%3D%0A&r=3FzektddOA%2BuX1sZs6OX4Y4OSdCLjHnFYl%2FJvLARkCU%3D%0A&m=NU5P2oqLb2smQfRSRwblIXnR8Ql9uOZ9praf87RQ8h4%3D%0A&s=469ad49891ca362840229d0f10791cdbae5228f990ddfe6f1b9725d2f29963c7

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