A lot of changes are happening at NIRSA, which will hold its annual conference and expo next month in Las Vegas.
For starters, NIRSA has shed its full title—National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association—and has added the tagline “Leaders in Collegiate Recreation” to its name. In the summer of 2011, the NIRSA Board of Directors initiated steps to put more emphasis on higher education within the Corvallis, OR-based association in addition to intramural and recreational sports.
“It became clear that our association provides a greater role in higher education than what is covered by the words comprising our long-standing acronym,” NIRSA wrote in a mailing to members last fall.
The change has occurred under the watch of Executive Director Pam Watts, who took over for Kent Blumenthal after he left NIRSA last year. The NIRSA Board of Directors appointed Watts in part to ensure operational stability through the March 3-7 conference, which this year is co-located with the American College Personnel Association (ACPA), a student affairs association.
The decision to co-locate the conference, the theme of which is “Inspiring Communities of Wellbeing,” with the ACPA is two-fold. Not only did this provide a chance to lock arms with another student affairs-based association in higher education, but according to NIRSA, the combined conference allowed for a bigger venue, in this case, Las Vegas. The show floor of the expo will be in the ballroom of the Paris Hotel. Planet Hollywood and Bally’s hotels also will hold combined events for the associations.
“There will be plenty of opportunities for attendees from each association to network at the combined events, including the opening and closing sessions, expo, the career center and all of the educational sessions,” NIRSA says on its website. “However, both associations are sensitive to the cultural and historical nature of these cornerstone association events, so many of our respective socials and meetings will be conducted independently, allowing for plenty of focused association time.”
After a student professional development preconference event on Sunday, March 3, the conference begins in earnest on Monday, March 4. That day, the third annual NIRSA community service project will involve Opportunity Village, a not-for-profit organization that serves children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the southern Nevada community. The NIRSA Foundation golf tournament also takes place on Monday at the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort.
The expo hall will be open from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, March 4; from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5; and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6.
Author and TV host Melissa Harris-Perry, along with actor BD Wong, are the featured speakers. Harris-Perry, a political science professor at Tulane University who also is a host of her own show on MSNBC weekend mornings, will speak at the opening general session from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 4, in the Theater for the Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood.
Wong, who appeared on NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and won the Tony Award for his performance on Broadway in “M. Butterfly,” will speak at the closing general session, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, in the celebrity ballroom at Planet Hollywood.
Last year’s NIRSA conference in Tampa, FL, attracted 2,327 attendees. With the co-located conference this year, NIRSA is projecting more attendees in Las Vegas.
This will be the first and likely last co-located conference for NIRSA, which does not have plans to discuss co-locating another conference with ACPA or any other organization. NIRSA has a contract with Gaylord Hotels to hold the next four conferences at the Gaylord Opryland just outside of Nashville, TN (April 22-25, 2014), the Gaylord Texan outside of Dallas (March 29-April 1, 2015), the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL (April 3-6, 2016) and the Gaylord National outside of Washington, DC (Feb. 20-23, 2017).
In addition to a revised name, a new-look conference and new conference sites in future years, NIRSA is scheduled to go live with its redesigned website this month.
Trying out equipment is a highlight of the NIRSA conference. Photo courtesy of NIRSA.
Sunday, March 3
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. – Student professional development preconference
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. – Career opportunities center
Monday, March 4
8 a.m. - 3 p.m. – Preconference workshops/trips/community service project
8 a.m. - 3 p.m. – NIRSA Foundation golf tournament
8 a.m. - 3 p.m. – Career opportunities center
3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. – Opening general session
6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. – Recreational sports exposition
6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. – New member welcome
7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. – Student social
Tuesday, March 5
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. – Educational sessions
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. – Career opportunities center (NIRSA portion closed 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.)
9 a.m. - 10 a.m. – Educational sessions
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – Annual meeting of the members and awards recognition
Noon - 5 p.m. – Recreational sports exposition
12:45 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. – T-shirt exchange
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – Educational sessions
2:45 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. – Poster presentations
3 p.m. - 4 p.m. – Educational sessions
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. – Educational sessions
5 p.m. - 6 p.m. – Afternoon workout
6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. – Lee Wasson people of color social (program starts at 7 p.m.)
8:30 p.m. - 1 a.m. – All-conference social/alternate social
Wednesday, March 6
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. – Committee meetings
8 a.m. - 9 a.m. – Early morning workout
8 a.m. - 4 p.m. – Career opportunities center (NIRSA portion closed 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
9 a.m. - 10 a.m. – Educational sessions
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. – Educational sessions
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. – Student member connection meeting
11 a.m. - 3 p.m. – Recreational sports exposition
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. – Take-a-student-to-lunch
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – Educational sessions
3 p.m. - 4 p.m. – Educational sessions
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. – Regional member network connections and socials
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. – LGBTQ and friends social
7:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. – Independent socials
Thursday, March 7
7 a.m. - 8 a.m. – Fun run/walk
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. – Educational sessions
10 a.m. - 11 a.m. – Educational sessions
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – Educational sessions
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. – Past presidents luncheon
1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – Closing general session
5 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. – Regional award of merit reception
5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. – Honor award banquet
8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. – Post-honor award banquet reception