[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Index by Month]
Re: derailed convention thing?
Good points, especially the speaker host thing (having experienced both
sides of this firsthand).
- Erik
On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, Karen Randall wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I really haven't had a chance to look through the conference stuff during
> the holidays. I just looked through it now, and there were a couple of
> things that jumped out at me:
>
> 1. I think the hotel contracts should be approved by the treasurer as well
> as the conference chairperson. If David had had a chance to see the
> pull-out clause for the Houston hotel, at very least it would not have been
> the nasty surprise to all of us that it was. This would make sure that at
> least one member of the BOD knew the financial situation.
>
> 2. I think it's not a good idea to have several parties who have not even
> passed the bidding stage contacting potential speakers in the name of AGA.
> This sounds to me like a good way for the AGA to get a bad reputation, and
> for people to get their feelings hurt, if they are asked to speak, and then
> get left out if another club wins the bid. Either the speaker
> solicitation should be taken out of the hands of the hosting club, or it
> should be done after that club gets the green light to host the conference.
>
> 3. I agree with (I think) Erik, that all the meals do not _have_ to be
> served via the conference. We should certainly have a banquet. Beyond
> that, I'd give the host organization some flexibility. If there are a lot
> of options available for meals, it might make more sense to have people eat
> on their own. If the hotel offers a nice lunch or breakfast cart, where
> people can pay as they go, that's fine too. I think there are a bunch of
> options that could work.
>
> 4. I think it's VERY important for people who volunteer to help at the
> convention to know ahead of time what their duties will be. I went early,
> specifically to help out. I didn't mind doing most anything I was asked to
> do, and I did miss out on parts of the festivities. That was all OK. What
> WASN'T OK was that one of the duties that was assigned to me was driving a
> very large (15 passenger?) rental van on extremely congested unfamiliar
> highways to unfamiliar destinations. I thought I was going to have a
> mini-nervous breakdown when I heard that bit of news. Fortunately, another
> conference attendee who knew the city was kind enough to take over this
> duty. But that is NOT the kind of job that should be assigned to someone
> without checking ahead of time that the person feels capable of handling.
>
> >From what I've seen a the last 3 conventions, there are more than enough
> people willing to lend a hand, we just need to organize them better ahead of
> time and give them some warning of what is entailed.
>
> 5. While I understand that we're not in a financial position to pay all the
> expenses for all speakers yet, I do think we should be willing to arrange
> for and pay for transportation to and from the airport for all speakers.
> That's just a courtesy, and shouldn't cost us that much.
>
> 6. I think that each speaker should have a designated "host" who is assigned
> to them for the convention. This is something NEC has done for years. This
> host can get some bio information from the person and introduce their talk.
> They can also help the person keep track of time during their talk by giving
> them a 5 minute warning. Most important, they are a person the speaker can
> turn to at any time with questions or needs. They do not have to dine with
> the speaker, but they should make sure the speaker has someone to dine with,
> and that they are not feeling left out. Believe me, this can often happen
> at a big convention when everyone is busy. I've been at conventions where
> no one has remembered to introduce me, where the people at the registration
> desk didn't know who I was, and where I completely on my own finding out
> what room I was speaking in and where to get a carousel for my slides.
> Speakers don't EVER make anything on speaking, and in our case, they pay to
> get to the conference. They deserve some consideration for their time and
> effort. This isn't currently in any of our guidelines, but it's easy to do,
> and makes a BIG difference to the speakers.
>
> OK, that's all I have time for before running off with the kids once more.
> Hope they are some helpful thoughts! As far as Boston is concerned, I'll
> see if I can drum up some more enthusiasm. But if they won't pick up the
> ball and run with it, my plate is just too full at the moment to take it on
> by myself.
>
> Karen
>
> Karen A. Randall
> krandall@rdrcpa.biz
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Erik Olson" <erik@thekrib.com>
> To: "S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>
> Cc: <aga-sc@thekrib.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 2:01 PM
> Subject: Re: derailed convention thing?
>
>
> > Two weeks should be great.
> >
> > Dallas mentioned that they need to know by the end of the month if we want
> > them to do it or not; I suspect that at this point there's no way we can
> > meet this deadline. I tend to think that if Dallas can't do it, the only
> > other viable option is Boston/NEC, and I didn't see a lot of enthusiasm
> > there either. I'm of the opinion we might be better off skipping a year
> > and making 2004 work than killing ourselves to make this year work. So
> > let's go with two weeks. :)
> >
> > - Erik
> >
> > On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, S. Hieber wrote:
> >
> > > Yes. I'll take whatever other comments anyone has to
> > > offer, but I have enough to work with.
> > >
> > > What kind of deadline are you thinking of? I guess if we
> > > work backwards, timewise, from teh next convention, then
> > > we're behind schedule already ;-) .
> > >
> > > Anyhow, I'm thinking a couple of weeks. Will that work
> > > out?
> > >
> > > SH
> > > --- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:
> > > > Just checking in to make sure we don't derail the
> > > > convention progress too
> > > > much...
> > > >
> > > > Does anyone else have any comments on the convention
> > > > document that Darlene
> > > > sent? If not, Scott, do you think you have the
> > > > information to proceed
> > > > with integrating all the information I've sent you?
> > > >
> > > > - Erik
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Erik Olson
> > > > erik at thekrib dot com
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Do you Yahoo!?
> > > Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> > > http://mailplus.yahoo.com
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Erik Olson
> > erik at thekrib dot com
> >
> > ------------------
> > To unsubscribe from this list, e-mail majordomo@thekrib.com
> > with "unsubscribe aga-sc" in the body of the message.
> > Old messages are available at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-sc
> > When asked, log in as username is "aga-sc", and password "incorp".
> >
>
> ------------------
> To unsubscribe from this list, e-mail majordomo@thekrib.com
> with "unsubscribe aga-sc" in the body of the message.
> Old messages are available at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-sc
> When asked, log in as username is "aga-sc", and password "incorp".
>
--
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, e-mail majordomo@thekrib.com
with "unsubscribe aga-sc" in the body of the message.
Old messages are available at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-sc
When asked, log in as username is "aga-sc", and password "incorp".