Our Conventions happen every other year. The most recent was just last month (147th Anniversary Convention / Cleveland, Ohio), but I don't have any information about the 2003 edition of the National Laws (changes are always made at each Convention). However, according to Title II, Section 11 of the 2001 National Laws (from the 145th Anniversary Convention / Orlando, Florida), membership to each Convention consists of:
- all past national presidents who have served at least 23 months of their (24 month) term
- the current honorary national president
- members of the Supreme Council
- the national executive director
- one member of the Board of Directors of SAE Services
- one representative from each province (generally the president)
- one delegate from each Chapter Collegiate
- one delegate from each Alumni Association
At last count, there are 13 living past national presidents (I believe they've all served the minimum 23 months), 29 provinces, around 206 active Chapters Collegiate, 91 area Alumni Associations and 78 chapter Alumni Associations. The Supreme Council (national board of directors of the Fraternity) consists of five members. So if everyone currently entitled to a seat showed up, there would be 13+1+5+1+1+29+206+91+78=425 total representatives.
Obviously, in order to qualify for representation, each Chapter Collegiate and Alumni Association must be in good standing with the national office (current with all forms and fees, etc.), and I believe the delegate himself must also be in good standing. Each Chapter Collegiate is absolutely required to send a delegate (assuming the Chapter is in good standing), or will be fined $1,000 for non-representation. No such requirement or penalty exists for the Alumni Associations or other bodies to my knowledge. As a result, in most cases the undergraduate delegates constitute a majority of those present, thus dictate to a large extent what happens with the Fraternity nationally.
In general, Convention membership looks like this:
- 4.9% - national officers and other national-level officials
- 6.8% - regional officers
- 48.5% - undergraduate delegates
- 39.8% - alumni association delegates