Extracurricular Activities Planning

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 $𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐢 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔... Last week, I had an amazing time at the Intern Ship event 🛳️—super well-themed, volunteer-run, and full of raw, honest energy. So big shout out to Manny Duenas 😛 , Parinita Gupta, Ana M. and the whole team for bringing Avni Barman(Gen She), Michael Yan(Simplify), Fatimah Hussain(Workout Wizard) and Jia (Audrey) Chen (Sprint.dev) and 100s of students. Over 2 hours, I spoke to 30+ folks. Underneath all the excitement, one truth kept surfacing: 🎓 So many international students—from top-tier schools—are still struggling to land their first internship/opportunity. And here’s what I think is broken 👇 Most study abroad consultancies stop at test prep (GRE, IELTS), SoP/LoRs, and maybe a few online courses. But no one really prepares students for the U.S. job market. Especially those coming right after undergrad—most have zero exposure to hiring processes, resume standards, or industry expectations here. After they come here, it takes 3-4 months of cultural & academic adjustment leading to delayed CPT (work permit), and boom—summer internship gone. By the time they figure things out, it’s already 3rd semester. And yes, there are no job placement office, you have to scout for opportunities yourselves. Many graduate with 0 or 1 internship—and a résumé that U.S. recruiters barely glance at. Let’s be real. Most of you come to the U.S. not just for a degree—but for opportunity that can return your investment and maybe leverage the purchase power parity. So, here's my strong advice, if you’re planning to study abroad: ❌ Don’t have a mindset of "I'll go there and figure it out later” ❌ Admission into top university doesn't guarantee employability/placement. ✅ Explore the job market way before you fly and start seeking opportunities. ✅ Apart from reaching out to professors for teaching assistant roles, build connections with recruiters and startup community early on. ✅ Follow/connect with Kushal Murthy for more updates as I uncover more tips for international students flying to US in 2025. If you think this is helpful, repost or share with someone dreaming to study in the US. More insights coming soon—straight from the Bay. Stay tuned. 🇺🇸 #StudyAbroad #InternationalStudents #CareerTips #InternshipStruggles #HigherEd #SJSU #JobSearch #RoI #MastersInUSA

How I'm Structuring Our Core Team Retreat to Prepare for 2026 In a few weeks time, I'm taking our five-person core team at e27 (Optimatic) off-site for 2.5 days. Not a typical team bonding exercise, this is strategic preparation work. Thaddeus Jit Siong Koh, Christine Galolo, Justin C., Hung N.: I haven't shared the pre-treated handbook yet but here's a sneak peak of the process. The Philosophy Most leaders underestimate the power of undistracted, collective thinking time. When you remove Slack notifications and daily firefighting, something shifts. People get vulnerable. They think deeper. They connect dots they'd never see in a conference room between meetings. This retreat isn't about trust falls. It's about creating a structured environment where we honestly assess our year, confront our failures, and align on what 2026 demands from us. The Structure 80% structured sessions, 20% informal time. Key sessions I'm facilitating (learned through coaching): - Getting Naked: Vulnerability exercises - Gratitude: Acknowledging what worked - Self-Reflection: Individual introspection - Full Year Visualization: Projecting into December 2026 The Pre-Work Matters Here's what most retreat planning gets wrong: people show up unprepared and spend the first day thinking through basics. I'm requiring significant pre-work. Everyone comes with their thinking done. At the retreat, we're examining thought processes, challenging assumptions, and making decisions, not doing the initial thinking. Dissecting Our Misses One session focuses on what we failed at this year. For each miss, we're categorizing: - Execution/reactor issues? (We knew what to do, didn't do it well) - People issues? (Wrong team, roles, capabilities) - Market/timing? (Right idea, wrong moment) - Strategic misalignment? (Shouldn't have done this at all) This framework prevents the trap of "let's just work harder" when the real issue is strategic. The AI Question We're dedicating serious time to AI's impact on our business model. Not surface-level discussions but deep strategic conversations about how AI reshapes media, events, and community building in our space. Why Every Voice Matters I'm facilitating, but this isn't my retreat, it's ours. Five people, equal voices. In small teams, hierarchy can't hide dysfunction. Everyone sees everything. So everyone needs to be part of solving everything. What Success Looks Like Two dimensions: 1. Qualitative: How does each person feel about our direction? 2. Quantitative: Do we leave with clear decisions and concrete plans? Feelings without plans are therapy. Plans without emotional buy-in gather dust. We need both. For Fellow Founders The best retreats I've experienced weren't the most fun, they were the most uncomfortable. They forced hard conversations we'd been avoiding. That's what separates a retreat from a holiday. When's the last time you gave your core team uninterrupted time to think together? Not plan. Not execute. Just... think?

We’ve done five offsites with the whole awork team now, and one thing has become very clear: A good offsite does not mean an empty calendar. Our schedule is actually quite packed. What matters is finding the right balance between achieving something meaningful together and leaving enough slack time to connect on a human level. What has made the biggest difference for us is being deliberate about the whole week. The offsite has a clear goal, a theme, and a design that ties it all together. That applies to the agenda, the sessions, and even the materials we provide on-site to make the experience smooth and enjoyable, like a themed online agenda and a venue map. I’m sharing the agenda format we’ve used across our last five offsites, plus some of the content we give attendees during the week. None of it is overly fancy, but it creates clarity, reduces friction, and helps the whole experience feel focused without turning into a meeting marathon. A few things that have consistently made a difference for us: 1. Start with the goal   Before we plan a single session, we decide what the week is for. Is it strategy and alignment? Better cross-team collaboration? Kickstarting a big initiative? This decision shapes the entire offsite. 2. Give everything a reason to be there   The week has a clear goal, a theme, and a design that carries through the whole experience. That makes it easier for people to understand why they are there and what the time together is meant to achieve. 3. Be ambitious, but realistic   We do put a lot into the calendar. But we try not to overload people with back-to-back sessions all day. Even great workshops lose energy when there’s no room to breathe. So we plan focused content blocks and protect breaks in between. 4. Mix formats on purpose   For a hybrid team, this combination tends to be especially effective: - leadership updates - small group workshops - deep-dive collaboration sessions - informal activities and dinners 5. Leave room for the unplanned moments   Some of the best conversations happen between sessions, on walks, over coffee, or late at dinner. If every minute is scheduled, those moments never happen, and those are often where trust really grows. For me, the best offsites are the ones where you get both: real progress as a team and real time together as people. That’s how we plan offsites that actually work. How do you structure offsites for real collaboration without turning them into pure meeting marathons? #offsite #hybridwork #teamculture #futureofwork #remotework

If your LinkedIn and Instagram feeds are being flooded 🌊 by Think Tank posts and wondering how BIG this event was, it was only 50 people. Pound for pound, the sheer volume of LOVE and enthusiasm for what happened at this event is sure to translate to massive marketing VALUE that is disproportionately greater than traditional conferences. And here’s the thing… Not only is everyone cool with it, they’re IN on it! 🤩 How do you create an event like this that people love so much that we spend $0 in marketing every year and yet keep growing? Rule # 1 - Foster BELONGING ✅ be clear about who it’s for (Head + Heart leaders who are dissatisfied with the status quo) and who it’s not for (people pushing for sales) ✅ we do prework, group work, and virtual meet ups BEFORE the event ✅ find like-hearted people with shared or complimentary motivations (their WHY) ✅ mix up seating, create small group exercises and discussions, and give enough reasons for people to talk together about things that matter. Don’t leave it to “networking” (most people hate it). Give them real things to discuss. People bond over IDEAS not bios. Rule # 2 - Be Transparent ✅ Let them know the cost upfront, the agenda, the role of sponsors, the way you’ll create content, what parts are experiments and everything else about your goals of the business. Rule # 3 - Deliver the Goods! ✅ Surprise and delight your audience that begins with EMOTIONS and ties together practical solutions to help them achieve success ✅ Work with your facilitators ahead of time. Rehearse. Practice. Improve. MOST conferences allow speakers to basically wing it up there. 😳 We didn’t. Rule # 4 - Make the small details count ✅ Venue, food selection, music, workbooks, swag bags, soft t-shirts, name tents and every other little detail should let them know one thing very clearly —> you value their time and appreciate them. ✅ We didn’t wear our shirts or do group photos until the last day when we’re at PEAK trust and rapport. When people seek out your branding so they can take photos with it, you’ve captured their hearts. Rule # 5 - Be Human ✅ Show your fun side, your vulnerable side; your professionalism; the REAL you. People care about the people behind the brands. Our group members are sharing long form posts, multiple posts, videos, photos and more. They’re sharing what they learned and more importantly how they FELT. They’re commenting on and sharing each others’ posts and supporting each other. THEY are generating a huge deal of curiosity and interest by people for next year’s event(s)! Here’s the not-so-secret SECRET: Give them your full preparation. Your full heart. Your full measure. Not only will they reward you with their appreciation, they’ll share it with anyone who will listen. 💜 #thinktank2024 #headandheart #lighttheway Think Tank 2024 Sponsors 🫶: Markentum Angie Gray Viking Pure Solutions Dash Media KARE Bella Groves Dual Path Connected Solutions

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 30 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 3 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. For students starting their journey overseas, those first few weeks are more than a settling-in period — they’re a foundation for academic success, mental well-being, and lifelong independence. And for parents? They’re often just as anxious — hoping their child feels safe, supported, and confident from day one. Here’s a guide to help students (and their families) prepare with purpose: 🎒 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤: Think smart, not heavy. Key documents (visa, ID, health records), tech essentials, prescriptions, and a few comfort items from home. Clothes? Keep it basic — students often adjust after seeing local styles. 🗂️ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: Start with a local SIM card and open a bank account. Then move quickly on student registration, insurance, and residence permits. These steps unlock access to everything from public transport to emergency care. 📲 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝: Must-haves include: – Local transit and navigation apps – University portals – WhatsApp (for international messaging) – Budgeting tools like Revolut or Splitwise – Mental health or support apps offered by the school 🚫 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝: Staying in a comfort bubble. It’s natural to stick with students from the same background — but branching out early builds confidence, language skills, and friendships that last. 🎓 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: – Attend every welcome event, even the awkward ones – Keep a simple daily routine for stability – Learn a few local phrases before you land – It’s okay to miss home — just don’t isolate For students: Be proactive. For parents: Be patient and encouraging. The first 30 days won’t be perfect — but they can be powerful. 💬 If you’ve studied or sent a child abroad, what’s one tip you’d share with someone about to start? #StudyAbroad #InternationalStudents #StudentLife #ParentSupport #First30Days #GlobalEducation #UniversityBound

The decision stage is usually the biggest source of anxiety, but regardless of the outcome, hold tight and move to the next thing. Week Ten: What happens after you apply: decisions and next steps Once you get an acceptance email, be prepared to move from an “application” to “preparation” mode. Getting prepared for graduate school is as taxing as applying for it, especially for international students. People rarely talk about what comes next after one is accepted. What should you know? ☑️ Immediate actions - Secure your official admission letter and confirm scholarship details (amount/percentage covered) - Verify your program start date and any orientation requirements - Begin visa application. Request your I-20 (for the US) or equivalent documents - Schedule your visa interview early because slots fill up fast - Gather all supporting documents: financial statements, admission letters, scholarship confirmations, and passports ☑️ Pre-departure essentials - Complete health immunizations and medical requirements - Secure housing. Start searching on time - Financial planning: understand what your scholarship covers, create a budget, and save for initial setup costs - Academic prep: review recommended readings and connect with your advisor - Set up your university email and familiarize yourself with student portals ☑️ Build your network: - Connect with current students in your program - Join student groups on social media - Ask practical questions about what to bring and cultural adjustments - Create a shopping list of essentials you will need upon arrival - Purchase items that are expensive or unavailable in your destination country - Arrange airport pickup or transportation to your accommodation - Inform your family and emergency contacts of your travel plans - Make copies of all important documents (passport, visa, admission letters) ☑️ Before you leave - Complete the visa process and book flights, bearing in mind your program start date - Arrange airport pickup - Make copies of your documents (put them in your carry-on) - Pack strategically, considering climate and baggage limits - Attend pre-departure orientations offered by your host university ☑️ What if you were not accepted? Know that this is not the end. See it as a redirection. Many people face rejection before finding the right opportunity. - Request feedback from programs - Strengthen your profile: gain more experience and improve test scores - Be more strategic: apply to a broader range of schools - Start earlier and seek mentorship - Explore Master’s/Phd Preview Programs and online informational sessions/webinars to help you network with faculty, visit campuses, learn about funding, and strengthen your candidacy before applying Remember: Every successful scholar you admire likely faced setbacks. Your persistence and preparation will pay off. This concludes the scholarship series. Thank you for following along. I wish you all the best! #JenniferScholarshipSeries | 10 of 10

Given all the recent stress for international students around news coming out of the US, it has been very nice of a number of US universities to conduct sessions for counsellors to help us cut through the noise and figure out what's happening on the ground. Based on these conversations, I'm sharing some advice here for students on an F1: 1) For those of you heading to the US in the fall, either for the first time or after your summer break, make sure you triple-check all the required documents. If your final destination is not the port of entry, make sure you have all your onward flights booked. 2) Ports of entry are always subject to scrutiny. Familiarise yourself with what you can and cannot bring into the country and follow it to a T. Doubtful about whether that aam ka achaar is allowed? Toss it. Not worth the risk. 3) While at university, keep up the requirements of your F1, including the necessary courseload. 4) Avoid posting troublesome things on social media (this is life advice, really, kids!) 5) Don't break *any* laws, even seemingly small ones like jaywalking (I'm serious!). Small infractions that might not be a huge deal for US citizens can be problematic for international students 6) Check in with your university's international student department regularly Bottom line - as an international student, you are there to study and build your skills. Put your head down, focus, and do that. Is it really that dire? Maybe not, but do you want to be the poster child for that? On a slightly different note, for high school students exploring universities in the US, the level of support a university provides for international students is something you must add to your list of questions to ask them during events/sessions/visits. It has always been important, but in these uncertain times, it is critical. Fellow counsellors - what else would you add here as advice? #collegecounselling #studyabroad #internationalstudents Sapna Goel Ambikaa Kaul Khushboo Taparia Bedi Anjali Uppal Namita Mehta Priya Gupta Maneesha Gorti Sangeetha Virmani Kavita Singh Punnya Vij Sandeep Bhalla Bhakti Shah Sudarshana Shukla Janhavi Ruparel Aashima S. Shivangi Panchal Namrata Misra (Pandey) Revathi Shivakumar Nirmal Agarwal Priyanka Reddy Pragati Pandey

Teams scale up the logistics.  But they forget to scale the one thing that actually matters. More people, a bigger venue, and a longer agenda. But they don’t scale up the care, attention, and intention that made the smaller offsite work. The size may change, but the fundamentals don’t. The first offsite I facilitated, I failed to build in breaks long enough for a whole large group to use the loo, grab a coffee and make it back to the workshop room. By hour three, people had obviously checked out. My carefully-designed agenda became a bit useless. Because I’d underestimated the time involved in meeting  basic needs! After 100+ offsites, I’ve noticed and collected a list of mistakes that will cost you time, money and trust. I’ve collated these mistakes into a free Offsite Masterclass series, as well as everything else I’ve learned. It explains how to design offsites that actually create change instead of just checking the “team-building” box.  You can find the full list of common mistakes by signing up to the series (comment “Offsite Masterclass for the link) Here are just a few: 1. No clear purpose or agenda: Without a clear plan, your offsite will lack focus and fail to deliver results. 2. Crappy venue logistics: Make sure the rooms you use can cater to the group capacity, AV and furniture. 3. AV and wifi meltdown: A full AV test is a must, make sure you leave enough time to do this before your first session. 4. Food chaos: Stagger breaks, collect dietary requirements and label food. 5. Too many back-to-back sessions: Schedule generous breaks (10-20 mins every 90 mins) and a 45-60 min lunch.  6. Speakers who aren’t briefed or rehearsed: Ensure that you work with your speakers and facilitators well in advance.  7. No signage: Put up clear signage if it’s a large venue (you can also think about doing this digitally). 8. Ignoring accessibility and inclusion: Ask for accessibility needs, ensure ramps, captioning, quiet spaces, and gender-neutral toilets. 9. Bad check-in process: When large groups of people arrive at a venue at the same time, it can be overwhelming for staff or venue hosts. Discuss this with your venue, and come up with a strategy. 10. No contingency plan: Create a risk assessment (for health and safety) and a contingency plan for “crunchy” moments. If you’re planning an offsite (or trying to make your next one better than your last one), this will help. Comment "Offsite Masterclass" below and I'll send you the signup link. What's one mistake you've made running offsites that you'd add to this list? ♻️ Share this with someone planning a team offsite  🔔 Follow Maya Knight for frameworks on facilitation and building high-performing teams

It’s conference season. Which means people are being invited into spaces… only for #innovation to be killed by rows of seats, 5 chairs on a stage and verrrry predictable conversations. 😩 Somewhere between “Let’s go down the line” and “We’re almost out of time,” …. your audience have already checked out, mentally ticking off their to-do lists 🫣 🎯Panels alone aren’t the problem. Predictability is. The leaders and teams I’m working with are trying to make their events more meaningful, but are often stuck at “but that’s just how we’ve always done it.” What I keep returning them to is #purpose ☞ your event should be designed with your goals for your audience in mind. ☞ What’s the key takeaway? ☞ What do you want people to #think, #feel, and #do as a result of spending time with you? Here are a few practical ways to strengthen facilitation ☑ Ask better questions: Start with something your speakers haven’t rehearsed. A great question changes the room. ☑ Curate contrast: Bring together people who genuinely think differently. It’s okay to disagree. It’s also far more interesting. ☑ Engage early, and follow through: Forget the box-ticking surveys. Invite participation before, during and after. Real engagement is possible, with or without tech. ☑ Rethink Q&A (please!!): A single hand in the air doesn’t tell you much. The best insights may not be spoken out loud. Use polls, themes, anonymous submissions, anything that gives everyone a fuller view of the room. ☑ Be intentional about the room: #Diversity isn’t decoration. It shapes the quality and direction of everything that’s said. 🗣️ Please stop filling rooms with people who all look the same! 🎯The goal is to create #space for people to think, offer value they can use, and leave them with something they didn’t know when they arrived. 💡If you’re bringing people together and want to do it differently! Get in touch, I’d love to support. ❤️ #ConferenceSeason #AudienceFirst #FacilitationMatters #SystemsThinking