Introduction

JETAA Northern California is delighted to host this years’ national conference in San Francisco on the first weekend in June. The main sessions and training will be held Friday, June 3, 2005 and Saturday, June 4, 2005. In addition to the main sessions and training, we will run a series of workshops and seminars to help us become better leaders in our respective chapters, exchange “best practice” ideas, provide a forum for exchange between CLAIR, consular officials and JET Alumni across the country and to leverage the JET experience in the US-Japan Community.

Aim of Conference

• Provide support and training to JETAA officers from across the US
• Strengthen national links between chapters
• Build on the national direction setting achieved in 2004 and promoted by the country reps
• Focus on JET as an educational and cultural association
• Focus on hard skills of non-profit management, fund-raising and event management, and community outreach

Essentials

Sign Up: www.acteva.com/go/jetaanc

Dates: June 2 - 5, 2005 (arrive Thursday evening, leave Sunday)

Fly to: SFO or OAK, catch BART train to Powell Station, walk to Union Square

Hotel: Hotel Adagio, 550 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, P: 415.775.5000

Registration

Each US chapter may send up to 2 delegates. Please register by April 30, 2005 at www.acteva.com/go/jetaanc

Agenda

Thursday

Arrivals during the day
7:00pm First Nomikai:
Special Event Sake Tasting and Happy Hour event with local alumni

Friday

9:00 Conference Opening Session
10:30 Break
11:00 Session
1:00 Lunch Break
2:00 Afternoon Session
6:00 MOFA Reception at the Consulate
9:00 Optional evening activity (organized by JETAANC)

Saturday

9:00 Workshop Session
10:30 Break
11:00 CLAIR GIA Training
12:00 Workshop Presentations
1:00 Lunch
2:00 National Representative Elections
3:00 Final session / wrap up
4:00 Great Race Event
6:00 Race Conclusion and Presentation of Prizes
7:00 CLAIR reception
9:00 Optional evening activity (organized by JETAANC)

When and Where

June 2nd – 5th, 2005

Please arrive by 7pm to take part in a welcome event with JETAANC on the Thursday night. The main conference meetings take place on Friday and Saturday 8am-7pm, and plan to leave Sunday at anytime.

Lodging

Hotel Adagio, 550 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
P: 415.775.5000 | F: 415.775.9388
Hotel Info and website www.jdvhospitality.com/hotels/hotel/15

Hotel Surcharge

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) subsidizes the cost of accommodating delegates to this conference to the tune of $60 per night per person per night, double occupancy. San Francisco hotels are somewhat costly, so each chapter needs to fund another $75 per delegate to cover the cost of each delegate’s 3-night stay in the hotel. This money cannot be reimbursed from CLAIR GIA so you will need to take it from general chapter funds fundraise for this event.

Transportation to and from San Francisco

San Francisco Airport (SFO) and Oakland Airport (OAK) are both very convenient as transportation hubs in and out of San Francisco. The hotel Adagio is located in the heart of the City at Union Square. Meeting will take place at location that is within walking distance of the hotel.

From SFO (www.flysfo.com) – take BART (www.bart.gov) for $4.95 to the Powell Street Station. Walk 4 blocks to the hotel (run a mapquest before you leave). If you hate walking, shuttle buses are available from SFO that will take you to the hotel door ($12-$14 plus tip).

From OAK (www.flyoakland.com/index2.cfm) – catch the AirBART Bus to Collosium/Oakland Airport BART station and catch the San Francisco train ($3.15). (www.bart.gov)

What to expect at the conference

We have invited several outside speakers to the conference who will cover both soft and hard skills needed to run a chapter. The real experts at this game however, are us, the delegates and leaders of our respective JETAA chapters, and a lot of learning comes from sharing ideas, best practices, and experiences. We will have moderated workshop sessions where teams will need to discuss, think and present to the group as a whole. We hope you will enjoy this interactive approach, but you do need to “show up AND be present” in order to make this work. We’ll send you advanced materials to prepare you for your participation in this conference.

The conference will be fun. San Francisco is a great city, and we have optional activities arranged with local JET alumni and community members on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Dress Code

Business casual for the meetings, throw on a jacket (tie if you are from the East of the Rockies) for the Thursday reception, and casual for going out.

About the JET Alumni Association of Northern California

JETAANC is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering local awareness and understanding of Japan and its culture, and serves as a support network and resource for current JET participants in Northern California. JETAANC is active in Northern California's many Japan-related cultural and artistic events as well as community, educational and international exchange activities.

Members of the organization are former participants of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, which is sponsored by the Japanese government to increase mutual understanding between the people of Japan and other nations. The program aims to promote international understanding in Japan's local communities by helping to improve foreign language education and by developing international exchange activities across Japan.

Every year the JET Program sends teachers and coordinators for international relations to villages, towns and cities throughout Japan to teach and promote cross-cultural understanding. The program, which dates back to 1987, currently employs more than 6,000 teachers and coordinators for international relations from 38 countries around the world. The Northern California region has strong historical ties to Japan and has been one of the largest recruiting grounds for the JET Program. This particular region has one of the largest JET alumni associations in the world, with over 1,000 members.