Conferences and gatherings are a critical part of organizing strong networks within SEAC. When we come together we learn, we are inspired, and we can organize! This guide should provide some of the basic information you need to put together a successful state, regional, or multi-regional gathering. Most of this guide is geared toward a weekend regional conference that has no significant funding. Please adjust your interpretation according to your resources.
Picking a weekend for your conference
Conferences are generally held on weekends, from a Friday night to a Sunday afternoon in the spring or fall. Fall conferences are usually between mid or late September and the 2nd weekend in November (before the Thanksgiving break). Spring conferences are usually scheduled between mid-January and late March. April conferences will clash with Earth Day organizing and perhaps even finals. Conferences after April are not good for students, unless you have summer contact information for the people you hope to attract. You also want to be careful not to schedule things when you know students might be on break. Many students are reluctant to give up their spring break plans to attend a conference. If you have an ambitious agenda, you may want to pay attention to daylight savings time weekends and hold a fall conference when you know you'll have an extra hour (or avoid the spring weekend in which you'll lose an hour).
Make sure that the dates you pick do not conflict with other conferences already planned in the area you hope to draw people from. You also don't want to schedule a conference only a week away from another major conference that may draw many of the same people. To find out some of this, it pays to check with SEAC's National Office and visit student activist calendars such as www.seac.org and www.campusactivism.org to learn what other conferences may be happening. Once you pick a date for your conference, send the information to the SEAC National Office so that it can be placed on the calendar on SEAC's website. This will help others know not to schedule things that would compete with your conference.
Note to large universities with massive football cultures: trying to get people to travel to a campus with HUGE sports events can be challenging. You may want to avoid such at-home event weekends. In addition, avoid conflicting with other university events that might tie up university resources (like parking and meeting room space).
Picking a good location for your conference
In general, you want to be sure that your conference is accessible to all those people who would like to attend. If you have a choice, hold the conference on a campus which is centrally located in the area you want to draw from. Having some type of public transportation in the area is helpful. In addition, you have to keep in mind that many college campuses are not exactly in the middle of a city, so you want to be sure that you can provide detailed directions to all those people who would like attend, preferably from a well known road like an interstate. If it's a national conference, make sure it's close enough to a major transportation hub (like a large city) so that people can fly in or take a bus in without it costing them too much.
The location of the gathering will have a big impact on the type of conference you have. A conference on a retreat site deep in the woods is going to have very different characteristics then a conference at an inner city community college. Each site has its disadvantages and advantages. Choose one that you have access to and that meets your needs. If you are on campus, begin working with the relevant administrators early, so that you can get their support, and get all agreements (like room reservations) in writing. Remember schools exist for the students so don't let administrators give you the run around.
When you choose the site, try to get rooms that have flexible seating, that are close to each other (try hard to get all meeting rooms in the same building!) and accessible to all. This will keep the conference cohesive. If people have to travel across campus to go between workshops, they easily loose touch with one another.
With the planning group in place, the next step is to figure out a strategy for the conference. Most importantly you must define the goals of the conference and set targets for attendance. The goals will dictate the rest of the conference plan and the timeline for the program and the outreach. For example, if the goal of the conference is to revitalize a SEAC region, then there needs to be lots of time for planning and discussion during the conference, as well as time for people to get to know each other and share ideas. On the other hand, if the purpose of the conference is to launch a campaign, then the agenda will focus on the issues of that campaign and provide time to strategize. Clearly defining your goals will make your whole life easier.
Make a point to seek input from your regional SEAC email list and key coordinators in the region as well. This goes for goals of the conference as well as specific ideas for workshop topics.
Setting goals for outreach is also important. These goals should be both numeric and personal. Don't set the goals in a vacuum. Get a list of the schools in the area which the conference is going to address (contact SEAC National for this). Think about which schools and groups you want present, and how many people each group should send.
Once the goals are set, you need to list the tasks that will need to be done in each of the major areas of the conference, and layout a time-line. If you pace yourselves, you won't find yourself doing 90% of the work in the last 2-3 weeks. Finally, it is good to clarify the decision making process in the beginning. Conference organizing usually happens very fast, and if you don't have a good, quick way to make decisions which people will support, you are doomed to frustration and endless hours on the phone.
There are four major areas to planning most gatherings and conferences: Fundraising, Program, Logistics and Outreach. Within each of these areas there are a number of smaller areas, which often make for good committees or coordinators.
All of the different aspects of conference organizing must be started early and simultaneously. You can't do thorough outreach without knowing what the program is about. A good program doesn't matter unless you have done good outreach to get people to your conference. You can't finalize a program and confirm speakers without knowing that you'll have the funds to put on the conference. However, school funders may not provide funds without knowing that the planning is done and the speakers are available.
No conference will happen without money. Start with a budget - if you don't know how you will spend the money, it will be very hard to raise money. The finances are important to the overall success of your conference. Keep very close track of the money you raise and spend. The SEAC national office can provide some good advice and materials for this.
Let the outreach people know how checks should be made out. If the conference ends up making money, figure out where the money will go - the SEAC region? SEAC National? Split 50/50?
Try to get lots of stuff donated. Conferences are a great time to get in kind donations from local copy shops, stores, and restaurants. One group got enough office supplies and paper donated for their conference that it lasted the entire year.
Most schools will provide money for the speakers/conference if you open the event to the whole campus. When trying to persuade your school to spend money, it helps if there are other student groups endorsing your proposal. It's a good chance to do some coalition-building with other progressive communities on campus.
Check out SEAC's 'Fun'draising packet for more details on fundraising. It is okay to charge a conference registration fee, just make sure that you are clear on what the fee covers. Also, some conferences allow people to pay the membership as the registration fee. See the "Registration" section of Logistics for more details.
TOO MUCH: Don't cram the conference full of everything you can think of. Too often people try to do too much during a weekend conference and they don't give people a chance to relax and talk to each other. The only way to focus the agenda is to decide on goals. Give people time to move from workshop to workshop, and to eat and network. Allow for about 15-20 minute breaks between workshops, depending on how far apart the workshop locations are.
TOO EARLY/LATE: If the conference starts on a Friday, give people time to finish their classes and travel to the conference. Don't expect everyone to arrive for a conference before 9:00 pm on a Friday. Don't put anything too important on Friday nights, so that people who arrive late won't be missing out in a major way. If you schedule something exciting for Friday night such as a concert, movie or cultural event, it will encourage people to show up on Friday night so that they'll be there on time for Saturday morning's events. Anticipate that students aren't morning people. Some conferences appoint wake up people who are responsible for getting people out of bed. Don't start things (aside from breakfast, maybe) earlier than 9:00 am on Saturday or Sunday. End as early as possible on Sunday. Don't go past 4:00 pm, latest. Attendance can drop off severely during Sunday. Expect to have people leaving Sunday morning, regardless of what is left on the schedule. People need time to travel home and catch up on school work.
TOO BORING: Make sure the agenda includes times for people to have fun and play. It is good to have more structured fun activities in the beginning to help new people break the ice, and then loosen up during the rest of the conference. There are a lot of books of fun stuff for big groups to do. Check out the book "New Games." Bonfires and circles work really well. One conference in the southeast had everyone in the conference break down into small groups to get to know each other. These groups meet three times over the course of the conference and did skits at the end. Hangout time provides immeasurable benefits for individuals. Contacts with those we know personally are the easiest to keep up with. Consider the purpose of your conference and plan events accordingly. Mixes of different components will give a conference the feel you want.
SEAC conference schedules are made up of the following components: meetings, caucuses, actions, meals, workshops, speakers, entertainment and networking. Any conference will involve a mix of these program pieces. Choosing the right amount of each depends on your resources and your goals. But laying out a good agenda, and filling in the details is the heart of creating a good conference. Try to keep the components balanced.
MEETINGS: If you want to accomplish anything during the conference, like organize a new structure, plan a campaign or action, and hold elections then you need to have meetings. Make sure to schedule plenty of time for this and find good facilitators. Planning in large groups takes a lot of time, and requires good preparation and facilitation. Have a few organizers plus a few conference attendees get together early at the conference to finalize the meeting agenda.
Don't schedule SEAC meeting time as the first or last thing in a day. Meeting time doesn't sound that thrilling and people who are new to SEAC may not recognize how important it is to go to this, and they might sleep through it or leave early.
CAUCUSES AND ALTERNATIVE GROUP MEETINGS: Caucuses are a very important way for people who have been traditionally oppressed by society to meet each other, organize, and empower themselves. Sometimes to build a strong inclusive movement we have to be separate to address issues like racism, sexism and heterosexism. It is good to have time for at least 1-2 of the SEAC caucuses to meet, with the appropriate alternative groups meeting at the same time, of course. Also, allow that other caucuses may wish to meet during the conference and be prepared for those requests to arise.
It is important to explain at the beginning of the conference what the caucuses are about and how they work. Make sure that the person doing the explaining has read SEAC's Guide to Caucuses and Alternative Groups. If many attendees are new to caucuses, it may be worth the time to read portions of it out loud with everyone present.
Remember that at SEAC events, any member of a Caucus can call for a Caucus and it's alternative group to meet at any time - usually it happens when something needs to be addressed immediately. Most people will not know of this ability, so it should be pointed out during the initial Caucus explanation. One or two people should be designated as "safe people" who can be asked to announce that a caucus has been requested without exposing the individual who requested it.
All of the caucuses were formed and named by people who identify with these traditionally oppressed groups. It's very valuable for the separate groups to meet together afterward. The groups are:
Womyn's Caucus and the Men's Alternative Group
People of Color Caucus and the White Anti-Racist Program
Queer Caucus and the Straight But Not Narrow Program
Poor Kids Caucus and Poor Kids Allies Group
Don't schedule other events during these caucus times. IMPORTANT: The Queer Caucus can be an exception to this rule because if the caucus meets at the same time as the Straight But Not Narrow group, that 'outs' the people in the queer caucus. An out queer person will need to be a point person (and this should be announced early in the day) so that non-out people can talk to them and arrange a time for the queer caucus to meet. If there is no out queer person at the conference, but there are people involved in ally groups, perhaps an ally could be a point person.
Plan to have good facilitators ready for the alternative discussion meetings. There are a lot of resources available to work on these issues. Start with SEAC's Guide to Caucuses and Alternative Groups. Call the SEAC National Office to get additional suggestions.
Learning about oppression issues can also happen more informally. One SEAC conference started Friday night with a fish bowl. Everyone at the conference formed a big circle and a small group of people sat in the middle and had a discussion about sexism. After about twenty minutes the people sitting on the outside of the circle each had a chance to share their opinions and feelings about sexism.
MEALS: Meals are prime networking time. Everyone should be able to eat together, not scatter to restaurants. Post-meal time is also a possible time slot for short presentations or speakers.
ACTIONS: Conferences are where beginners often get their first opportunity to participate in an action, and most people can use the practice. If you do not have an action, people will forget why we are organizing in the first place. If you are going to do an action make sure that you are prepared and that at least some of the people coming are prepared to help coordinate it. Whatever you do, don't leave the action planning to the last minute. Try to have someone with experience involved in planning your action.
Alternatively, plan your conference so that it coincides with an existing action that your group supports (so that way, others can do most of the work organizing the action and you contribute by helping to boost the attendance). Actions don't need to be scary, and it's not necessary for someone to get arrested. Actions are a great way to get people excited about all the things they learned at the conference and use their energy for a good cause.
Sunday afternoon, when you are done with everything else, can be a good time to have an action, as long as most people are able to stay for it. If the action location is very near by, or if training people how to do actions is important, it can be better to schedule it for Saturday. That allows time for everyone to talk about how it went and learn from it; and attendance will probably be better than on Sunday. Be sure to contact the local media to get coverage of your action, otherwise you lose a chance to inform the local community. Please refer to the SEAC Organizing Guide for more pertinent ideas.
ENTERTAINMENT/PARTIES/FUN STUFF: Everyone needs a break. If you don't provide it, people will cut out on good stuff, just to have a little time off. If you're in the woods and the weather is nice try to allow an hour long break on Saturday afternoon. If you are in town, or on campus, people might drift away during breaks, so keep them short. When planning evening entertainment, consider how much networking time the attendees need. Saturday night at a weekend conference is the best time for people to hang out, talk shop and get to know each other. But talking can be difficult during a performance. If you're out in the woods, consider just having a campfire so people can talk to each other. On the other hand, if your schedule has been relaxed and people have had time to network during the day, an enviro/political singer or other performance can be fun and unifying for the group. Ask the SEAC office for advice on good performers.
If everyone knows each other pretty well and you just want to have a party, local bands are often thrilled to play for a captive audience and will often volunteer their time and energy. Don't open up the big party to everyone on campus. It disperses the energy and the bonding that occurs at a conference. Another note on parties: be clear about the place of alcohol. There are usually underage people at conferences; you exclude them if you go to bars and legally endanger yourselves if you allow alcohol at the party. This is a serious issue that should be discussed ahead of time. Using alcohol on school property is risky. An array of dangers can ensue from irresponsible alcohol use, so please take a precautionary stance for your fellow friends. And most of all, different views with regards to drugs and alcohol can divide a strongly tied group of people. A recommendation would be to try to have planned events that will include everyone without separation.
SPEAKERS: Speakers are a great source of inspiration, and also a way to spread information. Some conferences will begin with a big speaker, or panel of speakers. Some save the keynote until Saturday morning to get people out of bed. Another common time for the keynote is at or after dinner. A big name speaker can be a good draw to bring people to the conference, but on the other hand many SEACers are not interested in big name speakers. You could have a student leader speak, or a grassroots community activist, or the author of a neglected but important book. If you need suggestions check out SEAC's Speakers Bureau, ask around on the SEACnet lists and call the National Office.
At most universities, as long as the speech is open to the public/university population, there is funding available to pay for speakers (honoraria, food allowance, motel). The downside is that the university will want you to have all the details worked out before they approve the funds. This points up the fact that you can't delay any component of conference organizing.
It's a good idea to have the speaker's topic be related to the action you'll be doing. This educates people on the topic, and motivates everyone to participate. Plus, if campus & community members attend the speech, lots of other people in town will understand your action and care about the issue, and maybe even join you. And if a reporter attends, your action is more likely to get media coverage.
The people coordinating the speaker must maintain communication to make sure you know when they're coming and what they'll need in terms of transportation help, lodging, audio/visual equipment, etc.
WORKSHOPS: Workshops usually range from 1-3 hours. They are best for teaching skills and passing on information about specific issues. You can find workshop leaders among students in the region, non-profits in the area, unions, and the SEAC National Office. The SEAC Speaker's Bureau is a great source of speakers. Don't get a speaker or workshop presenter just because they're your friend/professor or because they'll do it for free. Get in touch with regional or national SEACers and make sure speakers are well versed in the activism aspects of the issues you want covered. Just because a professor, politician or businessperson might know an issue well, doesn't mean that they are suitable to teach student activists what needs to be done on an activist's level. Pay attention to gender and racial balance among your workshop presenter and speakers. If SEAC is going to advocate diversity, we must reflect that in everything we do.
Planning workshops is a great opportunity to get out into your community and learn about the organizations in your area. It is important not to have too many workshops. There is nothing worse than an empty workshop. There should be fewer workshops per session on Sunday than on Saturday because people may start to leave before the conference is over. Also, ensure the workshops will be high quality; no one wants to waste their time in a bad workshop.
There should be a balance of issues vs. skills workshops. These should reflect your plans for the conference. If you need to organize your region, have a workshop session with all skills workshops so that people will have attended at least one skill-building workshop that will help build the region (like how to be an area coordinator or how to publish a regional newsletter). It's often harder and takes longer to find good skills presenters than issues presenters, so start looking for skills people first!
The people planning the workshops must maintain communication with workshop presenters to make sure you know who is coming and what they'll need in terms of transportation help, housing, audio/visual equipment, etc.
NETWORKING: The most important part!! The conference's purpose is for people to get to know each other and want to work together. You need to provide ways for that to happen. Here are some suggestions... Get everyone together each morning after breakfast (before workshops start); that's the time for announcements, morning circles, and generally making sure that everything is okay. Do a cheesy name-learning game. Have morning circles where people say their names, where they're from and three words describing how they're feeling/their favorite superpower/what famous person they want to interview/etc. At lunchtime have someone from each group/campus/town stand up and describe what they're working on and what kind of help they need. Have a closing circle where people share what they want to do when they get back home.
Outreach should happen early and often. The outreach you do for your conference whether it is for a multi-regional conference or a city wide gathering, serves a dual role: it brings people to the conference, and builds the network in the area you are organizing. You should make an effort to reach out to people in high schools, community colleges, church youth groups, community centers, and other places with high concentrations of young people.
The outreach should involve mailing, email, and phone calling, as well as field organizing (if you can afford it). If you can imagine what it takes to persuade people to come to your conference, you can visualize what it will take to do outreach. In most parts of the country, simply sending out a mailing won't cut it. The first step in outreach is telling people as early as possible that the conference is happening - start as soon as you have a date. A short email on the appropriate SEACnet lists, an ad in the regional newsletter, a notice in the regional roundup in Threshold, or a post card two or three months in advance (if you can afford the postage) can make a big difference.
Call the SEAC National Office and request the database for the area you're organizing. Ask for a mailing list, a mass email list and the general database for phone outreach.
In all outreach, make sure people know what they are expected to bring. This will vary with the situations that your conference entails (ex. "dish, bowl, eating utensils, reusable mug, musical instrument, clothes, flashlight, sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, towel, paper, pen"). Be sure to include registration costs, and specify whether this includes food and housing.
If you are working with state or area coordinators you can use a similar system. They should each have clear goals, and a list of targeted schools and groups. Make sure that they are following through on the outreach. It is horrible to find out three days before the conference that one of the state coordinators completely flaked and no one in their state heard about the conference. It is usually easier to do all the big mailings from one school (especially if you can use their bulk mail permit), and then have the different coordinators responsible for phone calling.
The outreach in the final two weeks is very important and it is the only way you are going to get the hard numbers, which the people organizing logistics will need. Expect that several of the campuses that planned to send 10 people will really be sending 1-3.
There are numerous ways to do effective outreach. Keep in mind that many of these need to be done in conjunction with each other in order to get the results you want. It is important to know your target audience and reach out to other campuses and groups that would be interested.
Ways to Spread the Word
EXTRA CREDIT: Talk to the progressive/supportive professors on campus and try to get them to give attendees extra credit for attending your conference- it is a great way to draw a crowd. In addition, try to get them to let you speak a little about the conference and issues in their classes.
FLYERS: Flyer your campus to advertise for the conference. Be sure to also flyer departments on campus whose issues are connected to your conference (environmental science, political science, sociology, women's studies, black studies, history, geography, etc.). In town, you can often post fliers at grocery stores, youth centers, music stores, bookstores, food co-ops, coffee shops, and other local hang-outs. You can also make fliers for friends and registrants to post at their schools. It's a good idea to collaborate with other local progressive groups and try to get copy places to donate copies for fliers and stuff.
CAMPUS AND/OR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER: Get listed in the events calendar. Write a letter to the editor about the conference or some part of it. See if you can get them to run an article about it.
ADVERTISING: Contact the SEAC National Office for more ideas on where to advertise your conference.
Indymedia.org (post to the one for your outreach area)
Earth First! Journal
Progressive newspapers/journals
State wide/regional community/environmental activist journals
Campus and community paper (ads, puff stories in advance of event)
Local radio stations
EMAIL: Announce your conference on Internet lists (not only your own, but other progressive lists which have issues connected to the conference). Send one to the appropriate SEACnet email lists and to the National Office as soon as you have a date so it can be put on the calendar. Send periodic emails to all people in your database from the geographical area you hope to draw from. Be sure to get these from the national office if you don't have them. Ask your workshop presenters to email an announcement to the networks they're involved in, particularly ones relating to their topic (or ask them what email lists they know of that you can do outreach to).
WEB: Make a webpage for your conference. Include the latest copy of your agenda, directions, a list of things to bring, and the phone number of the conference site if people get lost or need to be picked up at the bus station. You can include a link to the 5-day weather forecast for the conference location (go to weather.com or wunderground.com enter the zip code of your conference location, and copy the URL of the resulting page). If you know how, make an on-line registration form.
It's useful if your webmaster is part of the conference planning committee so they can keep the web page current. Also give the web address to the national office so they can link to it from the national website and so they can also help out on the national level. The SEAC web team can get you set up with a conference page at seac.org if you don't already have a website (or if you'd just prefer to have it hosted at seac.org). Ask the SEAC National Office how to get in touch with SEAC's web team.
MAIL: You can put together a mailer to be sent to each person for whom you have a good address and each group you have contact with in your outreach area. The mailing should include a brochure which has the tentative agenda, highlights of any key speakers or events, directions, the purpose of the conference, a description and mission of SEAC, and information about housing and food, plus your website address if you have one, and contact information for the planners. Include a pre-registration form. In addition to the brochure, send a black-and-white flyer that can be copied by each group and used to recruit people on their campus.
The mailing should go out at least 6 weeks before the conference (preferably 2 months or more), especially if you want to get high school groups who usually need more than a month to plan such things. If you're using bulk mail, remember that people won't receive the mailer until almost two weeks after you send it.
Mailings can get expensive quickly, so plan them carefully and proofread & double-check everything in the mailer.
PHONE: Ideally you will talk to everyone of your key campus contacts at least three times: once to get them pumped up about the conference and to make sure they got the mailing; next to find out how many people they are trying to bring and to keep them excited; and a final time the week before the conference to make sure they don't forget and to get accurate numbers from them (accurate numbers don't end in 5 or 0). Expect to make many attempts and leave numerous messages before you reach people on the phone. Don't panic if you cannot afford to call everyone three times. But you should panic if you can't afford to call people at least once.
Use a spreadsheet to organize the progress of your outreach. [See Appendix B] If you're not comfortable with spreadsheet programs or don't have a computer near your phone, use an analog way to organize the calls. Print out the list of every one you want to call on index cards (or onto labels stuck on index cards). Keep the cards in a card box with dividers for Need to Call, Not Coming, Definitely Coming, Maybe Coming, Wrong # and Remove from Database. As you make the calls you can keep a record of what took place with each call on the front of the index card. You can mark the index card in the top right corner with the number of people that contact is bringing, and sort the cards into different categories. This process makes it easy to figure out who needs to be called, you just pick up the right stack of cards and grab the phone. Then you can use the cards at the registration table to check people in and finally type the new addresses into your database. All of these processes are necessary in order to have a successful outreach experience.
FIELD ORGANIZING / CONFERENCES / WORD-OF-MOUTH: If you have a regional/state coordinator or field organizer, ask them to talk up the conference in their outreach. If you happen to drive past a campus, stop for a half hour post some of your fliers and get info on the environmental club from the student activities office (call when you get home). Go to other conferences or events with a brochure or handout and give it to everyone there. Tell your friends at other campuses, tell people in other groups, tell you parents' friends, ask them to spread the word.
Whomever is planning the logistics should expect to recruit some volunteers. If it is a large conference, it is helpful to have a volunteer coordinator. Make a list of everything that needs to be staffed by volunteers and get people signed up to take on the responsibilities. It is no fun when you are in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly and you find your self stuck at the registration table for six hours. Delegate, delegate, delegate and don't forget to follow up with your volunteers.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
If at all possible, make sure that all attendees will be sleeping in the same building or very close ones. When attendees are spread out across far-flung sleeping locations, it is difficult to get everyone awake and together on time each morning.
Dorm housing or campus-run conference centers are ideal, if you can convince your school to permit this for free or cheaply. These are usually free of charge, provide lots of sleeping space and a place where activists can get to know each other.
Other good locations would be gyms, YMCAs, campgrounds, church basements or community centers. If you use the latter types of housing it is important that you make sure all of the attendees fully understand the "house rules" of where ever you are staying. You should also check if your hosts have any events planned for that space (like a church service) and make sure everyone if cleared out of that area before the events commences.
It is advisable to have one of your volunteers plan to hang out at the area with all of your out-of-town guests to answer questions and wake everyone up in the morning. If all else fails, try to find students and friends who can put up conference attendees in apartments, dorm rooms and houses.
It's even better if the housing is very close to where the conference is being held. Dorms or hotels are good ways to ensure that people can wake up and just go down a few floors to where they need to be in the morning. Try to avoid having workshops in different buildings, so people don't have to walk 5-15 minutes to another location between workshops.
Try to ensure that any rooms reserved will have seating that can be rearranged. Unless the workshop is a video showing, it's better to have workshop seating in a circle rather than in classroom format.
Some speakers or workshop presenters may require special facilities (large auditoriums, chalkboards, computer labs, rooms with projector screens or blank white wall space, etc.). Keep this in mind if when reserving facilities.
Reserve buildings, rooms, speakers halls, sound systems and any other A/V equipment (TV/VCR, slide projectors, computers w/ projection screens, overhead projectors, etc.) you may need for workshop presenters or speakers. If possible, reserve video cameras to videotape workshop presenters and/or speakers. You may be able to buy video cameras or other necessary equipment from Wal-Mart or other large corporate chains, then return them when you're done using them (since they have a no-questions-asked return policy). Don't forget to purchase videotapes or audiocassette tapes if you plan on taping things. Don't buy these from Wal-Mart. Support a smaller corporation.
The rooms you choose should be appropriate to the size of the crowds. You should choose rooms you know you can fill.
Take some care in selecting a room for whole-group meeting time. The best meeting room has movable chairs (to sit in a circle), a low ceiling (so you can hear the quiet voices) and no background noise (furnace, a/c, construction, traffic). Chalk boards or flip charts are essential to help everyone keep track of the agenda items and decisions.
The Travel Coordinator needs to:
Communal meals are a really good way for people to bond. Don't make people split up unless absolutely necessary. Menus need to be quick and easy and inclusive. Avoid ingredients that are common allergens like nuts. Keep the spices mild. Plan towards the lowest common denominator, e.g. meat eaters can eat spaghetti with Marinara sauce, but vegans can't eat cheeseburgers. Common conference food includes pasta, beans & rice, pre-made hummus, cheeseless veggie pizza, stone soup, etc.
Obtaining Food: Donations - Bagel shops throw away lots of bagels everyday and often you can get free day-old bagels. Local farmers might be willing to donate a little produce, especially at the close of a farmer's market. Most grocery stores and many restaurants will gladly donate $10-20 worth of food for conferences and other good causes- just make sure to ask then 2-3 weeks in advance so that they can clear it with their management. In order to get any food or other donations you need a letter explaining what it will be used for to the management. If you don't have letterhead it is really easy to make it in a computer lab.
Purchases - There may be a store in your community that sells discount food - items going out of date, or with misprinted packaging, or whatever. At grocery stores, look for a bulk food aisle. Again, check with local farmers.
FNB - If you have a local Food Not Bombs, they may donate a meal or two if you're hurtin' in the food department. By the same token, if you have leftover food at the end of the conference, Food Not Bombs takes donations (have their phone number handy at the kitchen).
Dumpster Diving - Be cautious if you decide to do this. Never take meats or dairy products. Stick with things that you can easily tell are spoilt - bread, pastries, bagels, veggies and such.
Cafeterias - Maybe your dining halls are generous, you won't know unless you ask. If you're having an on-campus conference, and the cafeterias can offer cheap or free food, it can save all sorts of time & effort. Be sure to assess this option for veg-friendliness.
Catering - Occasionally, campus food services insist on catering the event. This can be a mixed blessing - their offerings may not be veg-friendly, or they may change a lot. If either of those is the case, you might be able to get out of the situation by insisting that, this being an environmental conference, the food must be vegan/organic/locally-grown or something else that they cannot supply (which, of course, you will supply).
Speaker Funding - Some colleges provide standard allowances for workshops presenters and speakers to eat at restaurants. If those presenters and speakers are very friendly to your group, they could pool the money they're given for restaurants, and you can go grocery shopping and feed way more people.
Restaurants - If you can't provide food at all, print up directions to local (veg -friendly) restaurants.
Preparing Food:
Hopefully the kitchen is located close to the dining area (which hopefully is close to the workshops). If people signed up at the registration table to do cooking shifts, they should probably start an hour before the meal. Try to avoid dragging new people away from caucus time in order to cook. If you know of someone who runs kitchens at rainbow gatherings or other large events, see if they'd be willing to cook for the conference.
Composting - Have one big bucket in the kitchen and one in the dining room to collect food scraps in. Call around to local farmers/gardeners to see if they'd accept an addition to their compost pile. Or maybe your campus already composts - check with the Physical Plant/grounds keeping office.
Cleanup - Clean up people (who signed up at the registration table) should get fed first and move into the kitchen part-way through mealtime.
MONEY: Charge SEAC members less than non-SEAC members. Try to make registration rates as cheap as possible (no more than $5-20). If people send in a written explanation that they can't afford the registration charges, offer them sliding scale rates based on their ability to pay. Remember that SEAC does not want to exclude anyone from events based on their ability to pay.
Some regions have made their conferences free to paid SEAC members and charge the cost of SEAC membership for non-members. This ensures that all people who attend the conference are paying members.
Ask students in advance to get their conference registration costs covered through funds from their school. For those schools that can afford higher registration costs, make up literature with higher figures for them, so they can help subsidize those who aren't as fortunate.
REGISTRATION FORMS: If your state/regional coordinator keeps a database of contacts, you can put it on a laptop computer available at check-in, and enter everyone directly. If not, have paper forms available to fill out with all of the crucial info you'll need. The registration forms should have space to record how much money each person paid and the category (e.g., membership, donation, and conference fee). Make sure to include:
Check with your school about rules concerning selling stuff or giving stuff away for a donation. If it's OK, you could sell mugs, t-shirts and any other materials your group (or other invited groups) want to unload.
Make sure a logistics person is available to monitor info tables and registration at all times (unless your conference site is secure).
Hopefully, this guide has provided you with some of the basic components you will need to plan your conference. Remember that not everything will apply to every conference. If you have any questions or suggestions for changes, please contact the SEAC National Office. And have a Kick Ass conference!
Skills:
|
Issues:
|
Each column of the spreadsheet should be a week leading up to the conference. Each row of the spreadsheet should be one of the task categories listed below. Work backwards from conference day. Record in the spreadsheet what tasks need to be done in which week.