April 7th, 2009
Group picture! Photo courtesy of Anh Nguyen.
We would like to thank all of you for coming out to VIA-1 2009! Your enthusiasm and participation made all of our hard work worthwhile.
Thank you to all the keynote and workshop speakers who shared their wisdom with everyone.
Additionally, special thanks to all the volunteers from IVSU, UVSA Midwest, Denver, and elsewhere who helped out so much. Our cozy little VSA wouldn’t have been able to host this conference without you all!
Finally, thank you to all the donors who contributed more than $13,000 for VietHope in the Polar Plunge fundraiser!
Please take the time to fill out this quick survey to help us make next year’s VIA-1 even better for you.
- NU VSA
April 3rd, 2009
VIA-1 2009 begins in less than 12 hours!
Registration tonight will begin at 5 PM in Parkes Hall, 1870 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201. Parking is free after 4 PM in most of the lots. See Northwestern campus map.
At 7 PM, we’ll have welcoming activities, which is also in Parkes Hall.
Activities include:
- Karaoke contest with judges and prizes. Start practicing in the shower tonight!
- T-shirt design contest.
- Fun games.
See you all tonight!
April 1st, 2009
There’s only a few more days until VIA-1 2009! Please take a look at the previous post for a checklist to help you get ready for the conference.
We’ll be doing registration check-ins on both Friday night and Saturday morning. Friday check-in begins at 5 PM in Parkes Hall. Saturday check-in begins at 8 AM and is also in Parkes Hall. You must check in to get your name tag, registration packet, and team assignment. Name tags are required for all workshops and the banquet.
This year we’re doing things a bit differently by splitting everyone into teams. This will promote more interaction between attendees from different schools. As a result, it is highly recommended that you arrive on Friday night to meet your teammates.
See you all very soon!
March 18th, 2009
The conference is just a little over two weeks away! We’re all very excited to be welcoming more than 170 (and counting) attendees to this year’s conference.
In order to make the conference as enjoyable as possible for yourselves, please make sure to:
- Book your hotel room! Hotel space in Evanston that weekend will be very limited due to other events going on. More hotel info.
- Find transportation. The carpool list might help. We’re also doing a pickup from Midway Airport at 4:00 PM on Friday so contact us if you’d like to arrange a pickup.
- Plan out what you want to do on Sunday afternoon after the conference. Chicago’s a great city and we’ve come up with a few highlights!
- Start thinking about what to pack. We know you won’t be packing until Friday morning, but here’s a list of things you should bring. Please note that there is a dress code for the events on Saturday.
And remember that today (Wednesday) is the last day for the regular registration period. After midnight the registration fee increases to $70 so if you’re still trying to convince someone to join you at VIA-1, now’s the time to do it. Registration form.
March 14th, 2009
We are extending regular registration until 11:59 PM EST Wednesday, March 18. Register before that time to save $20 on the registration fee!
Come Together with the more than 150 people who have already registered for VIA-1 2009!
VIA-1 2009 Registration Form.
March 12th, 2009
Please don’t ask us for stock tips because we are terrible at predicting how well things will do financially. Our original goal for the Polar Plunge was to raise $1000 for VietHope, but we quickly increased it to $2000 due to the success of the fundraiser.
Now, thanks to all your donations, we’re about to pass that number so we’re increasing the goal to $4000!
Please continue to contribute and spread the word about this worthy cause. Some quick statistics about VietHope:
- Its Community scholarship allows 500 primary school students to stay in school with just $15 per child annually.
- $150 covers a year’s tuition and supplies for a university student in Vietnam.
- All VietHope staffers are volunteers so 100% of your money goes to those who need it.
Contribute to the Polar Plunge!
Thank you for donating. And thank you to all the volunteers who are willing to brave Lake Michigan’s freezing waters!
March 11th, 2009
If something extremely important comes up and you are unable to attend the conference, we will grant refunds up to a week before the conference (March 28).
We have to set teams and finalize bookings so refund requests after that time will not be granted.
To request a refund, send an email to NU VSA.
March 10th, 2009
Thanks to all your donations, we raised over $800 in just one day! As a result, we’re increasing our fundraising goal for VietHope to $2000. According to VietHope, every $150 is enough to cover a year’s tuition and supplies for one university student in Vietnam!
To make sure everyone gets a chance to frolic in the lake, we’re changing the plunging requirement to top 5 fundraisers.
Donate and/or volunteer to raise money in the Polar Plunge.
For those of you who don’t want to donate online, we’ll also be collecting donations during the conference until breakfast on Sunday. This means that all plungers have to (bathing) suit up on Sunday for we won’t know the winner until after breakfast.
Update: We just passed our original goal of $1000 moments ago. That’s $1000 in less than a week of fundraising. Thank you again for all your donations!
March 9th, 2009
Using the trusty random number generator on our TI-83 calculator, we’ve selected the winner of our “get your registration fee back” contest!
And the winner is… Jennifer Luu from OSU.
Congratulations to her!
For those of you who haven’t registered, you can do so right here.
March 9th, 2009
Use the links above to see the latest schedule and workshops for VIA-1 2009! Highlights include:
- The addition of another keynote speaker.
- A dance workshop.
- The Polar Plunge!
- Debriefing time with your team after workshops.
