Upcoming Events and Conferences

We are very excited to be attending or hosting the following events:

Don't miss the 2012 eBOARD User Conference.  Click here to learn more and register!

Alabama Association of School Boards - Annual Convention

December 8-10, 2011

•  Attend our clinic session: Education Transformation Through Technology

Friday, December 9th

Smoother, smarter school system management is just a clinic session away. Speakers will introduce you to technology that aligns board meeting agendas and board/superintendent evaluations with your school system’s strategic plan. Post policies online and receive immediate community feedback. Become a leadership team that combines best practices for governance and technology to be effective, transparent and good financial stewards.

Past Events

School Superintendents of Alabama Fall Conference

October 16-18, 2011

Marriott Shoals, Florence, AL

Come see our presentation:

"Education Transformation through 21st Century Governance"

2011 MSBA Annual Conference

September 29 - October 2, 2011
Tan-Tar-A Resort ⋅ Osage Beach, MO

Come to our concurrent session:

  Education Transformation through
21st Century Governance

Saturday, October 2, 2011
Room: 74/75

With local boards of education and superintendents being the transformation teams for effective governance, aligning strategic plans, meetings, policies, and evaluations is the foundation for success. Using technology tools for integrating the work of the leadership team yields efficiency, communication, and demonstration of accountability and responsibility from the boardroom to the school level. This session shares the framework of governance for continuous improvement in education with the technology structures to accomplish the work of the district—not simply with going paperless but with alignment of the work as well.

Presenters:

• Mark Willis, EBS COO and Assistant Executive Director, GSBA
• Diane Sandifer, former GA local board member, NSBA board member, and EBS Account Team Leader, GSBA

AAEA Summer Conference (Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators)

Date: August 1-3, 2011
Location: Peabody Hotel
Little Rock, AR

NSBA Southern Region Conference

We hope to see you there!

Date: July 13 - 15, 2011 
Location: Grove Park Inn
Asheville, NC 28804

AASB Summer Conference

June 9-12 at the Perdido Beach Hotel

We are very excited to be with the great folks in Alabama at the AASB Summer Conference.  Come visit with Diane and Lori in the eBOARDsolutions booth!

Click here to learn more and download the brochure.

GSBA Summer Conference & Delegate Assembly

June 17-18, 2011, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Savannah, Ga (Pre-conference training - June 15-16)
GSBA's block of rooms at the Hyatt Regency Hotel  are full. For overflow hotel information, please click here.

Keynote Speaker: Diane Ravitch

Connecting the Dots- Atlanta

This event is sponsored by Center for Digital Education
April 28th, 2011
Atlanta, GA

"This completely interactive event will examine hot issues and explore new ways to align educational strategic planning, technology, and available funding resources."

Diane Sandifer of eBOARDsolutions will be hosting one of the roundtable discussion on the topic of technology in governance.

ROUNDTABLE 2: Technology Planning and Governance in Georgia
How do we continue to provide quality educational experiences that will stimulate students, encourage teachers and increase parent interactions? In the face of less money and higher expectations, it is more important than ever to utilize technology and plan strategically to positively impact student achievement. The Georgia School Boards Association and the Georgia School Superintendents Association have joined forces to create a new vision for public education. This discussion will explore this vision; policy and funding; and how to create a culture of collaboration, accountability, leadership and transparency on both the state and local levels.

Click here to learn more and register.

2011 eBOARD User Conference

The conference was held on March 1st.  Click here to find out more!

NSBA 2011 Annual Conference, April 9-11, San Francisco, California

Pre-Conference Workshop:
"Inspecting What You Expect: Aligning Superintendent Evaluation and Board Self-Assessment"
                
Learn about a new planning model used by numerous school systems, both large and small, throughout the state of Georgia. This model aligns the school boards self-assessment and goals with the evaluation of the superintendent. The instruments and their link to strategic plan will be demonstrated and discussed.
 
Presented by: Tony Arasi, Director of Professional Development and Mark Willis, Assistant Executive Director, Georgia School Boards Association
 
Date/Venue- Two time slots
Friday,04/08/2011 9:00AM-12:00PM
and
Friday, 04/08/2011 1:30PM-4:30PM

Click here to find out more about the conference.

Alabama

• Event: AASB 2010 Convention
• Dates: December 2-4, 2010
• Location:  Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham
• Description: AASB's 2010 Convention will provide you with training to meet the modern-day challenges of governing.
• eBOARD-related sessions or events:  See below.

Clinic Session!

Title: Integrated Solutions for More Effective Governance

Speakers: Ric Ayers, Superintendent of Albertville City Schools and Lynita Jackson, eBOARDsolutions

Date/Time: December 3, 2010 at 1:00 p.m

Session Description:  See and hear how school systems across the nation (and in Alabama) are starting to use web-based tools for more effective governance. During this time you will see several areas demonstrated from paperless board packets to online searchable policies to the collaborative management of strategic plans and even superintendent evaluations! 

You will also see how each of the modules interconnect, align and streamline the work of our governance and leadership team—there is no other product like it.   

The tool, called eBOARD, will allow your school system to leverage technology in such a way that you are all focused on your strategic goal of improving student achievement while providing transparency and accountability to your stakeholders.   

Superintendent Ric Ayer of Albertville City Schools (one of several systems in Alabama currently using eBOARD) will share the results and progress of the implementation of eBOARD (and iPads) with his board!

 Arkansas

• Event: 2010 ASBA Annual Conference
• Dates: December 8-10, 2010
• Location:  Peabody Hotel and Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
• Description: This is an opportunity for leaders statewide to learn practical, hit-the-ground-running ideas for helping your schools achieve at even higher levels.
• eBOARD-related sessions or events: 

Strategic Planning, Paperless Meetings, Online Policies, and Electronic Evaluations: Technology Tools for Governance

Former NSBA Board Member in 07-08, Diane Sandifer shares a continuous improvement model for excellence in governance through strategic planning, paperless meetings, online policies, and electronic evaluations as tools.  Diane formerly served as Georgia School Boards Assocation President in 06-07 and was a member of the Harris County Board of Education in Georgia from 98-08.  Diane brings her local, state, and national perspective of effective board leadership while sharing best practices for a system's focus on student achievement.

  Georgia

• Event: GSBA Annual Conference
• Dates: December 3-4, 2010
• Location:  Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta, GA
• Description: Each year the Georgia School Boards Association/Georgia School Superintendents Association holds an Annual Conference and pre-conference training activities in December at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta, Ga. In addition to pre-conference workshops, panels are held to discuss the issues that affect public education in Georgia.
• eBOARD-related sessions or events: 

Panel Discussion: Best Practices in the Use of Technology for Effective Governance

Description:
Through a grant from Georgia Power, four school districts completed a series of self-evaluations, external reviews and professional development with staff to improve how technology can help them to do their work more efficiently while modeling best practices in governance and leadership.  Representatives from each district will share the results of this project and advice on how other districts in Georgia can leverage these tools.

Facilitated by:
Mark Willis, Georgia School Boards Association
Panelists from Barrow County Schools, City of Decatur Schools, Jeff Davis Schools, Richmond County Schools

Effective Board Meetings: Practical Advice and the Application of New Technologies

Description:
This hands-on session will lead you through the development of an agenda through the board meeting itself using the best blend of know-how of a former board chair and current superintendent and the use of new technology tools such the new eBOARD Meetings “app” for the Apple iPad.

Facilitated by:
Diane Sandifer, Georgia School Boards Association
Buster Evans, Superintendent, Forsyth County Schools
Dr. James Kelley, Apple

Your Strategic Plan- Creating it is one thing.  Managing it is another.

Description:
A failure to plan is a plan to fail. Strategic planning is critical for any organization to successfully achieve its mission. Often organizations go through an elaborate strategic planning process only to find that the bigger challenge is in the execution of the plan. These elaborate plans get put in binders and tend to die sitting on the shelf. Organizations struggle with how to keep up with all aspects of the plan and either give up or do so through a labor intensive process using word processing and spreadsheet documents and graphs. In this session you will explore all of the process of the development of a plan but also how to use technology to more efficiently monitor, track, manage and report on strategic plans. You will see how your district can effectively communicate plans to all stakeholders while allowing employees to focus on their areas of responsibility while understanding how their work fits into the overall plan.


Facilitated by:
Tony Arasi, Director of Board Development, Georgia School Boards Association
Mark Willis, Georgia School Boards Association


Fine-tuning your Evaluation Instruments (with a Technology Twist)

Description:
During this session you will hear the latest news and requirements on the instruments used for Board Standards, Board Self-Assessment and Superintendent Evaluations. As you know, the standards for best practice in board governance and organizational excellence include a cycle of continuous improvement.  Part of this improvement cycle is frequent assessments of how well the leadership team works together.  The team will walk you through the proper development and implementation of the evaluation process which should address the expectations of performance goals and also include a way to gather feedback, discuss options and result in corresponding action plans for improvement.  This will be facilitated by eBOARD’s new Evaluation Module, a web-based application designed to assist systems with streamlining and enhancing the evaluation process.

Facilitated by:
Billy Johnson, Bill Sampson, Board Development Consultants, Georgia School Boards Association
Diane Sandifer, Georgia School Boards Association

 North Carolina

• Event: NCSBA Annual Conference
• Dates: November 15-17, 2010
• Location:  Sheraton Four Seasons/Koury Convention Center  in Greensboro, NC
• Description: This is the major conference for North Carolina board members each year, and NCSBA strives to include presentations about the hottest educational issues. Included are featured speakers, the Delegate Assembly, and board member recognition and celebration. The conference is conveniently held in Greensboro.
• eBOARD-related sessions or events: 

Currituck Schools and eBOARDsolutions: Successful Implementation of Governance Software Tools

Currituck Superintendent Meghan Doyle, Administrative Assistant Yvette Jones, former NSBA board member/Harris County GA Board Chair Diane Sandifer and Head of eBOARDsolutions' Training and Support Lynita Jackson share their successful implementation of eBOARDsolutions' software products for effectiveness in governance in Currituck County Schools.  These leaders share their use of eBOARDsolutions' 21st century web-based integrated suite of software products for strategic planning, paperless meetings, evaluations, communications, and documents.  Learn from their first-hand experiences about continuous improvement and excellence in governance through the use of technology as experienced by Currituck's Leadership Team.

What's New in 21st Century Tools for Governance!

Former NSBA board member/Harris County GA Board Chair Diane Sandifer and Head of Training/Support Manager Lynita Jackson of eBOARDsolutions share the use of 21st century tools for continuous improvement and excellence in governance for a school system's leadership team.  eBOARDsolutions' paperless board meetings software is accessible on the new iPad!  The new EBS evaluation module allows for board self-assessments, superintendents' evaluations, and accreditation framework to be handled electronically.  Learn how these web-based integrated tools for governance align the work of the district in an easy-to-use way!

Cost Effective Meetings for Excellence in Governance

Former NSBA board member/Harris County GA Board Chair Diane Sandifer and Head of Training/Support of eBOARDsolutions Lynita Jackson share effective meetings management and demonstrate the cost effectiveness of implementing technology in governance through software tools.  Accountability, responsibility, and transparency are the result of alignment of a system's work.

 Wisconsin

• Event: Wisconsin State Education Convention
• Dates: January 19-21, 2011
• Location:  Frontier Airlines Center  in Milwaulkee, WI
• Description: This is the 90th year for the WASB, WASDA and WASBO conference
• eBOARD-related sessions or events:

21st Century Tools for Effective Governance
Superintendent Pat Neudecker (2010 AASA President) of Oconomowoc Area School District, her Administrative Assistant Sue Snyder, and former NSBA board member/Harris County GA Board Chair Diane Sandifer share the successful implementation of eBOARDsolutions' software products for effectiveness in governance.  Oconomowoc is a winner of NSBA's Digital School Board Survey 2010 Award.  Learn how eBOARD's 21st century tools assist in continuous improvement and goals for excellence.
.
Day: Thursday, January 20, 2011
Time: 8:15-9:15 am
Facility: FAC
Room: 102 D/E