ConferenceCommittee

Conference Committee Questions, and suggestions

How big of a committee? Floyd is working with several people right now on this. Maybe be fluid on size of the committee - let it be as large as the number of volunteers we get. --Kate

It would be nice if that was left up to the conference committee chair. It could be 5-6 members one year and 10-12 the next year, depending on the needs/desires of the committee chair.

Cynthia --> in the above does "conference committee chair" refer to VP or is this a different position? I agree that the total size could be flexible but I would think there could be a set minimum number according to the various tasks: local arrangements, authors/keynote speakers, preconference/concurrent sessions, exhibitors, bookstore, schedule, etc.

How long of a term? 2 years? Maybe this year- 1/2 of those appointed would be on for 2 years, and 1/2 for three years, so that we never have an entirely new committee. It would be great if our VP candidate would start coming from this committee.

Setting it up as a two committment on a rotating basis would be optimal. Since the VP rotates every year, maybe it's time to take a look at the duties of the vice president and NOT have this person necessarily be required to be a member of the conference committee. There are plenty of duties/tasks that are continuously being added to the OELMA plate. This may be the time to revise the VP duties to help out the president more.

Cynthia --> Two years sounds good. Agree that this first time around the terms should be staggered.

How far out would they plan the conference? 2 years?- I think any more than that- it would be hard to predict popular authors, etc. I agree with Kate that any planning over two years would be difficult and unwieldy for the next group.

Cynthia --> agree

Authority? What would they plan? They could choose authors. They could choose the theme- but I think we'd be OK if we didn't have the theme two years in advance. We could still wait for the VP to decide. I'm guessing that the keynote speakers are difficult to book - they could book them farther in advance.

Again I agree with Kate that they could choose authors and maybe even a theme, but run everything through the VP.

Cynthia --> not sure they could run everything through VP if they are working 2 years out...we wouldn't know who the VP would be would we? Maybe they would submit their author plan to the Board for final approval but they would have the authority to pursure authors based on budget provided and asking them to make sure there is well rounded coverage - elementary, YA, etc.

Can they choose and contract conference dates? Locations? Need to determine how this committee interacts with and conveys decisions to the board. Is there a chair to the committee? If so, this person needs to be attending board meetings and/or updating the board on the committee's decisions. --K

need to be run through the board

Cynthia --> agree that they can't have total autonomy/authority and would need to go through the board for this. When I was on budget committees in the past (long, long ago) we spent a lot of time dealing with conference and vp would be at a meeting going over their budget with us (pre AOM days if I remember correctly). A budget commitee has really fallen by the wayside now that we have AOM who does so much for us. It has always made sense to me that the treasurer should be a little more involved in conference details. That being said I've found the duties of treasuerer to be very light thanks to Kate/AOM so I think the position could take on more duties/responsibilities.