Thursday, October 21 - Saturday, October 23, 2021
Wyndham Riverfront Hotel, North Little Rock
AECA is excited to return to our in-person conference this year for the 60th anniversary. We will be celebrating Seasons of Change | Hope for Tomorrow. We have planned an exciting conference this year for all of our early childhood friends. One of the highlights of our conference has always been the networking and conversations. This is one of the reasons we felt like we needed a face-to-face conference this year. We have endured a season of challenges and we're still navigating our way through it. But we hope the sessions at this year's conference will give us guidance and hope going forward. We invite you and all early childhood colleagues to join us in North Little Rock for this exciting event.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Keynote speakers are currently being finalized and we will have some announcements by July 1. The conference program will be published as soon as the schedule and sessions are finalized.
ACCOMMODATIONS: The Wyndham Riverfront Hotel will provide a block of rooms for AECA conference participants for $104 (plus taxes) per room. We will be sending out the hotel reservation link by July 1. The hotel address is 2 Riverfront Place, North Little Rock, AR 72114. The hotel can be reached at (501) 371-9000.
MEMBERSHIP: If you are not already a member, we invite you to become a part of your state’s association. It’s so easy! Just complete the membership information on the conference registration form. For just $39 ($25 for students), you will receive a year’s membership in AECA, as well as the Southern Early Childhood Association.
To get the member rate when registering for the conference, you must be current on your membership and you must be logged into the AECA website with the email address used for your membership. If you need to renew, you must renew FIRST and then register for the conference. Call 501-680-1930 if you have any questions.
PRESENTERS: If you are interested in presenting, please complete and submit the call for presenters outline form. You may obtain form here: 2021 Call for Presenter Submission.pdf. Primary presenters who are approved by August 1 will be able to register for the conference for $47.50.
VENDORS/EXHIBITORS: We will have our vendor hall open during the conference. If you are interested in exhibiting, you can download our exhibitor prospectus here: AECA 2021 Exhibitor-Sponsor Prospectus.pdf
DIRECTORS & ADMINISTRATORS: Directors' Luncheon plans are still being finalized. For all of you who are directors, you will receive separate information on how to make reservations in the next couple of weeks. As always, the luncheon will be free of change to conference participants.
COVID PRECAUTIONS: At this time, there are no mandated precautions in place at the hotel, and AECA will not mandate any specific measures. (The current CDC guidelines no longer call for masks if you have been vaccinated.) However, each individual can decide for themselves what are prudent measures to take for their situation including masks and social distancing. The hotel has implemented strict sanitary measures for rooms and public spaces. We will only be using breakout spaces where there is room to spread out.
CANCELLATION: Participants may request a 100% refund of their registration fee through September 1, 2021. From September 1-21, we will refund 50% of the registration fee due to cancellation. There are no refunds after September 21. If a state of emergency is declared due to the pandemic and a force majeure clause is activated to cancel our agreement with the hotel, we will refund 100% of all registration fees up until the conference dates.
Make sure you are logged in as a member to see our upcoming 2021 conference registration! If you have any problems registering please email conference@arkansasearlychildhood.org