Crafting a New Experience with eConnection: A Q&A with the NAFSA 2020 Annual Conference Committee Chair 

Planning for the NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo begins years before the global international education community descends on the event’s host city, and members who serve on the Annual Conference Committee (ACC) work behind the scenes to produce what has become the field’s must-attend event. But what happens when a global pandemic hits, preventing groups from meeting in person? 

International Educator spoke with Kathy Hammett, the chair of the 2020 ACC, about the inspired thinking and renewed commitment to community engagement that drove the creation of the 2020 NAFSA eConnection program, which begins Tuesday, May 26. Hammett also talks about highlights of the eConnection program, the importance of members “connecting and reconnecting” during this virtual event, and what she’s most looking forward to next year at the NAFSA 2021 Annual Conference & Expo. 

Hammett is the senior director of the Center for Global Engagement at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Planning for the NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo starts years before a member steps into the host city’s convention center. When did you become ACC chair for the 2020 conference in St. Louis, and when did planning begin in earnest?

[About] two and a half years ago, I was tapped to be the chair of this conference, so as such, I was on the Executive Committee for last year’s conference in Washington, D.C. The 2020 annual conference committee that has been working on pulling this all together started working on this almost a year and a half ago. Our first