*BEGINNER*

[SA] Set It and Forget It: Automate Actions and Notifications with App Triggers 

Room TBD

Manually assigning applications and sending notifications takes time you don't have. Application Triggers let you automate that work and more! In this beginner friendly session, we'll walk through what triggers are and why they matter, show how to set conditions and configure actions and notifications, and share examples of real world use cases. Whether you're building your first trigger or you're eager to automate more, you'll leave with practical ideas you can put to use right away. 

*BEGINNER*

[ISSS NG] One Request, Three Views: Student/Scholar, Department, and Approver Perspectives in Next Gen

Room TBD

ISSS Next Gen looks different depending on who is logged in. This session follows one request through three seats: the participant who submits it, the department user who fills in their piece, and the approver/responder who contributes to the request. You will see what each role actually sees on screen. Because this is a Hot Topic, it is a guided tour rather than a configuration workshop. Come if you want to set clearer expectations with your campus partners before they ever open a request.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[PM] Partnership Management Notifications & Workflows: The Double Album 

Room TBD

Notifications in Partnership Management don't always work alone. Sometimes they're powered by workflows running quietly behind the scenes, and this session gives you a first look at both sides of that record. We'll start with the "greatest hits" of notifications: what options exist, both the kind that fire automatically and the kind you send yourself, where to check what's already gone out, and--the encore--how to resend one when someone swears they never got the email. Then we flip to side two: workflows, what they're capable of, the kinds of things they can automate, and the different shapes a workflow can take. This is a "here's what's possible" session, not a step by step tutorial, so think preview, not manual. No prior experience needed. 

*INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS Stu] Common Scenarios of the Newly Admitted Student List

Room TBD

Session description coming soon!

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Same Power, New Look: Get to Know the Redesigned Application Finder

Room TBD

Terra Dotta's study abroad team has refreshed your site's Application Finder and Full Application Administration interfaces with a fresh new look and many functional improvements. For most study abroad admins, these two pages are the most frequently visited during day to day workflows. This session offers a complete rundown of what's new so you can navigate them with speed and confidence. Turn yourself into a power-user by mastering all the utilities available in the redesign!

*BEGINNER*

[ISSS NG] Who Can Unlock Each Door? ISSS Next Gen Roles and Permissions

Room TBD

This session covers how to control who can see, touch, and edit what in ISSS Next Gen. You'll learn how to set up and maintain user roles and permission groups, restrict data access by role, office, or need to know, audit existing access, and troubleshoot common permissions issues. 

Not everyone needs access to every room. This session will help you build a system of doors and boundaries that makes sense for your institution, so the right people can walk through the right ones. Whether you're the one handing out the keys or just trying to figure out which doors you can open, this workshop will help you build a system where access makes sense, no spare keys under the doormat required.

*ALL AUDIENCES*

[SA] May the Prompts Be With You: AI Time Savers for Busy Terra Dotta Teams

Room TBD

A long time ago, in a study abroad office not so far away, teams were drowning in manual tasks... Join us on our AI journey and see real-world examples of how Terra Dotta users are incorporating AI tools into everyday study abroad operations to reduce manual work by automating tasks, improve consistency, and make better use of data already collected in TDS. Presenters from multiple institutions will share use cases and AI prompts to assist with projects from simple data cleanup, increasing accessibility, and building custom tools for light-speed processes. Leave with practical AI prompts, proven strategies, and a few new tricks to tackle the tedious stuff and bring balance to the Force—and their international-education workload.

Designed for all Grogus levels, from AI novices to intermediate and advanced users. Each idea will be graded on a Baby Yoda scale: 1 Grogu being easiest to implement up to 5 Grogus being you need to be a Jedi Master.

*INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS Stu, Sch] The Access Control Room: Permissions and Roles for ISSS Student & ISSS Scholar 

Room TBD

This session covers how core permissions, roles, and SEVIS access works across ISSS Student and ISSS Scholar. We will cover what each permission level controls and how those choices shape what DSOs, AROs, and other staff can see and edit. Attendees will leave with a clear picture of how to configure roles correctly and avoid the most common access errors. 

*BEGINNER*

[SA] User Management Basics: Create Groups, Add Users, Control Access

Room TBD

This session covers the essentials of User Management for beginners, from adding and inviting users to organizing them into groups with the right permissions, restrictions, and visibility settings. You'll learn the practical difference between inviting and creating users, how to edit individual permissions when needed, and why managing access at the group level saves time and keeps permissions consistent across your team. By the end of this session, you'll know how to add users, create groups, and control access with confidence.

*BEGINNER*

[ISSS NG] Prowl the Rules of ISSS Next Gen: How to Utilize Assignment and Funding Rules

Room TBD

Run with the pride to sniff out Funding and Assignment Rules. In this session, you'll learn how to slash through manual work by setting up automatic processes for your newly admitted students and request submissions. By the end, you'll be able to explain how funding and assignment rules work and set them up correctly on your own.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[AT + SA] AlertTraveler: Cracking the Eligibility Code 

Room TBD

AlertTraveler works best when the right travelers are eligible. In this session, we'll walk through the criteria that drive eligibility, cover the most common reasons applicants get missed, and show a quick way to check eligibility status for your applicant pool. Walk away feeling confident in how to ensure your travelers are set to download the AlertTraveler app!

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[PM] Let It Go: Moving Beyond the MOU Collection

Room TBD

International partnerships play a critical role in institutional enrollment goals, but as competition and pressure to demonstrate results increase, it's more important than ever to make sure your partnership portfolio aligns with strategic priorities and delivers measurable outcomes.

This session covers practical approaches for evaluating partnership agreements, identifying high-value collaborations, and deciding when to renew, expand, or sunset a partnership. We'll walk through a framework for tracking performance and ROI using enrollment, engagement, and financial metrics, and show how Terra Dotta can serve as a centralized platform for managing agreements, monitoring activity, automating reviews, and building data-informed dashboards.

You'll leave with actionable strategies to strengthen partnership management, improve accountability, and maximize the impact of your partnerships on recruitment and institutional success.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] The Game is Afoot: A Deployment Rules Mystery  

Room TBD

Deployment rules seem simple until they don't run the way you expect, but it's actually elementary! Channel your inner detective to crack real troubleshooting cases: requirements not appearing on applications, items staying on applications after they've been removed, retired items that won't come off applications, and more. 

You'll work through a set of mystery cases, each modeling a common deployment rules issue. Follow the clues, solve the case, and walk away knowing how to catch these problems before they cause a headache. 

Best for anyone already using deployment rules who wants to sharpen their detective skills for troubleshooting and maintenance, not for people adopting this functionality. No magnifying glass required, just curiosity and a willingness to investigate. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS NG] Configuration Quest: Build It, Break It, Fix It

Room TBD

Join us for a hands-on session focused on mastering Request Configurations: whether you're setting these up for the first time, cleaning up configurations that have grown messy, or just want more confidence troubleshooting when something breaks, this session has something for you. Designed for users who already have some familiarity with the platform, this session offers a game-based environment to practice building, testing, and fixing request configurations. 

We'll start with a guided walkthrough led by product experts, where you'll build a request configuration together step by step. You'll learn the core mechanics of how configurations work, common mistakes to avoid, and what a well-built configuration actually looks like in practice. From there, you'll level up into hands-on challenges. You'll build a pre-assigned request to test your skills before moving into trouble-shooting mode. You'll race to find and fix planted errors in a broken configuration, the same kinds of issues that show up in live systems. Each round builds on the last, and you'll get real-time help and feedback from subject matter experts as you go. 

Leave this session with practical, hands-on experience creating and updating request configurations, and the confidence to troubleshoot your own setup long after the session ends.

*ALL AUDIENCES*

[PM + SA] Are You Keeping Score? Exchange Balances in Partnership Management

Room TBD

Session description coming soon!

*BEGINNER*

[ISSS Stu] Open House: A Self-Paced Preview of Next Gen 

Room TBD

Get a look at ISSS Next Gen before your big move. This session is for 1.0 users who will be migrating to Next Gen, giving you a chance to try out the platform at your own pace. Grab a seat at your own computer, and we'll hand you the key to a guided walkthrough built just for this session. From there, you're free to look around on your own. You'll get a feel for what Next Gen looks like, see some of our favorite new features, and get a sense of both the admin experience and what it will look like for your end users. 

The walkthrough is mapped out for you, so there's no wrong turn, just a chance to explore and see where your current processes fit in. We'll be nearby if you have any questions along the way.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*   

[SA] Keys in Hand: A Roadmap for Inherited Terra Dotta Sites  

Room TBD

Inheriting a Terra Dotta site can feel like walking into a new house without a floor plan. This session covers the foundational roadmap for taking ownership of a site you didn't build, from immediate priorities like app cycles and permissions to the longer term work of cleaning up settings and documenting what you find. You'll walk through where to start, what can wait, and how to leave good notes for whoever inherits the site after you. Whether you got your keys last month or three years ago, you'll leave with the same practical roadmap that's helped other new site owners find their footing, floor plan included.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS NG] ISSS Next Gen Nuts and Bolts: Working with Scholar Populations

Room TBD

This session covers the fundamentals of managing scholar populations in ISSS Next Gen. We'll walk through creating and updating scholar profiles and visas, tracking key dates, and navigating the tools available for day to day scholar administration. Designed for beginners, this session is lecture and demo based to provide an introduction to the core workflows you'll use most often for this population. It's also a great fit if you're still on ISSS Scholar and want a preview of how these workflows will look in Next Gen. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[TR] Who's Really Driving? Delegates, Permissions, and Travel Registry User Management 

Room TBD

Delegate access in Travel Registry is one of those areas where the setup screen doesn't tell you much about who's in control once it's live. This session walks through the full picture of user management, including how users get created and assigned roles, how permission groups and delegate assignments work together, and why seeing a record and acting on one are governed separately. Along the way, we'll build a mental model for who holds the wheel at each step, so you can spot a setup that's headed off course before a traveler does. This session is built for Travel Registry admins responsible for user management, delegate configuration, and permission setup, and by the end you'll walk away with a clearer sense of how the pieces fit together. 

*HIGH INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Scholarships Demystified: Streamlined Awarding Processes Utilizing Terra Dotta

Room TBD

This session explores how institutions use the Study Abroad platform to design scholarship processes that reduce financial barriers and improve efficiency for students and staff. Presenters will highlight key system configurations, including application triggers, internal-use questionnaires, and analytics reports, to manage scholarship awarding and communication workflows. The session will also explore different operational models, such as standalone scholarship applications versus those embedded within programs versus those embedded within program applications, and discuss how each approach impacts usability, scalability, and administrative workload. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for enhancing access, improving process efficiency, and better leveraging technology to support equitable participation in global programs. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] From Insights to Action: Using Terra Dotta Analytics to Improve Applications and Student Communications

Room TBD

Hear from someone at the University of Kentucky on using Terra Dotta Analytics, Excel, and Power BI to identify barriers in the education abroad application process. The team analyzed completion rates, withdrawal reasons, and unfinished requirements, then audited application requirements for clarity and workload. Findings led to clearer requirement titles, simpler language, and reduced essay expectations, plus a redesign of program brochures using FAQs, concise content, and embedded links via TD's Document Center feature. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for using their own data and student questions to improve application workflows and materials.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS NG] Let's Get Together: Keeping Students and Scholars Unique but United

Room TBD

Discover how bringing students and scholars together in one united solution can improve visibility, simplify workflows, and create a more seamless experience for everyone. Learn how you can connect your participants without getting wires crossed!

*BEGINNER*

[PM] Stop Guessing, Start Knowing: Partnership Management for Campus Decisions 

Room TBD

Which partnerships deserve more attention? Where should your resources go? Partnership Management can help you answer questions like these with real evidence instead of guesswork. This hot topic session is a fast tour of how to use your data to make smarter, more defensible decisions on campus.

*HIGH INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Advanced Site Builder: Tips from the Field

Room TBD

If your public study abroad website hasn't been updated in the last few years, there's never been a better time for a facelift. Site Builder doesn't just give your site a modern look and feel, it also makes it easy to deploy some of our best student-facing tools to help them find the best programs for their needs. This session will show you what you can do quickly and easily, as well as what's available for a complete redesign.

*ALL ISSS AUDIENCES*

[ISSS] ISSS Session To Be Revealed Soon!

Room TBD

This longer session will be available for ISSS Student & Scholar users. Session description coming soon!

*HIGH INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Streamlining Faculty Approvals in Terra Dotta

Room TBD

In this session, presenters from the University of Missouri, NC State, and the University of Washington will show you how they streamline the entire faculty proposal and program renewal process using two different program types native to Terra Dotta. You will learn how to split workflows for brand-new programs versus simple renewals, use the Reviewer Console feature to get distributed approval tasks for different stakeholders (deans, department chairs, program coordinators, etc.), and automate process items like registering faculty in AlertTraveler, enrolling them in international health insurance, and reviewing contracts. 

*ALL ISSS AUDIENCES*

[ISSS NG] Effective Reporting in ISSS Next Gen

Room TBD

Session description coming soon!

*BEGINNER*

[PM] Herding Cats: Getting Your Campus on Board with Partnership Management

Room TBD

Getting a whole campus excited about a new tool can feel like herding cats, but it can be done. In this session we will dig into how to build real buy-in for Partnership Management, from spotting your natural champions to winning over the skeptics who control the budget. Hear from Rosie Flowers, an expert in Partnership Management at Terra Dotta, and from Erin Jorgensen, who's led this exact rollout on her own campus. Expect practical strategies, a few war stories, and plenty of ideas you can take back to your own campus where you can start your own herding.

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Throw Away the Dartboard: Unraveling the Assumptions of Student Program Preferences

Room TBD

We all know exactly what matters to students when they're searching for programs. Or do we? In the era of big data and AI, we can easily put those assumptions to the test and make sure we're presenting the right information in the way students actually want to see it. Learn how to use Program Discovery to help more students find their perfect program and hit that apply button. 

*ALL ISSS AUDIENCES*

[ISSS] ISSS Session To Be Revealed Soon!

Room TBD

This longer session will be available for ISSS Student & Scholar users. Session description coming soon!

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Get Dates & Itineraries Right, Every Time

Room TBD

Efficient and effective date management is a fundamental skill, both for running your application process and for tracking where your students and faculty are while they're travelling. Are you up to date (no pun intended) on the best tools in your site for building and improving this skill? This session will be a quick overview of how dates drive your processes, along with the most effective ways to track them, update them, and keep your office's calendar-related data clean and available. 

*BEGINNER*

[ISSS NG] Gotta Track 'Em All: Catching Rare Visa Types in ISSS Next Gen

Room TBD

Every ISSS office has them—the visa types that don't show up every day and don't quite fit the standard F-1/J-1 mold. In this session, we'll walk through how to maintain the rare and legendary populations in ISSS Next Gen: Fulbright grantees, External OPT/STEM participants, H-4 and F-2 dependents, and other elusive record types. We'll walk through which workflows and requests apply to them, and how to keep their records SEVIS-compliant without getting caught in a "wild encounter." Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a beginner, you'll leave with a practical field guide for processing these non-standard populations with confidence.

*BEGINNER*

[PM] Reports That Spark Joy: Partnership Management in 20 Minutes

Room TBD

Short on time but curious about reporting? This hot topic session gives you a fast tour of what Partnership Management reporting can do, from events and activities to renewal rates and more. Expect a friendly overview with plenty of pointers for digging deeper on your own. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Fewer Emails, Faster Answers, the AI Advisor and You

Room TBD

Session description coming soon!

*ALL STUDY ABROAD AUDIENCES*

[SA] Basecamp to Summit: A Reporting Expedition

Room TBD

Every expedition starts at basecamp, and this session is no different. Whether you are setting out into reporting for the first time or you've already got some trail miles behind you, all explorers are welcome. We'll begin with the essential gear: a guided walkthrough of building, filtering, and customizing reports in Study Abroad. Once you've got your footing, you'll set out on the trail yourself, working through real scenarios that put your skills to the test. Choose your own path by targeting the badges you want to earn most, from Trailhead Scout to Ridge Ranger and many more. By the end of this session, you'll walk away with a working knowledge of the next generation of reporting, ready to put to use the moment you're back at your desk. Conquer every milepost, and you might even earn the title of Summit Wizard. 

*ALL ISSS AUDIENCES*

[ISSS] The Great Configuration Bake Off: Learn and Leave No Crumbs 

Room TBD

Grab your apron. This session brings the spirit of everyone's favorite baking competition to ISSS Next Gen, with teams competing through a series of hands-on challenges built around real configuration scenarios. No Next Gen experience is kneaded to compete, and if you're still on ISSS 1.0, you'll walk away with a taste of what's ahead. 

Teams will work through a Signature Bake (a scenario built around one quick, actionable improvement), a Technical Challenge (getting more out of a key feature), and a Showstopper (a full office-specific configuration challenge, with a few surprises along the way). 

Our judges will crown a Star Baker and hand out the coveted Hollywood Handshake to the team whose site truly rises to the occasion. You'll walk away with practical, office-specific ways to whip your site into shape, plus a fresh batch of ideas to bring back to your office. 

*HIGH INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] Raindrops on Roses and My Favorite Automations: A Terra Dotta Game Show 

Room TBD

What are a few of your favorite Terra Dotta things? In this interactive, Jeopardy-style session, three institutions will put their best automations to the test, challenging attendees to identify how they would solve common administrative problems before revealing the solutions. Quick demonstrations will feature practical uses of triggers, questionnaires, tags, analytics, and automated communications, from passport expiration alerts and eligibility checks to transcript processing and scheduled reporting. Whether you are looking for your next great idea or a clever way to solve a problem you already have, you'll leave with solutions you can take back to your office and implement tomorrow. 

*BEGINNER*

[SA] Same Data, New Language: Translating Query Watches for Enhanced Data Automation

Room TBD

Anyone who has learned another language knows translation rarely works word for word. A new language lets you say more and say it in more creative ways. It's the same story when moving away from Query Watches. In this session you will learn how to take stock of what your current Query Watches do, translate them into Reports and Application Triggers, and then push past direct translation to find what else becomes possible. Think scheduled reports that land in the right inbox without anyone remembering to run them, and automations that assign, notify, or update app tags & profile fields based on the conditions that matter most to your office. You will leave with a practical approach for making the transition at your own pace, plus ideas for what to build as you become more fluent. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS] From D/S to What's Next: Building a Regulatory Change Playbook

Room TBD

An intermediate session for users of both ISSS Student/Classic and NextGen. Using the D/S elimination as a live case study, this session builds a repeatable playbook for the next regulatory shift, whatever it turns out to be. We'll cover how to spot a change early, pull the affected population in Terra Dotta, use tags, custom fields, and reports to get ahead of new tracking needs, push guidance updates everywhere they need to live, and know what's automated versus manual. Leave with a one-page framework you can apply going forward. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[DASH] Next Gen Dashboards: Turning Data into Decisions

Room TBD

This session walks through real examples from Study Abroad and ISSS offices to show how a dashboard gets built, what it reveals, and what to do with what you find. You'll see the full loop in action: what the data shows, what decisions it may drive, and how that decision plays out on campus. Whether you're new to Dashboards or already reporting and want to go further, you'll leave with configurations and ideas you can apply right away. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[SA] From Paper to Platform: A Practical Guide to Electronic Course Approvals 

Room TBD

Ready to see course approvals in action? This session pairs a demo of Terra Dotta's course approvals functionality with a real-world implementation story. We'll start with a feature overview by Kelsey Chambers from Terra Dotta, covering how course approvals work end to end, then Calie Dickey from Butler University will walk through how Butler transitioned from a paper-based process to electronic approvals, including how she got buy in across campus and set up the system for ongoing use. Attendees will leave with a practical use case they can apply at their own institution and a handout to help them get started. 

*BEGINNER*

[ISSS NG] Completion is Only The Beginning! Managing Post-Completion Participants in ISSS Next Gen

Room TBD

Participants may be moving on to their next chapter, but you don't want them to close the book on working with your office. See how you can remain a relevant resource for your populations as they write their own stories!

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[TR] Stop Chasing Solo Travelers: Register Dozens and Let the System Do the Rest

Room TBD

Session description coming soon!

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[AT] Ready for Anything: Crisis Response with AlertTraveler

Room TBD

You can't predict when a crisis will hit, but you can be ready for it. This session walks through how AlertTraveler supports your team during a crisis, from locating travelers to sending updates, so you can respond with confidence instead of scrambling.

*BEGINNER*

[SA] Low Hanging Fruit: Simple Optimizations That Save You Time 

Room TBD

You don't need a system overhaul to save real time in your daily work, just a handful of simple optimizations. This session walks through a set of practical, easy to implement configurations that are already sitting in your site, waiting to be turned on or used more fully. From tips on program creation and brochure updates to application searches and notifications, you'll see just how much your site can do for you, and how small changes add up to big gains in your day to day efficiency! 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[ISSS] The Climb to Clean Data: Auditing and Data Confidence in ISSS

Room TBD

Every student record you manage in ISSS Student or ISSS Next Gen makes a climb: out of your SIS, into Terra Dotta, out to SEVIS, and back home again. Along this route, there are seven checkpoints, and any one of them can turn into a storm that strands your data mid-mountain. The session opens with a base camp briefing, where we walk the full route together, checkpoint by checkpoint, pointing out exactly where conditions turn and what to check before they do. Then it's time to climb. Rope up, because you'll be handed real-world scenarios and tasked with tracing where the ascent went wrong. 

*LOW INTERMEDIATE*

[AT + SA] An App They Actually Open: The Next Generation of AlertTraveler

Room TBD

AlertTraveler was built as a safety tool, which meant most travelers opened it once during orientation and then not again until something went wrong. The next generation starts from a different premise: the app should be worth opening on a normal day, so that it's already installed and already familiar when an abnormal one arrives. This session is the first full look at that rebuild. We'll spend most of our time on the traveler experience, walking through the new app and what changes for a student before, during, and after a trip. From there we move to the admin side: how travelers get into AlertTraveler in the first place, how coverage is scoped, and what you see about a traveler's status without having to ask them. Finally, we'll look at how Study Abroad data flows into AlertTraveler, cutting down the manual reconciliation you're doing by hand today.