Secular Student Alliance 2022 Student Leadership Summit
Conference Schedule
All times are in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). All workshops will be virtual and are subject to change.
Wednesday, July 27
9:30 AM
Welcome
Come unite with other like-minded students from across the country as we kickoff our Leadership Summit!
10:00 AM
Promoting Effectively on Campus
Promoting your chapter is essential for recruiting new members and gaining recognition for SSA. We will present effective strategies on how best to promote your chapter on your school's campus.
10:30 AM
How to Start a Chapter and Get Registered on Campus
Starting a new chapter can be a challenge, in this workshop we are going to walk through the steps involved with starting your chapter, finding an advisor, and becoming registered both with SSA and your school.
12:30 PM
How to Table Effectively
Setting up a promotional table on campus is one of the most effective ways your chapter can recruit new members and advertise on campus. We will show effective strategies on how to stay engaged and interact with other students at your table.
1:00 PM
Chapter Tech and Social Media with Louise Jett
SSA Social Media Manager Louise Jett will join us to discuss technology for your chapter can mean the difference between a chapter succeeding and not. Utilizing the tools available to us on social media can help our chapters grow and become stronger. This workshop will teach you how best to use technology for your chapter.
1:30 PM
First Chapter Meeting
The first meeting of a new chapter is an important milestone. It symbolizes a real start and immense progress by the members. We'll go step-by-step over the process of running a chapter meeting. From calling the meeting to order, to action items, to adjournment.
Thursday, July 28
10:00 AM
Guide to a Chapters First Year
The first year is the most important for any chapter. We’ll go over yearly events and how to prepare for them, and how best to develop your chapter throughout the year.
10:30 AM
Planning an Event and Booking a Speaker
We want our chapters to host great events, but this can be a challenge for new chapters. In this workshop we’ll help you plan, promote, and host any event you might want to have on your campus. We’ll also cover how best to book a great speaker for your event.
11:00 AM
Being an Effective Student Leader
A leader with no followers is just someone taking a walk. Our chapters cannot thrive without effective leaders. This workshop will give you the tools to succeed in leading your chapter and growing its presence on campus.
12:30 PM
Engagement and Vision with Clara Clasen
UTSA Chapter President Clara Clasen will join us as we discuss how recruiting new members only goes so far, we have to keep them engaged long-term if we want to keep recurring members. We’ll go over strategies on how best to keep members engaged as well as dealing with potentially problematic individuals.
1:00 PM
Branding and Communication Strategies
Effective marketing and branding of your chapter is essential to further chapter development. We will show you how best to market your chapter to the world. There’s no second chance at a first impression!
1:30 PM
Advocacy and Creating Change
Building a chapter means nothing if that doesn’t translate to real world change. We’ll explore how to be the best advocates and how to create the change we want to see in the world.
Friday, July 29
10:00 AM
How to Fundraise with Zach Shedd
UTSA SSA Member Zach Shedd will discuss fundraising ensures that your chapter can host events on campus or attend next year's conference. We’ll cover the best strategies that chapters use to fundraise effectively and how your chapter can best utilize them.
10:30 AM
SSA in the Larger Secular Movement
SSA is one of many members of the overall secular community. We work with many organizations who work to further the secular cause. We partner with groups such as American Atheist’s, Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), American Humanist Association, and many more! In this workshop we’ll discuss how we partner with different organizations to help our chapters.
11:00 AM
Leadership Development: Training the Next Group of Student Leaders with Dave Rodriguez
Former CA LULAC State Director Dave Rodriguez will join us in discussing identifying the next group of student leaders is essential to keeping chapters going. If we don’t actively identify and train our future leaders, our chapters will not last long. This is essential to long-term success for our chapters. In this workshop we’ll have step-by-step instructions on how best to develop our next group of leaders.
11:30 AM
Growing Your Chapter for the Future with Malik Lendell
Former UMSL SSA Chapter President Malik Lendell join us to discuss how constantly recruiting new members is obviously important, but we need to be growing our chapters in as diverse ways as possible. Diversity is our strength and we must be constantly trying to broaden our horizons. We’ll explore strategies on how your chapter can always be looking to grow its membership in a diverse and equitable way.
12:00 PM
Conclusion
Student membership is always free. Become a member of the largest and fastest-growing secular student organization in the country.
As an SSA alumnus, you are always part of the SSA family. Your alumni membership helps provide free student memberships to continue to grow the SSA family.
Through your membership, you are making an investment in thousands of secular students across the country. Membership support is critically important to fulfilling our mission.
