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I don't know what sorority the original poster is in, but I take it that it is a younger organization. Those who chose to pursue younger organizations have to accept these types of things as part of being in a young organization. When you have chapters sporadically spread out over the US, some chapter is always going to feel that they are getting the short end of the stick.
I would ask the posters who are saying that to require a percentage of membership in attendance at conferences is ridculous to put yourself in the situation of a smaller organization. Picture only 20-30 actives (or less in your chapter). Picture having maybe only 500 members TOTAL in the nation. If your organization puts on a conference and expects to have 200 members in attendance...well, you do the math on how many people from each chapter would need to be there. If you are a very small sorority, but your national has the ambition to put on conferences and events that larger sororities enjoy to enhance your experience, then they of course are going to want to make sure they are not wasting money and time planning something that less than 100 people are going to attend. Smaller organizations (even smaller nationals) do not have the funds that older, larger organizations do. They cannot afford to take a financial hit from low attendance at a conference. Therefore, I completely understand where this national is coming from.
In my opinion, if the entire membership was notified of these requirements well in advance (especially if it is an annual conference), then there should be no reason why the requirement cannot be met. In my sorority, alumnae often donate money to the actives so that they can attend conventions, etc. Most of the time, though, everyone knows that the national events are coming, and therefore, they start saving, fundraising, or whatever the case may be. We have some chapters that are very far out from the bulk of our chapters, but yet they still manage to come to every single national event, and they roll deep at that. Most importantly, they WANT to attend these events and will do what they need to do to get there. I'm thinking that part of the reason the original poster is having problems getting her sisters to attend is because they really just don't want to go. If they did, they would be anxiously saving up and preparing for this conference. That might be an even bigger issue...
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