Registration Deadline has been extended to February 18, 2009.

Dear Early Childhood Colleagues:

The DESE Early Childhood staff and CYY Planning Committee would like to extend a special invitation to the 36th Annual Conference on the Young Years. The theme of the conference is Our Children, Our Focus, Our Future, and we hope that you will join us for this excellent opportunity to network with other early childhood professionals and gather new ideas from your peers.

As you are browsing through the brochure, you will find that we have an outstanding selection of keynote addresses and featured speakers and an incredible line up of great presentations in store for participants this year. Each year we take a look back at the previous conference and review the evaluations completed by attendees in an effort to make improvements, especially in the areas of crowd reduction. Please pay particular attention to the following ways that we hope will help us accomplish this goal:

  • On Thursday, we are again hosting special training opportunities for PAT and MPP. Instead of registering with the conference, you will need to register directly with the Parents as Teachers National Center, Project Construct National Center or the Moving On Together group. Also on Thursday, the exhibits in Windgate Hall will open at noon to allow more time for viewing the vendors displays and products.
  • On Friday, the conference will begin at 8:00am, and all presentations will be one hour in length. This will provide participants with many opportunities to earn training hours. It will also allow for three lunch hour options, which will hopefully reduce crowding in Windgate Hall at these times.
  • All two-hour seminars will be held on Saturday. Conference attendees can attend the closing general session and choose one two-hour seminar.
  • Along with a snack bag, conference attendees will receive an insulated cup that can be used throughout the conference. Water stations will be provided inside meeting rooms or in the hallways, but participants will need to provide or purchase their own soda or tea, etc., as these will not be provided. Last year this helped to ease much of the hallway congestion during break times.

Again, all of these arrangements are intended to allow everyone to have a wonderful conference experience in March, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Participants are responsible for making their own room reservations and obtaining directions by contacting Tan-Tar-A Resort directly at (800) 826-8272 or (573) 348-3131 or on-line at www.tan-tar-a.com. Select on-line reservations and then choose Conference Attendee. The group number for the conference is YNGY. Participants making reservations by February 11, 2009 will receive the special conference rate of $89.00 plus tax. Reservations made after this date will not be guaranteed the conference rate. Please ask for the Conference on the Young Years room block for this special room rate! Be sure to register early and remember: Check-in time is 4:00pm and check-out time is 11:00am.

If you have questions regarding registration for the conference, please direct them to Jamie Schieber at Custom Meeting Planners at (573) 445-2965 or 2009CYY@gmail.com. For general questions concerning the content of the conference, you may contact the Early Childhood Education section of DESE at (573) 751-2095.

Sincerely,

Jo Anne Ralston, Director
Early Childhood Education