Delegates to the 2005 NCAA Convention will see many of the same programming and activity enhancements that were successful at the 2004 annual meeting, with some expansions and additions.

The well-attended job fair for student-athletes and others interested in a career in collegiate athletics will include additional programming focused on entry-level job searches. The programming geared specifically toward college and university presidents will return, in the form of a Sunday-morning breakfast hosted by NCAA President Myles Brand and featuring Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges Chair John Walda and a panel discussion about the new CEO orientation program. Issues forums for each division also will return.

Changes planned for the Dallas Convention include a shift of the opening business session to Saturday afternoon instead of the traditional Sunday evening meeting and an information booth to help members navigate the new NCAA Web site, launched in September.

NCAA President Brand will deliver his State of the Association address at the opening business session.

Association-wide education sessions will be Saturday, and panelists will tackle a variety of topics that are important to delegates.

The scheduled sessions are:

• Fair Labor Standards Act: To Exempt or Not Exempt -- This session will provide background and detail about compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime regulations that went into effect in August 2004. There also will be a best practices discussion and viewpoints from the membership.

• Increase Performance, Decrease Liability: Attending to Student-Athlete Mental Health -- Statistics indicate an increase in mental-health issues, including depression and suicide attempts, among today's college students. Student-athletes are not immune to experiencing stress and depression, which can impact academic performance, athletics performance and, ultimately, success in college. Panelists discuss how campuses can prepare to help the next generation of student-athletes succeed while protecting institutions from liability for gaps in responsibility.

• Generating New Revenue: The Donor$ Per$pective -- Philanthropists and university development personnel will share ideas, best practices and answer questions regarding fund-raising, endowments and other creative methods of increasing revenue on campus.

• Integration of the Student-Athlete: The Who, What, How and Why of Successful Programs -- Panelists discuss recruiting and retaining students in search of a more diverse student population.

• Student-Athlete Insurance: Requirements and Issues -- This session offers descriptions of the student-athlete insurance programs provided by the membership and the NCAA. Panelists discuss the requirements of new insurance certification bylaws and provide information and tools to assist institutions in complying.

• Maintaining Olympic Sports at the NCAA Level / Ideas from the Joint USOC / NCAA Task Force -- The elimination of sports programs has presented a challenge for many Olympic sports and has resulted in lost participation opportunities for NCAA student-athletes. The task force was developed to recommend ways the NCAA and USOC can protect and expand opportunities for athletes and coaches in sports traditionally included in the Olympic Games.

• Creating a Collegial Environment -- A Positive Competitive Environment for all Student-Athletes -- Much of the discussion of sportsmanship has focused on how to handle negative situations on campus. Recognizing that much of that occurs at the local level, the purpose of this session will be how to create a "collegial environment" on campus. The session will provide education, examples and tools to assist administrators in developing more positive environments for competition.

• Event Security: Best Practices for Preparing for and Dealing with Threats or Incidents -- A discussion of best practices in developing communication models of threat and incident information, on campus and off, as well as a discussion of whom to work with among local, state and federal authorities.

• Drugs, Supplements and Medications: Administrators' Responsibilities -- This session will identify current trends in athletics drug and nutritional/dietary supplement use, and the policies and practices the athletics administration should have in place to assure health, safety and competitive equity in college athletics.