AASA’s state affiliates will use the association’s national conference in Nashville to bring together their members over breakfast functions or evening receptions in conference city hotels, mostly the Omni.

This year, a dozen such events involving state associations are scheduled over the three days of the conference with some of the events serving as regional affairs that involve two or more neighboring state associations.

Other affiliate groups hold receptions as well for conference participants. These include the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Teachers College at Columbia University. The Urban Superintendents Association of America has planned a member breakfast and the Association of Christian Administrators will run a fellowship breakfast.

The use of the AASA national conference for such events is a practice that has existed for many years, though over time the number of such events has declined in number and some of the state groups have combined to host regional affairs for those attending the AASA conference.

(Jay Goldman is editor of Conference Daily Online.)