A very warm welcome awaits you at the upcoming TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo in Chicago, Illinois, USA, 27–30 March 2018.

I, Debbie West, current Chair of the Affiliate Leadership Council (ALC), would like to personally invite you to join us in March at the TESOL convention. The ALC has planned a very exciting workshop on Tuesday (27 March) for affiliate leaders, which will help you on an individual and institutional level. We will have the honor of welcoming five facilitators to guide us through the day’s activities as we focus on advocacy.

We also have some other exciting events during the week including the Communications Workshop on Wednesday (28 March), which will enable us to know more about social media and how an affiliate can achieve external communication goals even on a low budget. Thursday (29 March) rounds off the week with the business meeting of the affiliates (the Affiliate Assembly) and the Affiliate Colloquium which is organized around presentations given by individuals from affiliates sharing what advocacy looks like where they are.

Aside from these scheduled events, we will be introducing the members of the newly formed Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC). We hope that you will join us for the events Tuesday through Thursday!

As you attend the rest of the conference, I encourage you to meet up with colleagues to share your experiences and what you learned in sessions, especially if it is your first time at the conference. You will have many choices of sessions, many people to meet from all over the world, and opportunities for networking that should give you a busy four days. Nevertheless, don’t forget to have some enjoyable social moments outside of the conference!

Before traveling to Chicago, take a moment now to catch up with colleagues through this newsletter, to gain some insights, be updated, and be inspired by our fellow colleagues.

Enjoy enjoy enjoy!