General

The Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization. UNAVSA is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of leaders who will serve as stewards of the Vietnamese community.

The Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) annually hosts a continental leadership conference that invites students and young professionals from across North America to gather for an event that will serve as a catalyst to motivate and inspire leaders within the Vietnamese-American and Canadian community.

UNAVSA-18 is hosted from July 13-16, 2023 in Houston, Texas at the Hyatt Regency Houston West.

University students as well as young professionals will participate in the conference. Most attendees are affiliated with a Vietnamese-American or Vietnamese-Canadian student organization (VSAs, VSUs, UVSAs, etc.) seeking to develop personal leadership abilities, build on organizational management skills, and network with other leaders from around the North American continent.

Registration

You are able to reach out to the registration team through their email: conference.registration@unavsa.org. You will receive a response within 48 hours after contacting.

Conference registration for a seat at the conference opens on Tuesday, April 11th at 6PM PDT | 7PM MDT | 8PM CDT | 9PM EDT and closes Tuesday, May 2nd at 11:59PM PDT. Workshop and hotel registration are separate from registration. More information on workshop and hotel registration will be provided at a later date.

  • The conference registration fee will be $130 USD or $175 CAD* per attendee.
  • Conference alumni registration will be $130 USD or $175 CAD* per attendee. More details below.

    *approximate conversion at this time

When you are redirected to the payment section of the registration process, you will need to fill in your debit or credit card information.

You will receive an automated confirmation email once you have completed the check out process. If you have not received it, please reach out to conference.registration@unavsa.org.

Payment processing will occur immediately upon completion of conference registration. If there is high traffic on the site during the time of conference registration, it may take a few minutes.

  • Networking opportunity with almost 400+ students and young professionals from across North America
  • Access to interactive conference sessions and keynotes
  • Admission to the Culture Show and Gala
  • A UNAVSA-18 Conference T-Shirt
  • Memories for a lifetime
  • And so much more!

If registration gets sold out, you are eligible to get onto a waiting list through the registration website. Once a spot becomes available, you will receive an email and will have 48 hours to complete the registration process.

Alumni

Alumni Registration opens on Tuesday, April 11th at 6PM PDT | 7PM MDT | 8PM CDT | 9PM EDT and closes SundayMay 14th at 11:59PM PDT.

The registration fee for alumni will be $130 USD/$175 CAD*

You are eligible to register as an alumni if you meet any of the following definitions:

Alumni: Served as UNAVSA staff or UNAVSA executive board for one term

Honorary alumni: Community members who contributed to UNAVSA in an official capacity. This may include but is not limited to UNAVSA mentors, CPP fellows, workshop presenters, keynote speakers and sponsors. 

Alumni registrants will not be placed into “families” for the duration of conference.

Alumni programming will be facilitated by UNAVSA E-Board.

Travel

  • George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) 
  • William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)

Hyatt Regency Houston West
13210 Katy Freeway
Houston, TX, 77079
View Map 

No, transportation to and from the conference site will not be provided. You will be responsible for your own transportation.

We suggest you contact your family and family leaders or use Uber/Lyft/Public Transit

If you have trouble contact conference.logistics@unavsa.org

It is important to be aware that UNAVSA is not liable to any guest contracting COVID at the UNAVSA-18 Conference. UNAVSA is not liable to reimburse any expenses incurred due to contracting COVID at conference, causing our attendees to not be able to participate in further conference programming. UNAVSA is not liable to reimburse any expenses due to no valid proof of vaccination status. Attendees will show the registration team during check-in their vaccination card but the UNAVSA-18 staff team will not keep any further medical records of each attendee.

Hotel

The hotel rate is a traditional two queen room. Rates listed below are for price per night.

Double Occupancy: $129 USD/175 CAD* per night

The link to secure a hotel room at a UNAVSA group rate during the conference will be released after registration ends.

The official cut-off date is Friday, June 23, 2023. Reserving a hotel room prior to the cut-off date is highly recommended due to a limited amount of rooms available.

UNAVSA group rate is available from Thursday, July 13th to Sunday, July 16th.

Check-in is at 3:00PM. Check-out is at 12:00PM. If you arrive early and the hotel has rooms available, then they can check you in early.

No, you are not required to. However, UNAVSA has secured a discounted rate for guests booking rooms through us. Attendees are highly encouraged to book their stay at the Hyatt Regency Houston West throughout the weekend of conference to ensure an unforgettable experience at UNAVSA-18!

Free on-site parking is available

Join the UNAVSA-18 Conference Roommate Finder Facebook page to look for roommates.

The room booking will process ONLY one credit card.

The repayment between people staying in the same room will be handled by those staying in the room. The UNAVSA conference staff team is not responsible for allocating and determining room cost splits amongst attendees per hotel room.

For any questions pertaining to conference, hotel, and workshop registration, please contact conference.registration@unavsa.org.

Refund

CW: mention of trauma, violence, harm, abuse

UNAVSA is committed to an organizing environment where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. All members of and affiliated with UNAVSA deserve to both a) feel safe and b) be safe in all environments. Our commitment is rooted in a survivor-centric and trauma-informed approach to the reduction of violence, harm, abuse, and to their consequences. The 2022-2024 UNAVSA Executive Board (E-Board) focuses on community-based responses to harm.

 

Refund Policy

Because UNAVSA incurs certain expenses prior to the conference, it is necessary to impose the following refund and transfer policy:

  • A hundred percent (100%) of the registration fees will be refunded for cancellations received before or on Sunday, May 7th at 11:59PM PDT.
  • Fifty percent (50%) of the registration fees will be refunded for cancellations received after Sunday, May 7th, but before or on Sunday, May 28th.
  • All transfer requests must be received by Sunday, May 28th at 11:59PM PDT. Afterwards, UNAVSA will not take or complete any transfer requests.
  • No refunds will be given and no transfers will be accepted for cancellations received after the above stated deadlines. This includes personal reasons, medical emergencies, and no shows.
  • In an event that any individual other than the person registered takes the physical place of the registered attendee, the registration slot will be forfeited immediately and all parties involved are not permitted to attend conference. Individuals are also subjected to further disciplinary action from their affiliated organization or regional governance.
  • In the unlikely event that UNAVSA should have to cancel the Annual UNAVSA Leadership Conference, attendees will be refunded for the full amounts paid for through the UNAVSA Conference registration site. UNAVSA will not be responsible for any other attendee related expenses including, but not limited to: transportation expenses, housing, other personal costs.
  • Upon receiving your refund request, UNAVSA will contact you to verify your request. Once approved, a refund will be issued within seven (7) business days.

Email conference.registration@unavsa.org with your first and last name, your order code, and the email address you registered with.

Once the Registration Committee receives your refund request, the team will process your refund and remove your ticket from your account. Once completed, the Registration Committee will then send you a confirmation email that they have processed your refund. You should get your payment back within a few days after the process has gone through.

  1. Email conference.registration@unavsa.org with your first and last name, your order code, and the email address you registered with. Also include the first and last name and email address of the person you wish to transfer your ticket to. To help us expedite the process, please CC the person you wish to transfer your ticket to.
  2. Transfer Payment Clarification: Both parties will need to confirm which route to handle the payment amount of the conference ticket. Please “Reply to all” whenever you reply back to us to ensure all parties are receiving the emails.
  3. Option (A): If you would like us to refund the payment to the transferrer, the transferee will need to complete payment for the conference ticket by registering with a voucher code we will provide to you. The transferee will have 5 days from the day we receive both your confirmation to transfer emails to complete payment. If the payment is not paid by the deadline, we will issue the refund of the conference ticket to the original ticket holder (on the same card they paid with), the transfer will be forfeited, and the conference ticket will be returned to UNAVSA to be given to a waitlisted person.
  4. Option (B): If you have already transferred the cost of the conference ticket between yourselves and want us to process the ticket transfer immediately, please let us know to proceed with this option.
  5. Once we receive the confirmation emails from both parties, the Registration Committee will email you back