Student Column: For Meaningful Conference Experiences: Strategic Plans for the 2012 ICA Conference “Communication and Community”

Sojung Claire Kim, University of Pennsylvania and Diana Nastasia, Southern Illinois University The 62nd ICA Annual Conference is about a month away. We are delighted to have this year’s ICA conference in Phoenix, the capitol and the largest city of the state of Arizona.To encourage more productive, engaging, and meaningful ICA conference experiences among students, this month’s student column will focus on offering some useful tips for advance conference planning. Diana Nastasia (Southern Illinois University), the co-chair of the ICA student affairs committee, emphasizes the importance of the advance conference participation planning, by sharing her own experience: “I always consult the online conference program carefully before coming to the ICA conference. In the weeks before the conference, I just spend 10-15 minutes browsing through panels, paper sessions, special sessions, and events of the divisions that I am interested in or affiliated with. I save the information about the activities that I would like to attend, and I keep a file of this information. It makes my life so much easier at the convention! When I’m there, I know exactly where I want to go, whom I would like to meet, what exciting events are there. This also leaves me time to walk around and enjoy the surroundings.” Since the ICA provides various outlets for conference attendees to receive information, participate, socialize, and discuss conference-related activities – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, mobile app, ICA official website — do not forget to check them out in advance for your own benefits! Here are some specific conference planning tips: – Be sure to submit the most updated and revised version of your paper by 30 April. – Preregister for the ICA conference by 4 May 11:00 PM EST: The early registration guarantees the lowest prices. By pre-registering, you can avoid waiting in line at the conference to register and also secure all the necessary conference materials. – Register for the ICA pre-conferences of your interest: 15 pre-conference opportunities will be featured this year in Phoenix. All the pre-conferences will be held on Wednesday (23 May) and Thursday (24 May). Some will be held in the conference hotel (Phoenix Sheraton Downtown Hotel) and others will take place at either Arizona State University or University of Arizona in Tucson. These are paid workshops, but student discounts are available for many of them. Below are specific pre-conference workshop topics available for 2012 conference attendees: New Media and Internet Communication and Communities in China Mobile Communication, Community, and Locative Media Practices: From the Everyday to the Revolutionary Borders, Migration, Community: Arizona and Beyond Political Communication Graduate Student Workshop New Media and Citizenship in Asia: Social Media, Politics, and Community-Building Political Communication in the Online World: Innovation in Theory and Research Designs It’s More Than Just A Game: Best Practices In Video Game Research Design and Methodology Organizational Communication Junior Scholar Workshop 2012 Communication and the Ethics of Consumption Third Communication and Technology Doctoral Consortium Historiography as Intervention Communicating Across Geographies, Communities and Divides Health Communication Interventions Addressing Health Disparities Occupy ICA Communication and Community: Bridging Disciplinary Divides Media Research in Transnational Spheres – Take full advantage of the ICA virtual conference from 14 May to 8 June! Based on the feedback received from the first virtual conference in Boston, the ICA is excited to introduce new and innovative programming for its second virtual conference in Phoenix. 45 featured academic papers: To facilitate rich, scholarly discussions, each division has selected two papers for the virtual conference online session. In addition to be presented in the physical (offline, in-person) Phoenix conference, these selected papers will also be uploaded to the virtual conference site and available to download for all conference participants. During the virtual conference, each paper’s respondent, author(s), and any other interested scholars can participate in an online discussion through message postings. 28 hours of sessions streamed live: For those who are not able to attend the physical conference in Phoenix, there will be 28 hours of live streaming of sessions. The schedule of these sessions is now available on the ICA website and scholars can join the chat sessions for interactions. – Make sure to finalize your travel plans to Phoenix, AZ: All ICA conference attendees are offered special discounted rates on the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel stay, flights through American Airlines and United Airlines, and car rental through AVIS. Since the conference host hotel is always very popular, be sure to make a reservation at your earliest convenience to secure a room. – Check the conference program in advance for scholarly and social activities of interest: The conference program is now available on the ICA website. By checking the program in advance, you can make plans of what scholarly sessions you want to attend by knowing the theme of the sessions, reading abstracts of papers, and finding established scholars you would like to meet. Moreover, you can find social events and make plans of networking and socializing with scholars from different institutions.