The Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas Professional Development Conference for teachers of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources provides a week-long conference specifically for agriculture teachers and stakeholders. The event is designed to enhance teaching methods, keep up with developments in curriculum, learn more about industry-based student certifications, and network with leaders in our profession.

We will have a limited number of pre-recorded workshops and recordings of the general sessions that will be available for professional development hours. We will have not live events. 

Through a partnership with the Texas Education Agency, Agriculture Teachers Association is able to grant Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours to participants in this conference. 

The 2024 Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas Professional Development Conference for Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Cluster will be held July 22-26. We will be in-person in Dallas at the Hyatt Regency Dallas
 
Registration opens March 27th through ATAT Online.

Registration Fees:
$300 - Active 
$100 - Associate 
$30 - Student

This price is set in our association by-laws.  

ATAT Conference 2024 Know-Before-You-Go

We are looking forward to seeing you in Dallas the last week of July and are sharing the most important “need to know” info before you arrive.

Monday Workshops
If you have registered for a Monday workshop and do not have a balance due you will receive a ticket via email on Friday, July 19. You can also find the ticket on your ATAT Account. Print the ticket or have it on your phone to show the presenter. On Monday, go directly to the room assigned for your workshop or report for your offsite workshop. If you have a balance due, you will receive an email giving you the option of paying or submitting a “check in the mail” form. After completing this step, you will receive your ticket via email or will be able to find it on your account.

Conference Registration
We will have registration in front of the Landmark Ballroom on the second floor of the Hyatt. Credentials will be needed to access the General Session and Area Meetings on Tuesday and workshops on Wednesday and Thursday, so be sure to make your area table your first stop when you arrive.

Registration Hours
Monday, July 22: 12:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Tuesday, July 23: 7:00 am – 8:15 am; 10:30 am-12:00pm

Registration materials will be at the ATAT Office Trinity A near the Landmark Ballroom when the area registration has closed.

Remember, you can log in and designate that the check is in the mail or bring a check with you if desired.  Any check payments brought to the conference will be accepted at the ATAT Office located in Trinity A.

Parking at the Hotel 
Parking at the Hyatt is $12 for ATAT Conference Attendees. All parking stations will have this price preprogramed to charge the correct amount. If you are not staying at the Hyatt and you leave and come back you could incur more charges. 

Radish Lot and B Lot are Hyatt lots where hotel guests can use their room keycard to enter and exit, and charges will routed to their room (or the Master Account if directed).  Please note that H Lot will honor the $12 rate, but hotel guests cannot use their room keycard in this lot – they will have to pay with a credit card upon exit. 

Also, here is a link to other public parking areas that you can share with your members who are driving in.  It will show them locations and rates of nearby parking areas.

BestParking: Find and Book Parking Anywhere

ATAT Conference App
Log into the conference app before you arrive at the conference. This is how you will check-in to workshops to get your CEU credit, review the on-site schedule, locate exhibitors, and much more. The app can be accessed on your smartphone by visiting https://m.texasagteachers.org. You will use your member id number from your name badge or you may look it up on your invoice from your registration.

Guest Registration
All guests coming to the conference for the week or a day must be registered. Many of you have already registered your guests when you registered. If you arrive at the conference with a guest you have not previously registered please come with your guest to ATAT Office located in Trinity A and we will help get them registered. All guests, pre-registered and registering onsite, will complete a waiver and receive their credentials. Spouses, children, and caregivers should all be registered.

Award recipients that are not already registered will pick up their credentials at the ATAT Office located in  Trinity A.

Presenter Check-In
Presenters should report to the Presenter Check-In located in the ATAT Office located in Trinity A at least 30 minutes prior to their workshop time to pick up their presenter information which includes their workshop’s check-in code.

Area Meetings
As we did last year, area meeting times have been adjusted this year. Meeting locations can be found in the conference app.

10:15 a.m.– 1:40 p.m.: Areas 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11
1:50 p.m. – 5:15  p.m.: Areas 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12

Family Room
The Windsor Room is available for nursing mothers and caregivers.

Lunches **New This Year**
We will provide a lunch for $15.00 on Wednesday.  We will offer this reduced rate in case you do not want to battle the crowds in the restaurant or coffee shop.  You must purchase this by July 3rd to have a meal.  No meals will be sold onsite.

Important Documents:
Agenda-at-a-Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

Is registration open?  Will there be a virtual option?  Can I see all the sessions virtually?

Registration will open on March 27 at noon.  It will remain open through the conference. We will have 20-25 workshops videos placed on the conference website for viewing beginning on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. This will be the only part of the conference available as a virtual option.  Area meetings will not be a part of the online system. Those will be available through September 1, 2024 for credit. There will not be a separate registration for the online parts of the conference.

Parking at Hotel

We will have a reduced rate of parking at the Dallas Hyatt.  It will be a $12 per day charge for self park, $45.00 per day for valet parking. 

Are guests and family members welcome?

Any family members or award winners will be asked to register as a guest if they will be onsite during the week. We will be asking guests to sign our waiver just like our members and exhibitors will be doing.

When will Area Meetings be held?

Area meetings will be held on Tuesday, July 23 after the General Session. In order to accommodate the size of our Area Meetings, we will continue running two rounds of area meetings. 

We will have an Exhibit Hall?

Yes, a live exhibit show will be held. Exhibitor registration has been open and we currently have over 75 exhibits registered. We will post a list of exhibitors at a future date. The Exhibit Show will be open Monday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Wednesday 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. and Thursday 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.  We will not have exhibitor showcases this year.

When will a list of workshops be posted?

We have had a great  list of workshops that will be posted soon. We will have recorded some of these for the online library, a few others were selected for only online, and then will record the workshops in Landmark BC. A complete list of workshops will be posted by June 20th. All workshops in person will be one hour. A few of the recordings may  be 30 minutes long.  

Will meals be served each day at the Conference?

Many Monday workshops that are morning or all day will include a boxed lunch. Also due to the Area Meeting schedule, we will not be serving lunch on-site on Tuesday. We will offer a boxed lunch that you can purchase when you register for Wednesday only.  We will charge you $15.00 for a boxed lunch and will cover the rest of the cost.  We will provide a meal at Family Night that will be determined in the near future. 

How will Family Night operate?

Family night will be done as normal and the Texas Auctioneer Association will auction some items that will have the proceeds go to our Scholarship Fund.  We are expecting the Family Night to be off site. 

Will there be any Scholarship Fundraisers?

The Fun Run will be held on Monday morning.   The Corn Hole tournament will also be held during family night.  We will hold the Floral Cup Fundraise onsite on Monday afternoon.  A golf tournament will occur on Monday at Iron Horse Golf Course.  Fundraiser link is posted and ready for entries.

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame Induction will be moved to Friday Mornings General session.  We will have a reception for them prior to the General Session. 

It is requested that all conference participants maintain appropriate dress and conduct. In addition, we ask that you remove your hat when inside the building and during sessions. Please maintain conduct that is professional in nature.

As a courtesy to conference presenters and attendees, please turn off cell phones during general sessions and workshops.

Whenever possible, we have attempted to schedule popular topics in rooms large enough to accommodate potential crowding.  However, we cannot always accurately anticipate attendance, nor do all presenters wish to work with large crowds.  Therefore, it is wise to select alternative sessions in advance, so you can quickly move to another session if you are unable to arrive early enough to obtain seating at your first choice.

Conference Attire
Monday - Casual
Tuesday - Business Professional
Wednesday - Business Casual
Thursday - Business Casual
Friday - Business Professional