June 20, 2016

Post date: Jul 05, 2016 4:2:4 PM

Conference Committee Meeting, June 20, 2016.

Notes by Nancy Hutchins

Attending: Julie Crawford, Betsy Simmons, Nancy Shippen, Chris Campbell, Mialena Ali, all of local MA group. Margaret Browne, Rick Krouskop, Nancy Hutchins, AVPUSA Conference Committee.

Challenges and learning from 2016 Conference:

• • Denver had people on the ground to help orient guest speakers and monitor the room setup and speakers found this very helpful.

  • Earlier and more complete communication with people doing breakout sessions would have been helpful. If scheduled early enough, the schedule could go up on the web.

  • There was drinking in the residence hall and extra "clean-up fee" of $100 was charged. Perhaps the no alcohol rule should be better highlighted in information that is sent to registrants.

  • Checkout was ragged. Also, it is unreasonable for registrants to expect to check in late into the night. Find out what the venue will support for check-in and check-out.

  • There were more people who wanted to do breakout sessions than could be scheduled. This was not necessarily a problem, as it afforded some flexibility especially for late cancellations. The local committee sought after certain presenters to fit into the program strands. The invitation to provide breakout sessions went out in January.

  • The evaluation has been sent to the participants of the 2016 conference, using Survey Monkey.

Roles of Local Group Committee and National Committee:

Margaret noted that the local group in Denver had their meeting a couple of weeks prior to the call with the Conference Committee. They were successful in expanding the number of people involved and used brainstorming sessions for help with such things as theme, logo, speakers, etc.

Shape/Focus for 2017 Conference:

Nancy H. noted that no further direction regarding the inclusion of those under 18 or the possibility of a regional conference was available at this time from the C of C. Therefore, the local group is advised to reach consensus themselves based on what is within their vision and abilities. Because both of these strands are new, members of the local group will reach out to those interested in the international meeting and to those interested in bringing youngsters to see what they hope to accomplish and whether their help in planning would be available.

The needs of AVPUSA for meeting time was discussed. All of us were aware that their may be extra time needed for by-laws discussion. Chris expressed his hope that the C of C and the By-laws Committee would get their information out to facilitators as broadly as possible ahead of the Conference.

Site selection:

Four sites are still under consideration. The importance of transportation was discussed. It was noted by previous Conference Coordinators that if good public transportation was not available, other arrangements such as private cars or renting a van had been used successfully; however, that is one more thing to coordinate.

Inclusion:

Alice reminded everyone to that we need to be a "we", and that it is worth figuring out how to be inclusive. Chris wants to use all the communication channels to seek input and ideas about this conference early on.

Kristin Bunner has volunteered to work with the local committee and she may be very helpful with outreach and social media.

Nancy H. will check on Transformer deadlines.

Next Conference Committee Call: Monday, August 1, 7:30 - 9:00 PM EDT.

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