From: Nathaniel Patterson Miller (nathan@udel.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 27 2001 - 14:10:34 EST
Hello USAS!
I thought I sent this out to the general USAS list-but I must have
forgotten. The Mid-Atlantic had its regional conference a few weeks back
(11/3 & 11/4) at the University of Delaware. Here is some general feedback
from it. I hope it is useful for everyone planning their own conferences.
General suggestions for planning regional conferences: 1) Get the word out
early and often. Call (don't just e-mail) people within your region and
invite them to come. We didn't do enough of this, but the few people I
formally invited all came. 2) Set a budget and stick to it! This is pretty
obvious, but it is very easy to go "over budget." 3) Fundraise early, and
don't be embarrassed to ask around campus for money (I was able to raise
$800 from various departments and that covered nearly all the conference
costs-including food and motel rooms for speakers). This "on campus" fund
raising made it possible to have a cheap registration fee that covered beer
money for a party, and an "emergency surplus." 4) Make sure that there are
at least four of five responsible people (probably from the campus
hosting the conference), who are familiar with the area, and who are
reliable in jam.
Our conference was relatively small (40 people including seven Delaware
students). Because the University of Delaware is very restrictive when it
comes to student activism (merely mentioning the word "conference"
terrifies them) we decided to hold the entire event at a local church.
Considering the number of people attending this was ideal. The space had
a well appointed kitchen where some of Delaware SAS cooked up some yummy
(vegetarian) food! There was a large, empty room where people were able
to sleep and eat. There were five smaller rooms where workshops were
held. The only logistical problem was sleeping because everyone slept on
the floor--there were plenty of extra sleeping bags, but it wasn't very
comfortable! It cost $10 to attend ($5 if $10 was too much).
Workshops and speakers: Saturday (11/3) morning Amber Gallup conducted a
GROW for everyone. Then there was the first block of workshops: the
Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and International Solidarity. Then Dr.
Arnold Farr (Saint Joseph's University) discussed race and activism. There
was another group of workshops later in the afternoon (International
Solidarity and fighting a Living Wage campaign-Dave Snider). Before dinner
John Braxton from Philadelphia Jobs with Justice discussed globalization
and its effects on unions. Finally Maria Roper discussed the Workers Rights
Consortium. Sunday morning there was an informal discussion (over brunch)
about Peace and the anti-sweatshop movement.
Feedback from attendees: There was an even mixture of people who had
experience with USAS/ labor organizing, and people who wanted to become
more involved. Everyone seemed to think that the workshops and speakers
dealt with substantive issues. Furthermore they were successful in
reaching out to both new and experienced campus activists.
Criticism/ room for improvement: The major criticism brought up was that
conference attendees did not feel they had very much part in the logistics
of the conference (cooking, cleaning etc.). Most of this work was performed
by Delaware students no effort was made to invite others to help. Because
the conference was so short there were some complaints that not enough
information was covered.
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