Reflecting on The Forum on Education Abroad’s 20th Anniversary Conference
After attending last week’s 20th annual Forum on Education Abroad conference in Boston, the EdOdyssey team returned to the office feeling motivated, excited, and enthusiastic about what’s ahead.
The conference numbers are impressive:
~1,200 attendees (1,300+, including virtual attendees)
31 countries represented (!)
50+ engaging sessions. These were top-notch as always, and we attended about a dozen between us.
50% of conference attendees were newcomers. This is exciting to note as the field continues to rebound from the pandemic, grow, and innovate.
100+ sponsors (including EdOdyssey!) We’re very proud to have been a silver sponsor this year of an organization that has helped formalize our profession and field over the past two decades.
The closing plenary, “Collective Leadership: Innovation to Change the World,” was particularly powerful, including a Barbie-themed panel that reminded us that—as individuals and as organizations—we have the power and the agency to create change. This final session ended with an interactive exercise; after a moment of individual reflection, we formed small groups to envision what the coming year, the next three years, and even 10 years ahead might look like for the field of education abroad. Our team came away feeling inspired and invigorated.
Photo courtesy of The Forum on Education Abroad
Between sessions, we enjoyed networking and engaging with existing and prospective partners at our busy table in the exhibit hall, re-connecting with fellow provider friends and in-bound program coordinators, exchanging ideas, taking part in discussions about everything from study abroad trends to accessibility and sustainability in study abroad, and soaking in the collective wisdom and experience that the Forum on Education Abroad conference always brings to light.
Below, our four EdOdyssey attendees share their individual reflection and takeaways:
Peter McGovern, President/Founder
My biggest takeaway from the recent Forum on Education Abroad is the profound significance of community in advancing international education. As we celebrated our collective achievements, I am inspired to continue collaborating with colleagues to empower students and advocate for the transformative impact of global learning experiences. Together, we will shape the future of education and ensure its accessibility to all.
Kyle Simmons, Director of Institutional Partnerships
My biggest takeaway from Forum was the recognition and celebration of how small things we do in our day-to-day can be part of major, long-term, structural changes we want to see in our field. The closing plenary was especially impactful and galvanizing, reminding us that the answers to our major questions and issues are in the session rooms with us in places like the Forum conference, and they require both big and small collective changes.
Maddie Reeves, Program Operations Manager
Forum was an incredible opportunity to meet and connect with other passionate colleagues in the field in one place. We were not only able to speak about the most pressing issues in the study abroad world, but took it a step further; we worked in several sessions and in the closing plenary on brainstorming active ways to combat these issues and provide students with even more meaningful, accessible, and sustainable opportunities to engage with global education that we can now take back to our individual organizations and implement.
Isaac Wittenberg, Program Operations Coordinator
Forum not only provided me with the chance to meet other study abroad providers, institutional p
artners, and organization representatives, but also allowed me to sit in on a variety of panels hosted by experts in the field. As a newcomer, the many great takeaways from these events inspired me and will help me as I continue to grow, both professionally and personally.
As always, Forum was fun, productive, and successful. A big thanks to The Forum on Education Abroad’s President and CEO Melissa Torres and her team who bring this amazing event to life every year.
Missed us?
If we didn’t have a chance to speak at this year’s conference, we’d still love to connect. Please reach out through the contact form on our website or email us at info@edodyssey.com.
