Christchurch, 18-19 Jan 2020 JETAA NZ
Representatives of all three chapters in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, South Island) attended their first national summit which was held in Christchurch, January 18th -19th 2020. In attendance were also CLAIR representatives from the branch office in Sydney, Australia.
Common themes explored were:
- Raising participation rates at events
- Committee continuity
- Motivation and profile of JETAA
- Tracking of returning alumni
Successful ideas included:
- High return on Q&A JET Information sessions
- Raising profile of JET Programme in high school visits
- Successful events like mochi making, J-Kaiwa and sake nights
The general feedback from delegates was positive: each chapter thought it was very helpful to have a New Zealand-focused event, in which they could speak together about common issues within the JETAA community in their particular environment. The frequency of such a summit was discussed, which the idea that perhaps holding this kind of event every two years would be more sustainable, as there was already the commitment of the annual JETAA Oceania conference. The collaborative/discussion part of the summit was particularly useful, and delegates thought it would be better to allocate more time to this in the future, subject to budget constraints.
As Roseanna Finkle-Vern (JETAA NZ Country Representative) said, “As a first-time New Zealand wide event to test whether a summit would be helpful to our unique JETAA community, I feel that it was a beneficial event which proved that New Zealand chapters appreciate the chance to exchange ideas and best practise advice in a local setting. I feel strongly that there is good reason to continue this type of event in the future either in an annual or biennial capacity.”
[With thanks to Roseanna Finkle-Vern for providing images and report for this post]