College Sports Information Directors of America

CSCUnite24 Divisional Day Programming

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Last updated June 7

Please note that the CSC Unite convention mobile app available on iPhone and Android, or via the web, is the most accurate source for up-to-date schedule changes throughout the convention. For information about the accessing the mobile app, click here.

Divisional Day programming will take place on Monday, June 10. All schedules are tentative and subject to change.

What and when is Divisional Day?
Divisional day is programming specific to your division. Topics and issues discussed are geared toward sports communicators and creatives in that particular division or area of interest. Specific programming will be offered for these seven areas: Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, two-year institutions/conferences, Canadian institutions/conferences, and (all-division) conference office communications.

NCAA Division I Divisional Day

• 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM - External United: Best collaboration practices for sports communicators and creatives
  As creatives increasingly move into the communications space, what are schools across the Division I landscape—especially those with limited staffing and resources—doing to meld some of the bread-and-butter jobs in our profession (record books, in-game stats, websites) with the kind of content that coaches, student-athletes and recruits increasingly crave?
• Panelists: Josh Hauser, Grand Canyon Associate Athletic Director, Communications; Chris Masters, University of Illinois Chicago Senior Associate Athletics Director - External Operations
• Moderator: Matt Panto, Ivy League Associate Executive Director, Strategic Communications & External Relations
• 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM - The transfer portal and our role in this ever-changing area
  Student-athletes are changing schools at an all-time rate. How are communication staffs keeping up with who's leaving their programs and who's coming into their programs? How do the creatives fit into these announcements? What are some good practices to keep in mind?
• Panelists: Bridget Delaney, Sacred Heart University Assistant Director of Athletic Communications; Jerry Emig, The Ohio State University Associate Athletic Director - Communications (Football); Peter Long, Seton Hall Assistant Athletics Director for Digital Media & Communications
• Moderator: Mike Demos, Siena College Assistant Athletic Director/Communications
• 11:00-12:05 How gambling is affecting our profession and daily work
  Note: CSC Leadership Visit and information from College Football Playoff's Brett Daniels, CFP Senior Director of Communications and Branding, proceeds the session
• Gambling is here and it's here to stay. As this field continues to grow (prop bets, etc.), how are schools handling the dissemination of information about their athletes and their teams? How are they responding to vitriolic social that appears to be gambling adjacent? Has it changed the way people are keeping stats or their awareness of how they're doing their jobs? What can be done?
• Panelists: Patrick Crawford, Purdue University Associate Athletics Director - Strategic Communications; Matt Holt, President, CEO, IC360; David Petroff, Genius Sports Sports Customer Onboarding Specialist
• Moderator: Mike Mahoney, University of Pennsylvania Director of Athletic Communications
• 1:15 PM - 2:05 PM - NIL and how that landscape is changing the definition of "media"
  S*chools are seeing an influx of "media" who claim to be covering specific athletes for NIL purposes. How are people across the D1 landscape—again, looking at all levels—handling such requests. As SIDs and creatives, what are they doing as a staff to help their own student-athletes as NIL increases in importance for their programs?
• Panelists: Marlene Navor, Auburn Director of Communications-Men’s Basketball;; Lynnea Phillips, NCAA Director of Championships & Alliances - Social Media; Jon Schwartz, Prosek Partners Managing Director, Head of Sports
• Moderator: Susan Lax, University of Kentucky Director of Athletic Communications and Public Relations
• 2:15 PM - 3:00 PM - Town hall/open forum
  End divisional day programming with this town hall-type session where your topics, questions, comments and suggestions can be heard.

NCAA Division II Divisional Day

• 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM - More on using Adobe
  A training session with Adobe product experts to cover new trends and software tips and tricks for all levels of Adobe suite users.
• Presenters: Donna Caldwell, Adobe Solutions; Eric Rowse, Adobe Solutions
• 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM - D2 Business Meeting and CSC leadership visit
• 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM - Lunch on your own
• 1:00 PM - 2:20 PM - Executing special projects
  Join other D2 athletic communicators in learning how athletic communicators can contribute to special events on campus. Work with your peers to come up with an end-to-end plan to seamlessly pull off a special one-day event on campus.
  Panelists: Emily Dorko, Adelphi University Associate AD for External Relations/SWA; Brian Henry, University of West Florida Sports Information Director
• 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM - Working the kinks out of video streaming
  Hear from NCAA or campus personnel on the ins-and-outs of meeting the NCAA video requirements when hosting regional and national championships.
• Panelists: Mark Krug, Hudl, Senior Solutions Consultant; Dan Ruede. University of New Haven Associate Director of Athletics for Strategic Communications
• Moderator: Travis Chell, Conference Carolinas Assistant Commissioner
• 3:15 PM - 3:45 PM - The DII Games: Have some fun with your fellow members
  Come together with your fellow conference members to compete in a series of job-related 'Minute to Win It' style games to see which Division II conference will be crowned champion in this first year of the contest.
• Coordinator: Danny Barnts, CCAA Director of Communications

NCAA Division III Divisional Day (times subject to change)

• 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM - RADical Health workshop - Setting priorities and boundaries
  Presenters: Liz Feld, CEO, RADical Hope; Sam Hunter, Partnership and Program Manager, RADical Hope; MacKenzie Kelly, Health Program and Partnership Manager, RADical Hope; Herb Martin, Ph.D., President, Peak Performance Consulting Group and Los Angeles Chargers Team Clinician; Aaron Taylor, Founder, Elite Mentals/CBS Sports football analyst and Super Bowl champion/RADICAL Hope team champion and advocate
• 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM - Business session
  Organization update, CSC Leadership visit; D3 presential gavel passing
• 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM - Break for lunch on your own
• 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM - Interactive session: Elevating ourselves as leaders
  Featured presenter: Chris Gargano, The Gargano Leadership Group LLC Gargano, a featured presenter at #CSCUnite24, will address the D3 attendees — and the specific challenges faced in our division — pertaining to leadership and career advancement while asking the question, "How do we show up in the world?." This will be an interactive session, with full attendee participation and discussion, addressing emerging leaders at all levels of their leadership journey. Gargano will offer tips and skills to help attendees work collaboratively and be empowered to solve problems, and help attendees find their passion, unique talent, voice, and confidence to attain individual and team success.
• 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM - Community building
  The D3 board of directors will host a cornhole tournament with Special Olympics participants

NAIA Divisional Day (times subject to change)

• 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM - Welcome; CSC leadership visit
• 9:00 AM - 9:40 AM - Tips and tricks group workshop
  Discussion of hot topics, best practices, and "what would you do" scenarios as groups.
• Presenter: Caitlyn Stupak, Graceland University Sports Information Director
• 9:50 AM - 10:50 AM - Your "why" — Your vision and team building your team
  Special Presenter: Chris Gargano, The Gargano Leadership Group LLC CSC featured leadership presenter Chris Gargano will hold a session speaking on topics specifically geared toward NAIA staff members. This will include:: integrating students into communication teams; how to lead within a multi-generational workforce. A large portion of our office and promotional success relies on college students. On this interactive session, Gargano, with vast experiences working in sports media and college and professional sports, talks about how to become a more effective leader and recruiting, hiring, training, and creating opportunities for students in your department.
• 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM - How to maximize media days
  Panelists will discuss different ideas of way to maximize your time during media day for content with both small and medium size staffs
  Presenters: Clayton Messerle – Corban University, Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Athletic Communications; Alisha Alexander – Lewis-Clark State, Assistant Athletic Director-Sports Information/SWL
• 11:30 AM - Noon - NAIA-SIDA business meeting
  Annual business meeting which includes: introduction of our 2023-24 board of directors, honoring NAIA publications contest winners, NAIA national office updates. Additionally, there will be a visit from the CSC leadership team.
  Coordinator: Donnie Smith – Southeastern University, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications / 2023-24 NAIA Cabinet/NAIA-SIDA President and CSC Executive Board member
  Presenters: Brad Cygan – NAIA, Director of Athletic Communications; Katie Green – NAIA, Senior Manager of Athletic Communications; Jeff Melton – NAIA, Manager of Athletic Communications
• Noon - 1:15 PM - Lunch on your own
• 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM - How to have hard conversations
  Panelists will talk about how to have hard conversations throughout your career, whether it be with colleagues, administrators, coaches, and student-athletes, while also providing tools that can be utilized.
  Presenters: Taylor Price– Heart of America Conference Assistant Commissioner; Drew Wilson, Southeastern University Director of Athletics. Moderator Rachel Moore – Central Methodist, Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Athletic Communications
• 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM - Utilzing apps to assist in day-to-day suties
  Presenters: Lindsey Branch – Montana Western, Assistant Athletic Director & Sports Information Director; Kelsey Segren – Bushnell University, Assistant Sports Information Director
• 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM - Increasing brand awareness
  How to enhance and promote both your school brand and the NAIA brand through social media and local/national media. This presentation will also include best practices and ideas for putting our schools in the news locally and perhaps nationally.
  Presenters: Nik Rule – Heart of America Athletic Conference, Commissioner; Steve Wilson – William Woods University, Director of Athletics; Jay Stancil – Appalachian Athletic Conference, Assistant Commissioner for Championships and Information; moderator Brad Cygan – NAIA Director of Athletic Communications
• 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Clarence "Ike" Pearson Award Reception (by NAIA invitation only)
  Reception and award ceremony for the Ike Pearson Award recipient. The award is given annually to a member of the NAIA Sports Information Directors Association (NAIA-SIDA) to honor outstanding contributions to the profession. It is named for the former statistical crew chief of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship in Kansas City, Mo.

Canadian Divisional Day

• 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM - Canada West SIDs Meeting
• 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Storytelling and leveraging student-athlete brand power to help promote our programs in the age of NIL
  Special Presenter: Chris Aumueller, FanWord CEO and Founder
• 2:10 PM - 4:00 PM - Roundtable Discussions of Issues Facing Us Today
  
  • Student Engagement – Getting Students to Games
  • Setting Expectations/Boundaries – How do you set expectations/boundaries with coaches, athletes and supervisors
  • Team Accounts – How they are managed from brand and staff perspective and where are they in your priority
  • Student Staff – Maximizing student assistants from recruitment to execution in season

Two-Year Colleges Divisional Day

• 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Working through ideas together: A brainstorming session to get more out of your job
  Join this session as Moraine Valley's Maura Vizza facilitates this interactive hour of knowledge sharing, collaboration and brainstorming. We'll come up with ways to enhance our jobs and productivity, and push each other outside the box.
  Presenter: Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley Communications Specialist/Sports Information Coordinator
• 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM - How to promote struggling programs: Make it sound good when it isn't good
  We have all been there at one time or another. How do you continue producing content and keeping supporters up to date despite the lack of wins. Learn how to continue promoting the good things about a struggling program.
  Presenters: Adam Fornwalt, Cecil College Assistant Director of Athletics & Sports Information; AJ O'Hagan, Monroe College-Bronx Sports Information Director; Adam Shrimplin, Garden City Community College Creative Director/Assistant Sports Information Director
• 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM - 2YSIDA annual meeting
  Sit down with fellow two-year communicators to discuss issues unique, or maybe not so unique, to our level. Format will be 100% discussional, so bring topics and ideas to share with the group.
  Hosted by Candice Kelm, McLennan Community College Sports Information Specialist; Don Hammack, Mississippi Gulf Coast Sports Information Director; Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley

Conference Offices Divisional Day

• 10:00 AM - 10:35 AM - Window to the world
  What are the opportunities to promote your conference through conference and school-controlled streams and linear windows, including: linear opportunities and picking the schedule; leveragin partnerships; enhancing your storytelling.
  Panelists: Hamilton Cook, MAAC Associate Commissioner/Senior Minority Administrator; Angelo Pontello, Gulf South Conference Assistant Commissioner, Video & Broadcasting. Moderator: Cassie Langdon, NCAA Assistant Director of Media Coordination and Statistics
• 10:40 AM - 11:15 AM - Amplifying your contenders
  Striking the balance between promoting your full membership and bringing a megaphone to highlight the resume of a potential at-large or national championship contender
  Panelist(s): Marshall Fey, MIAA Assistant Commissioner- External Affairs; Sam Knehans, Sun Belt Conference Senior Associate Commissioner
  Moderator: Shelby Hild – Missouri Valley Conference Assistant Commissioner of Communications
• 11:25 AM - Noon - Conference storytime
  Topics to be covered: Getting materials and story ideas from the membership- and the most effective ways and tools to do so; the differences between a school story and a league story; using free media to promote championships and big games and promoting your championships locally.
  Panelists: Zack Chavez, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Assistant Commissioner of Strategic Communications; Matt Panto – Ivy League Associate Executive Director, Strategic Communications & External Relations; David Waxman - Big 12 Conference Associate Director - Media Services

Calendar

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