Welcome

Dear Early Childhood Colleagues:

The DESE Early Learning staff and CYY Design Team would like to extend a special invitation to you to the 39th Annual Conference on the Young Years. The theme of the conference is Children: Our Future Under Construction, and we hope that you will join us for this incredible opportunity to design a professional development plan that fits your needs. There will be time for networking with other early childhood professionals and gathering new ideas and information that can assist you in the work you do every day working with young children and their families. This is a unique opportunity for professionals to come together from across the state and listen to national speakers talk passionately about early childhood.

Registration for the conference will be completed online once again this year. This will allow conference participants to receive immediate confirmation of registration and presentation choices. Please note that the conference registration fee has not increased this year. We, at DESE, along with the conference design team have been working hard to construct a quality conference experience with national speakers at a reasonable cost. We hope that you will enjoy this year’s presentations.

As you are browsing through the online brochure, you will find that we have a nice selection of keynote and featured speakers, along with an outstanding line up of presentations in store for participants this year. In addition, we have once again designed professional development and training specific for parent educators and MPP teachers. Be sure to see the tab marked “Special Training Opportunities” to find the registration information. There has also been a request for “special tracks” to be highlighted within the conference. With assistance from state agencies, Head Start and other various professionals we have tracks of presentations designed specifically for beginning teachers, Head Start staff, and parent educators. There is even a track specific to the Missouri Early Learning Standards and how teachers can incorporate these standards into the work they do every day. There will also be an opportunity to see the new Infant and Toddler standards. There is something for everyone at this year’s conference and we hope to see you there. Also, please remember to visit the exhibit booths in Windgate Hall to learn more about the products and services that will be offered by a wide variety of vendors. The exhibits will open at noon on Thursday and close on Friday at 5:00 p.m.

When framing up the schedule for this year’s conference there are some elements that we would like to bring to your attention:

  • Thursday evening’s keynote speaker will be Larry Griffin. All registered participants, preconference and/or conference, will be provided a ticket and are welcome to attend this keynote address. We encourage everyone to not miss this opportunity.

  • The conference itself will have a later starting time on Friday morning than in past years. The opening keynote address by Vivian Gussin Paley will begin at 8:45 a.m. and be followed by five sessions of presentations. This will allow more travel and registration time for those who plan to arrive on Friday morning. Due to this change, breakfast will not be provided that day. Three lunch hour options will be available, with the earliest one starting at 10:30 a.m.

  • On Saturday, we will offer two ninety minute seminar sessions beginning at 8:00 a.m. The two seminars, many of which are repeats, will be followed by the closing keynote address by Steve Metzger at 11:30 a.m.

As part of the registration fee, conference attendees will receive a tote bag, pen, snack bag and beverage cup that can be used during the conference. Water stations will be provided in or near the meeting rooms, but participants will need to provide or purchase their own soda, tea, coffee, etc., as these will not be provided.

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 8, 2012 will receive the special conference rate of $84.00 plus state sales 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 4:00 p.m. and check-out time is 11:00 a.m.

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

Sincerely,

Jo Anne Ralston, Director
Early Learning