Time Management Tips and Tricks

Do you feel like you never have enough time to get your work done? Do you struggle to find time for things that are important to you? Come learn some suggestions for how to improve your time management so you can enjoy life more. This session is based on the concepts in David Allen's book Getting Things Done.

Justina Grubor

Making PowerPoint Pop: Best Practices in Slide Design & Presenting

Many of us present using PowerPoint, but how many of us know how to create decks that pop? How do we design slides that demand attention and get results without distracting your audience? How do we build presentations that support, rather than overshadow the message you want to convey? By following the four C's of Business Communication (clarity, concision, creativity, and cohesion), we'll help you spiff up - and simplify- your presentations through sleek design principles and best practices in public speaking. Participants should bring a laptop to this session if possible.

Shenandoah Sowash, Caron Martinez

Breaking Bread: A "OneAU" Initiative

Breaking Bread is a RiSE-inspired initiative that supports a "OneAU" community between faculty, staff, and students. The program is the result of a collaboration between a faculty (Larry Engel, SOC) and staff (Nana An, OFT) member, and is intended to encourage a greater sense of satisfaction, recognition, and empowerment among faculty and staff, while also allowing students to get to know faculty and staff outside of the traditional classroom setting.

Bridget Cooney, Nana An

Do You Feel Like a Hero Yet? Game Design Lessons for Life

Video games are incredibly complex systems that utilize cutting edge technology to entertain. But they are empty systems if they do not resonate with the human players. Come explore the very human study of game design and discover lessons in empathy, motivation, and human psychology through games. Love games or think they're a waste of time, come learn why. Plus free Dungeons and Dragons dice for all participants.

Cole Wrampelmeier

Arboretum and Gardens Tour

Join AU's Arboretum and Grounds managers for a guided walking tour through our award-winning Arboretum and Gardens. Learn about the diverse collection of plants on campus, the various sustainable features in the landscape, along with interesting campus history. We guarantee you will learn something new about AU.

Kevin Wyatt

Living Fully Alive: Defining Your Life Mission Statement and Values

Through this workshop, we'll talk through defining your life's mission statement and values and what it means to live accordingly regardless of life's seasons and changes and various jobs throughout your career. Participants will have the opportunity to think through what motivates and drives them internally so as to live with focus, passion, and joy every day. This session will focus on defining the problem/problems you want to be a part of solving. Rather than asking what the world needs or looking to figure out your purpose based on what others say, ask what makes you come alive. For what the world needs is people who are fully alive.

Julie Walton

Supporting First-Year Students on AU's Campus

This presentation will update attendees about AUx, AU's new mandatory transition class for first-year students. Excerpts from students' written reflections will spark a discussion on the diverse experiences that first-year students bring to campus. Following a brief introduction of the foundational disciplines of the course, we will discuss how AUx has provided a supportive atmosphere for first year students to grow and develop academically, socially and culturally. The scope of the AUx pilot, the learning goals, and examples of instructional videos, readings, assignments, and the Blackboard course site will be shared. A pilot assessment will also be included.

Andrea Brenner, Jimmy Ellis

An Active Pursuit of Sustainability: Greening your Office

American University's goals of carbon neutrality by 2020 and Zero Waste are pillars of the AU community and culture. You can be a sustainability leader from any position and change agent within your department. Work toward university-wide goals while demonstrating leadership through the Green Office Program. This session will explore how individuals and offices can make small changes in an "active pursuit of sustainability" and walk through simple action checklists to provide concrete steps for offices to integrate sustainability into their daily operations and culture. Hear from the Office of Sustainability, Facilities Management, and CTRL, AU's first Gold level Green Office in an interactive session to explore sustainability in your lifestyle and office.

Hannah Debelius, Ruby Tavernier, Lindsay Murphy, Kim Pulford

Getting Down with Social Media

The presentation aims to introduce attendees to social media by teaching the basics.

Raheem Dawodu

Taking Charge of Your Happiness at Work: How Self-Care, Perspective, and Advocating for Yourself Can Turn Things Around

More than half of employees in the United States aren't satisfied with their current jobs. Considering we spend a substantial amount of our waking time working, this isn't good. Plus, it can be a detriment to other aspects of your life, too. Not all aspects of our jobs are out of our control. This session will focus on the factors we can take charge of and will provide advice on how to do so.

Abby Wolfe

Lessons of a Lifelong Learner: Making the Most of Professional Development

As Student Affairs professionals, we have unique opportunities throughout our campuses and in the cities we live in to enhance our professional development beyond conference attendance. This session will explore opportunities for graduate students and new professionals to seize experiences to create a robust professional development engagement.

Keesha Ceran

Fidget to Focus

This would be very similar to my presentation at the OCL staff retreat, a brief overview on sensory integration and fidget objects. This time I could include how fidget objects can also be a grounding exercise to a stressed out student or a student with anxiety.

Erica Gillaspy

Working Smarter and Harder: Physical Activity, Mental Health and Academic Success

Exercise and Physical Activity have long been associated with increases in physical health. Exercise has also proven to have a significant positive impact on many aspects of mental health, ranging from improvements in memory to decreases in levels of anxiety and depression. This presentation will explore the data that support these claims and offer methods to make positive transformations in your personal life and the lives of the students and staff who you support.

Chris Nasti, Katie Lundberg, Robert Beahm