The Foundation dinner will have a costume theme, a parade of costumes and usually a contest for best costumes. Feast of Roses is formal.. cocktail dresses are appropriate that night. You will get a more complete Convention packet with a full schedule after you register. They include information about "What to Wear".

I do think you'd miss out a little if you didn't stay in the hotel. We are "programmed" pretty much from 8:00 or 8:30 am until 10:00 or 10:30 pm with breaks long enough to dress for dinner, etc. You may feel rushed for time if you have to leave the hotel, get back to yours, get dressed and head back again.

Take note too.. Early Bird Registration saves you $50!

Many of the Michigan Alpha Gams are thinking about taking the Amtrak train. 4 hour train ride versus driving plus parking expenses versus dealing with airport. The train takes you to downtown and it's easy to catch a cab to the hotel from there! Plus you can sleep on the way back (you'll be tired!). Can you imagine a whole train car of Alpha Gams???

Dee

Dee thanks for all the help. I would love to stay at the hotel but I think that the cost will be prohibitive, maybe that is something that I will try to work up to.

I was thinking about just bring the "things" needed for the day to the hotel and just finding a sister that would allow a place to dress in, instead of running back and forth. $500 dollars v $900 dollars is a big deal right now, plus travel and extras.

If you have gone to convention and stayed at a different hotel please post your story, thanks!

Re: Slow Internet v Snail Mail
 

My group was wondering the same thing...we have at least 6 going, and it would be less expensive even to have 2 rooms of 3 instead of 3 rooms of 2. I know that we could have fit 4 comfortably in the rooms we had at TLC this past year, and I'm sure the rooms for Convention will be similar, so would it be possible to have extra people in the rooms? If not, we're probably going to have to look into staying at a different hotel.

I have another question...if we're just registering for meals, can we still go to things like initiation, or would we be stuck only going to the meals? None of us really need to go to all of the workshops and things, since we're all alumnae, but we still want to go to initiation, and a few of us who are advisors want to go to things like the collegiate awards ceremony. However, there aren't spaces to register for these extras individually and we don't want to register for the whole day when we aren't planning on attending all of the events.


I'll probably have more questions later... :D

I would email info@alphagammadelta.org for questions about hotel arrangements or alternate registration options.

Dee

i got my packet in the mail yesterday... the cost is really making me nervous.. with airfare, i just don't know if i can pull it off.. :(

Aw man, I was hoping that one of you helpful people would be able to answer. ;) :p

The packet says to e-mail Deanna Bogie Conaty at IHQ, so that's what I'll do (woo! rhyme! :p). If anyone has any questions they'd like me to ask her, either PM me or post them here, and I'll post the answers when I get them. That way we can somewhat save Deanna's inbox from the flood of e-mails I'm sure she's going to be getting. I'm going to send the e-mail with my questions tomorrow.

Deanna is very helpful and helped me out with special diet issues when my Crohn's was really bad during TLC two years ago.

Dee

Another Hawaii Alpha Gam and I were talking about taking a train part way (because obviously we couldn't train it all the way from Hawaii!!!) We thought it might be kind of fun to fly to a west coast destination and begin a train caravan... picking up convention bound squirrels along the way (and probably a couple of nuts!)

We've been checking out the Amtrak schedule to see if there's a route that may work, but haven't decided for sure we'll do it.

Good Standing
 

Here's a question I just thought about. I am going to email IHQ but I thought I would post in case anyone here knows the answer first, lol.

I think I know the answer but I wanted to toss this out.

If a collegian is not in good standing because of grades and/or financial, would she still be able to register for Convention?

Re: Good Standing
 

It seems like grades may not be a rejecting factor, but if you're in financial bad standing you should be able to pay your dues before you pay for Convention.

Re: Good Standing
 

If your membership has been suspended you would not be able to attend. Suspension would be the POSSIBLE path taken by a chapter if a member is not in good standing.

I've been so anxious for 2004 that I almost wrote it on a couple checks already! And why? Because of our centennial!

Dee

Sorry to crash the board, but I just wanted to wish you ladies an early HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY! :)

Sigma Alpha Iota celebrated our 100th last year (2003) and I had the pleasure of attending our National Convention this summer at the place of our founding. It was an INCREDIBLE experience. I am sure your Centennial Convention will be the same way. I hope all you lovely ladies get to go, and have the same experience I did with SAI's. :)

FYI- if four people want to room together the total cost is 719- anyone want to get a room for 4?

I am still debating on whether I am going or not. But if I do that is a great idea. I will probably make up my mind in late February. After I get my tax return. ;)

I am torn because my family & my daughter (age 5) really want to go to DisneyWorld this year. I don't know if I can do both. Ugh! :(