2025 AVCA Convention Presentation Schedule
Please say hello!
The 2025 AVCA Convention is only days away and I’m hard at work on some good stuff as well as looking forward to seeing friends, presentations, and friends presenting. In anticipation of the event, I’ll share not just my scheduled presentations, but also some of my plans for attending other presentations.
If you’re attending, please say hello! Building community starts with little conversations at events like this.
My Presentations
My first session, The Romo Effect and the Coming Evolution of Volleyball Storytelling (Thursday, 12/18, 8:45am), is a VolleyStation project that’s taking a big swing at how we can keep growing and deepening fan engagement with volleyball in the near future. We’re going to talk about better building blocks that give both broadcasters and fans a more accurate and robust way of viewing the game. Using stats from 10 years of NCAA semifinals and finals, we’ll explore the foundations of a new way of understanding and talking about volleyball.
My second session, Good Talk About Good Coaching (Thursday, 12/18, 1:45pm) is called a roundtable discussion but it’s actually a guided small group discussion. In theory, you had to sign up for it ahead of time and space is limited but I say show up anyhow and we’ll make space for you.
We’ll be exploring how coaches’ personal coaching frameworks impact the ways they manage some common coaching situations.
My third session, Measuring What Matters (Thursday, 12/18, 3:45pm) is also a small group discussion that required sign up ahead of time because space is limited. I’m okay with more people showing up but I don’t know how the AVCA feels about it. I make no guarantees.
I’ll be helping coaches and analysts think through the process of creating their own metrics to help them measure things that are important in their programs.
My fourth session, So You Want to Control the Controllables… (Saturday, 12/20, 2:15pm) is a typical meeting room session with space for all. No need to sign up or talk your way past the bouncer.
The session will be an adaptation of a series I posted on Substack earlier this year. But I won’t be just reading what I wrote. As I have done in past presentations, I’ll only spend about half the time talking. The other half will be paired or small group discussions around prompts from the content. Here’s the description I wrote for the convention agenda:
“Coaches are very fond of controlling things. Top coaches are regularly lauded for their obsession with and attention to detail. This presentation suggests the idea that control might not be what it’s made out to be.
During this session, participants will discuss what’s worth controlling, how to intervene effectively in practices and competition, and how to plant seeds of change in their teams.”
My Agenda
In case you’re coming to Kansas City and looking for ideas to fill your schedule, here’s some of the presentations I’m planning on attending.
Wednesday, 12/17
5pm - AVCA Convention 101: What Every First-Time Attendee Needs to Know
It’s not my first convention, but I like to check in to hear what others are recommending and what they’re trying to get out of the convention.
6pm - Pre-Convention Seminar Part 3: Attack and Block - Tactical Tools for Winning the Net
(This session requires purchase of the pre-convention seminar package.) Lauren Bertolacci is someone whose coaching philosophy I really respect and admire. I want to see her session not because I want to learn the tactical tools she’ll talk about but because she’ll talk about her values too.
Thursday, 12/18
11:45am - “Coaching Us” From Reactive to Ready: Preparing Your Club for the Conflicts You Know Are Coming
Dr. Jen Fry’s presentations always crush and always give me something to think about. She recently published a book about managing conflict and this will certainly be a great distillation of what’s in her book.
Friday, 12/19
9am - Super Session
I’m really interested in the last four of the six mini-sessions. Yes, my boss at VolleyStation is part of one of them. But I’m also fascinated to hear from the ESPN and BTN people about how they see the future of volleyball broadcasts. The last two mini-sessions are about rules and coaches growing and changing, which I’ll always be interested in.
10:40am - Indoor Club Management Track - Investing in Coaches for Long-Term Club Success through the Onboarding, Development and Retention Process
I care a lot about coach development. I have a lot of opinions about how it can be done. I think clubs are great places to help coaches develop so I want to hear what these directors are doing and why.
1:15pm - Building the Toolbox: Training Creativity and Range
This might be similar to Bertolacci’s pre-convention seminar session. I’ll go to this one if I can’t attend her Wednesday session.
1:15pm - Semi-Final Match Analysis with Nate Ngo and Virginia Pham
Nate and Virginia are amazing at their jobs. I’ve been talking with them a little about possible ideas and content for this session. I want to hear their perspectives on Thursday’s national semifinals.
3:45pm - Engaging Ways to Enhance Volleyball IQ and Decision Making
I’m always interested in decision making from a psychological perspective. I’m interested in this presentation to see what Poole has to say about coaching player decision making.
3:45pm - Statistical Benchmarks: Key Metrics from Top Programs and How to Evaluate Your Team
I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on benchmarks and standards. I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on evaluating team performance. I’m curious to see what I can learn from the thoughts and opinions of others on these topics.
Saturday, 12/20
9am - The Pressure Playbook: Coaching Perfectionistic Athletes Without Breaking Them
Perfectionism is a complex subject and I think coaches, including me, can learn a lot about how perfectionism expresses itself and how we can coach perfection-minded players.
11:30am - Seeing the Game: The Visuomotor Foundations of Reading, Decision-Making, and Movement
Similar to my interest in Poole’s presentation about decision making, I’d like to see how others are helping athletes become better at making decisions.
Sunday, 12/21
10am - Better Starts With You: Coaching the Person Behind the Player
I always want to coach people before I coach skills so I’m interested to see how Kindig talks to coaches about supporting the human growth of players.
11:15am - Closing Session – Sunday Stories: Insights from Top Coaches and Leaders
This session is always an entertaining potpourri of topics. It’ll be the last thing I do at convention before heading home.