SIETAR USA CONFERENCE SWEEPSTAKES
You can win two free tickets for a tour of San Diego. To be a winner, just register for the conference prior to the Early Bird Deadline, September 15th. We will be randomly picking a name from the list of people who have registered early. It could be your name! Visit the Old Town Trolley Tour website for more information on the tours. We recommend the standard city tour but you can use the tickets for any tours they offer. And you get two so you can take a friend!
Some people have been asking questions about the program, such as:
What’s new this year? We have a new format: Pecha Kucha. Introduced in Japan, it is sweeping the world. It is a very focused, rapid-paced presentation of 20 slides with 20 seconds for each slide. So in a little more than 6 minutes, the presentation is done. It means the presenter has to be very organized and practiced. We have several courageous colleagues who are willing to try this format and we expect the sessions that contain 3-4 PKs to be more than interesting. Since we have Pecha Kucha, we eliminated poster sessions and TED talks. Taking a bit of a risk perhaps, but we want to keep at the forefront of innovations in conference organizing.
If I can only come one day of the conference, which day should I choose? That is hard because each day has its highlights not to be missed. But If it has to be only one day, consider Saturday. On Thursday and Friday there will be 32 sessions each day, but on Saturday there will be 40. We head into the day with concurrent sessions and there will be an excellent closing keynote performance and reflection, so plan to stay until the very end at 5:30. That is the day for the authentic Mexican lunch too!
Is there one thing I should be sure not to miss? Yes! Be sure to go on the Dine Around and return for dessert with the Mexican Consul General to San Diego, Ambassador Marcela Celorio. She will make brief remarks and there will be an open discussion.
How many sessions will there be at one time? How do I select which to attend? We will have 8 concurrent sessions most of the time. There are a few ways to make a selection. One is to follow one of the tracks; that cuts the 8 sessions to fewer from which to choose. This will give you an in-depth conference experience. If you want to dip into all 3 tracks, that will work too. If your interests are more general we call that the Building Bridges track and those will be the sessions of general interest, not in the tracks. You can choose based on the biographical information about the presenter(s). They might have something in common with your career. You can choose the sessions that seem to be most on target for your own work. You hold the keys to making the selections. It was our decision not to make those decisions for you from among the many excellent offerings.

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Seeking Nominations for the 2017 Margaret D. Pusch Founders Award
Nominations are being accepted for the 2017 Margaret D. Pusch Founders Award through September 1, 2017 at 11:59 pm EST. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated commitment and service to the SIETAR community and the intercultural field. Members of any SIETAR around the globe are eligible for the award. Candidates must be nominated by someone other than themselves. The nomination requires support from a minimum of two other individuals who can speak to the individual's intercultural work and service. Nominations and supporting information must be provided in a written format. Read more.
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Welcome New Board Members

Yulia Carson - Professional Development Director, 2017-18. Yulia has been in the field of intercultural training for 10 years and has spent most of her career facilitating intercultural programs, individual consultations and group programs, as an independent trainer and consultant. Today, she is a Manager of Global Talent Development at one of the field’s leading providers of intercultural training and global mobility solutions IOR Global Services. She manages all of the Learning and Development and intercultural assessment solutions and is also a recruiter and manager of the organization’s global trainer network.
Yulia’s educational background is in Cultural Anthropology. Currently, she is pursuing a Graduate Degree in Adult Learning and Organizational Change and Leadership Coaching Certification from Northwestern University.
On a personal note, Yulia is a native of Russia. For over 16 years now, she and her family have been living in Chicago, IL. Yulia is absolutely committed to the training field and intercultural education, convinced that intercultural professionals help make the world a better place one engagement at a time.
Laurette Bennhold-Samaan - Membership, Outreach & Diversity Director, 2017-18. Laurette is an international executive with over thirty years of experience in world-class organizations including The World Bank, Honda of America, Accenture, and the Peace Corps. Her expertise includes strategic planning, human resources, training, and partnering with corporate, government, educational, and international organizations.
Most recently, Laurette was Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Aperian Global (international consulting company serving 1/3 Fortune 100, government, non-profit and academic institutions) reporting directly to the Board. With 8 offices around the world, Laurette was responsible for Operations, Finance, IT, Global Mobility and Human Resources. Laurette currently sits on the Board for the African Education Network.
Laurette has been a trail blazer in most of her positions as Accenture’s Senior Manager of Global Mobility, and prior to that co-creating the global mobility department at The World Bank, supporting professionals and their families in preparation for assignments in over 100 countries. As the first Cross-Cultural Specialist with the Peace Corps, Laurette coordinated overall support for cross-cultural training in more than 90 countries worldwide, and managed and coached large global host country national teams. As a passionate leader known for integrity, reliability, and a pragmatic approach to empowering people across borders and cultures, she has delivered and evaluated programs in over 50 countries across Europe, Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and Asia.
She holds a Master in International Affairs focusing on cross-cultural communications and international business from Ohio University and has authored and co-authored several books. Laurette has been on the faculty with the University of Maryland International Division in Europe, Kingston College, and Strayer University. Originally from Egypt, Laurette has lived in Nigeria, Germany and Canada. She currently resides in Washington, DC with her family.
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News from SIETAR USA Local Groups
In an attempt to create stronger collaboration among SIETAR members, in particular for those who are geographically-dispersed and have a difficult time to make it to f2f meetings, local groups are currently discussing ways to create more collaborative online platforms to network and share best practices and resources. They are also hoping to offer a series of webinars that will be accessible to all local group members in the near future.
There are currently five active local groups—SIETAR Minnesota, SIETAR Pacific Northwest, SIETAR DC, SIETAR Bay Area, and SIETAR Florida. Click here to find links to these groups' pages. Additionally, there are a number of local groups in varying stages of development. SIETAR Ohio hopes to officially launch in Fall 2017 and its coordinators have been meeting every two weeks to create a mission statement and vision. Recently several SIETARians have taken initiatives to launch or resuscitate local groups in the Mid-Atlantic, Los Angeles and Rocky Mountain and are working to define details on their progress.
For more information on starting or joining a local group, please contact localgroups@sietarusa.org.
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Calls for Proposals
WISE Conference 2018 [Workshop on Intercultural Skills Enhancement]
WISE Conference 2018 invites colleagues to submit session proposals for next year's conference hosted by the Center for Global Programs & Studies at Wake Forest University. The submission deadline is Wednesday, September 13, 2017. Click here for session proposal information and submission form.
SIETAR India 6th International Conference
SIETAR India seeks speaker proposals for its International Conference by Saturday, September 30, 2017. The conference theme is Intercultural Competence 4.0, and will take place on February 17-18 in Pune. Click here for links to Proposal Overview and Submission Guidelines.
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SIETAR USA, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
P.O. Box 578, Westmont, IL 60559-0578
630-986-1469, fax 708-469-1642
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