Regional Forums

Regional Forum Submission Form

COA Regional Forum Trifold – PDF (223 KB)

The COA Executive Board is looking for ways to support and develop SUNY’s computing workforce. Of interest are programs open to all computing staff, including those who may be excluded from conferences because they are unable to be away from campus for longer than a day.

Purpose of COA Regional Forums:
  • to involve members of COA (SUNY technology professionals) who are not able to attend major conferences
  • to produce networking and learning opportunities not available on your campus
  • to offer relationship-building opportunities among staff in similar positions
  • to identify best practices that benefit your campus and SUNY as an institution
  • to engage in problem solving that benefits from the collective knowledge, diverse approach, and practical experience of multiple campuses
The forums are meant to provide an informal, casual atmosphere for cross-campus collaboration of the IT staff at SUNY.

We need you!

We need volunteers to host these forums on their campus, which will give other local campuses an opportunity to discuss mutual topics and concerns over specific technology-related topics.
COA will even help by providing funding to the host campus to cover up to $500 in expenses for your event. This could be used to cover lunch, handouts, a guest speaker, etc. Special requests will be considered and discussed with the COA Executive Board for approval.
COA can also provide guidance to get you started such as a planning checklist, sample agenda, registration form, attendance form, evaluation form, etc.
Discussion Ideas
Not sure what to hold a Regional Forum on? Here is a list of examples of other forums that have been held recently :
  • IT Emergencies and Disaster Recovery
  • SUNY Federation, Technologies, Processes and Goals
  • Networking
  • Learning Management Systems
  • Desktop Management
  • Digital Media Facilities
  • Information Security
Some other possible topics of discussion:
  • Working in the Cloud
  • Google Apps – How do you use them?
  • Wireless Networking
  • Identity Management
  • Computer Labs
  • Virtual Desktops
  • Campus Printing
  • Construction
  • Network Specification
  • Classroom Design
  • Wireless – Public access
  • Residence Halls, wireless and challenges
  • LEED Cert Buildings and the challenges
  • Big Data
  • Digital Asset Management
  • Lecture Capture
  • Digital Media Labs/Spaces/Creation
  • ITIL
  • Federation
More information including a brochure on Regional Forums is available on the COA website by clicking the Regional Forum button on the top right.