We've got the 'ANSSA'

This past weekend I went with our VP Education to the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA) - Planning Conference. It was a chance for all of the member schools to come together to help set the director in terms of goals and priorities for the 2008-09 year.

The four member schools that attended were:
Dalhousie Student Union
Acadia Students' Union
Saint Mary's University Students' Union
St. Francis Xavier Student's Union

We were also very pleased to have Cape Breton University Students' Union attend the conference as an observer.


The agenda for the conference consisted of:
- board orientation
- SWOT analysis
- meeting our mission, vision, and goals
- campaign planning
- member retention and development
- 2008/09 lobby priorities
- communications
- policy and research review

The aspect of the conference that I assume most of you will be interested in are our lobby priorities:

Short Term - blueprint for student aid
Medium Term - early outreach
Long Term - holistic/comprehensive review (Plan or Parish campaign is a part of this)

And through all of our priorities we will be ensuring that we are building and strengthening our partnerships with our members, stakeholders, and other groups to help us achieve our goals.

ANSSA has a communications plan and will be launching their new website in September. Please go and check out the current website - www.anssa.ca and then check back in September to see the progress we have made - we would love to hear your feedback when the switch occurs!