We are very happy to let everyone know that the 2023 NatCon will be in person.
When: September 8-10 (Fri-Sun) - Save the Dates!
Where: Monterey, CA
A big thank you to our host, JET Alumni Association of Northern California for hosting this year's NatCon. Further gratitude to the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, Japan Local Government Center / CLAIR, New York, US JET Alumni Association, and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.
The conference will include hybrid virtual elements for all Alumni and Chapter Officers to attend remotely (scroll down to see the virtual conference registration button).
When: September 8-10 (Fri-Sun) - Save the Dates!
Where: Monterey, CA
A big thank you to our host, JET Alumni Association of Northern California for hosting this year's NatCon. Further gratitude to the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, Japan Local Government Center / CLAIR, New York, US JET Alumni Association, and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.
The conference will include hybrid virtual elements for all Alumni and Chapter Officers to attend remotely (scroll down to see the virtual conference registration button).
On This Page:
- Announcing Virtual Registration
- Updates for Official Chapter Delegates
- Key Conference Details for Official Chapter Delegates
Announcing Virtual Registration
JETAA USA is happy to announce that virtual registration for the 2023 NatCon is now open! This will be our first ever hybrid National Conference and we look forward to it being more open and accessible to the JET Alumni community. We hope you can join us this year.
We are preparing a more detailed conference schedule, but we can share that:
September 8th, Friday, starting around 1:30 PM Pacific Time
Livestream tours of:
September 9th, Saturday, starting around 9:30 AM Pacific Time
September 10th, Sunday, starting around 9:00 AM
We hope to (virtually) see you there!
JETAA USA is happy to announce that virtual registration for the 2023 NatCon is now open! This will be our first ever hybrid National Conference and we look forward to it being more open and accessible to the JET Alumni community. We hope you can join us this year.
We are preparing a more detailed conference schedule, but we can share that:
September 8th, Friday, starting around 1:30 PM Pacific Time
Livestream tours of:
- Middlebury Institute of International Studies Campus
- Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Heritage Center
September 9th, Saturday, starting around 9:30 AM Pacific Time
- A day of introductions, keynotes, and presentations by JETAA Chapters and partner organizations
September 10th, Sunday, starting around 9:00 AM
- Chapter Council Session, discussion on future NatCons, bylaws, and other business
We hope to (virtually) see you there!
NatCon Details for Official Chapter Delegates
🚌 Coordinate with other Delegates to take Shuttle Buses to Monterey
You can review the this spreadsheet (only viewable by in person attendees) to connect with your fellow delegates and coordinate taking the Monterey Airbus from San Francisco or San Jose Airports.
🚕 Transit between the Asilomar Hotel and the Middlebury Campus
We will be using Lyft and Uber to move between these locations. Make sure you have at least one app. Unfortunately this is not covered by GiA.
👗 Expected Dress Code
- Friday: Casual, wear comfortable walking shoes.
- Saturday: Professional
- Sunday: Casual
🌐 Join the new JETAA USA Discord to connect with Delegates
We have set up a new JETAA USA Discord! We have a 2023 NatCon delegate channel. When you join, please DM @Adam Lisbon and he will tag you to be able to see the channel. This will be one of the easiest ways to quickly communicate with everyone during the conference.
🛌 Hotel Registration
Room arrangements have been set up. We did not receive room preferences from 2 delegates. If you didn't fill out the hotel preferences form, please email [email protected] regarding any food allergies you may have.
- A reminder that our bedrooms will have 4 beds, one queen and 3 twins.
- See room arrangements in the email update sent by [email protected] on August 12th.
- Please note that we may still make alterations in room assignments. And will let you know if changes are made.
🛫 Flights
We still need flight information for 12 Delegates.
- Submit your flight info as soon as you book.
- If you haven't booked your flight yet and are planning to come Thursday and want to coordinate with other early arrivals to book a hotel room, please email [email protected].
🙋♀️ Presenting
This year we will have concurrent sessions throughout Saturday afternoon in 30-minute time blocks. We still have a decent number of open slots and encourage you to submit an idea!
📷 Headshots
Please continue emailing [email protected] headshots that we can add to the 2023 Program. Right now we still need 24 headshots. If you explicitly do not want your headshot included, please let us know.
🧦 Sock and 🍡Snack Exchanges
We had multiple folks ask about doing omiyage exchange. For those who may not know, in the past we've done themed gift exchanges. Both entirely optional.
🧦 Bring a pair of socks that represent your chapter's region if you'd like to receive a new pair of socks from another chapter (i.e., one pair per delegate, not one pair per chapter). We will coordinate a time for people to swap their festive socks with each other during the conference. Whenever you wear your socks, we hope that you will think of the chapter who gave them to you, and maybe reach out, ask a question, check in, or plan an event together!
🍡 Also feel free to bring omiyage snacks that are special to your chapter's region. Individually wrapped goodies will be shared by all. Bring enough for around 40 people to enjoy!
Key Conference Details
- JETAA Northern California & Nevada is Hosting in Monterey California
- Conference is September 8-10, 2023 (Friday-Sunday)
- This is a shorter than usual NatCon due to reductions in funding for hotel rooms.
- This will be challenging because the conference will START around noon or 1PM ON FRIDAY. Meaning some delegates will land Friday morning and the conference will start the same day as arriving.
- See the section below about arriving a day early on Thursday.
- The conference theme will be “JETAA and Sustainability”
- We are requesting chapters send 2 delegates per Chapter.
- The Conference will be hybrid
- We have never hosted a hybrid conference before. We would very much welcome ideas for making the online component of the conference more engaging and interactive for virtual attendees.
- Airfare for 2 delegates (Normal GiA)
- Transportation to and from the airport during NatCon (Normal GiA)
- Ex. Home to Airport, and Airport to Home
- Ex. Airport to Hotel, and Hotel to Airport
- Ex. Bus or Train to a Reception
- Hotel Rooms are covered by CLAIR and MOFA
- Food at the airport, lunches on your own, etc
- Omiyage to exchange with other chapters
- Souvenirs
- Optional Nijikai Excursions
- You will fly into 1 of 3 possible airports and use the Monterey Airbus to get to Monterey
- Airports:
- San Francisco International (SFO)
- San Jose (SJC)
- Monterey Regional Airport (MRY)
- For most, it will be cheaper to land at SJC or SFO and take a shuttle bus.
- Advice on booking flights:
- Book early to obtain cheaper flights, the conference is only 4 months away and time will get away from you quickly.
- Put your browser in private/incognito mode to avoid sights tracking you and upping prices (we aren’t sure how much this works)
- We recommend checking aggregator sites like SkyScanner or Kayak for flights, HOWEVER: we strongly recommend trying to book a flight you see with the airline directly. Also, some airlines like Southwest do not share their flight data with the sites mentioned above.
- Choosing delegates now will help in accurately budgeting for flights for GiA purposes.
- Normal GiA covers flight regardless of the dates delegates land/depart.
- Accommodations will need to be covered by chapters' own discretionary funds or reserves (funds the chapter has that are not connected to GiA or MOFA funds).
- If you are planning to come Thursday and want to coordinate with other early arrivals to book a hotel room, please email [email protected].
