Comments from Participants
Comments from Participants
“Each time I’ve attended NETMCDO, I’ve come away from the experienced energized by interactions with colleagues. So much of the concert season and the academic year is focused on 'doing'. The NETMCDO conference is a time to think, hear informed perspectives, ask questions, and re-charge my artistic batteries! Grateful for the Zoom format, so convenient! So many great ideas came up at the recent preconference gathering; it’s exciting to see we’ll be addressing them further.”
—Linda Holzer, DMus | Pianist
Professor of Music, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
The following excerpts are comments about our 2019 NETMCDO conference in NYC:
“The community that attends NETMCDO is incredible and I am grateful for all the thoughtfulness that goes into creating meaningful sessions that speak to what we all are seeing in our industry.”
"Thank you to the ground crew for putting this together! This was yet another great conference!"
"Loved having everyone's contact information provided in the conference booklet so we could focus on sessions and not trying to grab business cards."
"Amazing conference! Very relevant to our work."
"Thank you to the Ground Team for setting up such a wonderful conference!"
"This was one of the strongest conferences I have attended."
"Such a wonderful experience! I thought the content/speakers were inherently interesting, and the manner in which the conference was conducted emphasized what was important. Well done and thank you!"
"Loved the way it was facilitated so that we could draw on the wisdom of the tribe."
"The atmosphere of collegiality and warmth for all attendees makes this conference really stand out-- the hosts and organizers did an excellent job of making everyone feel welcome. I thought there was a good balance between open, participant led conversations and sessions with guest speakers. I was not completely sold on the relationship between some of the sessions and the overall theme, but that was not important to my overall wonderful experience. Bravo!"
"I am grateful to MSM folks for such a smooth-running event."
Here are some general comments from previous conferences:
“I really enjoyed both panel discussions — the one on carving your own artistic path especially. It’s always really interesting to hear about different kinds of work being done in the field and different approaches to career paths.”
“I really enjoyed the guest speakers, Vijay Gupta in particular. I loved learning about the things that they are doing and what their path was.”
“I most enjoyed doing the theater exercises and hearing the stellar panels! These got me thinking in new ways.”
“I always appreciate opportunities to learn about the work of colleagues — both challenges and successes — and to have time to connect themes/topics/ideas being covered to our own practice.”
“I had a great time — loved that it was so compact.”
“The NETMCDO conference has made me more aware of the importance of creating self-awareness through reflection.”
“Since the NETMCDO conference, I’ve had new discussions with my entrepreneurship team about which direction we are going. Feeling connected to a world of other people is very helpful. I'm also using more online resources that I learned of at the conference.”
“The institutional survey was really helpful for getting the attention of our Dean. I will have the opportunity to give a presentation to our faculty in September.”
“I have had a follow up conference conversation with two attendees about teaching leadership skills and that was a direct result of a conversation started at the conference!”
“Deb Devine was great and the teaching demos from Janet Rarick and Monique Mead were especially good.”
“The panels were especially good because they got right into to real content — there wasn't any time wasted on lengthy overviews or backgrounds. And the spectrum of perspectives and their energy — all much appreciated!”
“I thought that John Steinmetz did a fantastic job as moderator especially by opening up/enlarging the conversation.”
“I thought the panels were fantastic. I also LOVED the drama teacher’s experiential work — it really helped embody the material and explore in a less ‘heady’ way.”
“I found it most interesting to find out about the career development officer’s point of view. Our university does not have such a position and, as a faculty member, I wanted to find out more about it for our students.”
John and Angela provided an excellent environment for learning. An immediate rapport was established and it became fun to network with friends.
I've done it (Open Space) three times now. There is no end to gleaning new material when working with a keen crowd.
The conference was extremely well organized and presented. All forms of communication were very clear and welcoming.
John Steinmetz had a great deal of knowledge and shared the information in a unified and organized manner. He had a wonderful sense of humor that kept us entertained.
The building of “learning machines” is something I will use in the future. It was a great ice-breaker. I really learned through the process.
Open Space was my FAVORITE!!! Wow! The value of sharing information with others was invaluable to me. I learned so much and got so many ideas for creating and implementing programs. There was a wealth of knowledge in the room and I felt I was able to tap into that through this format. It was so organized too!
Honestly, I thought it was wonderful! Very well organized, safe environment to communicate in, and I learned as well as was inspired.
I was a tad concerned I would go back to the University and have no knowledge of career counseling. It was a great idea for all of us to cover what we needed or hoped to cover…overall I have made contacts and have an idea where to start, which was exactly what I needed!
I was quite impressed with all aspects of the organization and communication.
It was great having an experienced portfolio musician leading the session - this helped keep the group very focused and open to ideas.
Thanks for a TERRIFIC conference. I loved every minute of it.
It has a nice balance between being too structured and too laid back
The location was great – close to subway, and lots of choices around for lunches, breaks, etc.
John Steimetz’s laid back style fits the intimacy of the group (numbers and setting) very well. Not your run-of-the-mill corporate conference/facilitator (thank goodness).
“Open Space” is a brilliant strategy for participants to share their experience and gain inspiration and ideas from their colleagues. It was a new format to me and one that I’m sure will never fail to support everyone that attends.
[The first-day exercises are not] something I typically do easily, but I was touched by the passion and inspiration evident in the results. Now I’m adapting this idea for a strategic planning retreat at my school next week!
This worked amazingly well (though I had my doubts at first). Cover Letter? Website? Movement? But it both challenged our ways of thinking and illustrated the essence of the topic in memorable ways. I could possibly see using it as an assessment tool in the classroom.
Please repeat the Open Space…
Loved it. This was my first NETMCDO conference and I thoroughly enjoyed my time.
The experience was dazzling. It was such a "data dump" that one's head buzzes with all the information.
Thanks SOOOOOooooooooo much.