Delegates at National Conventions

[NutBrnHair]

Many groups are having Conventions this summer. How many delegates attend your gathering? Seems like the NPC groups always draw more than our male counterparts and NPHC groups have us all beat!

I'm curious about the total # in attendance.

[ASUADPi]

Ours was last year and I think like 500-600 attended, but that is just a guestimate

Not that I know much about NPHC conventions, but I know from ours that most of the acitivities at convention are for "voting" delegates. There really isn't a plethora of activities for "non-voting" delegates to participate in. Last year, I was one of the, at most 100 non-voting delegates. On voting day, it's all day. I went to like 2 workshops and then spent the rest of the day (minus lunch & dinner) chillin in my room watching TV (the hotel was being remodeled, I don't think any of us found the pool ). I'm pretty sure that is why there aren't a lot of non-voting delegates.

I'm going to next years, I would like to be a voting delegate but either way I'm gonna go. It's in Orlando. I'm pretty sure I can find something to do on the day they are voting

[Senusret I]

I have no idea how many will attend this summer's APhiA convention. I won't be there.

It has been in the media that the AKA's centennial celebration this summer has 23,000 registered (voting, non-voting, and guests) and expects 10,000 additional unregistered people. (Alphas looking for wives, mostly)

lol

[AGDee]

There were 678 women registered for our Convention this year. Of those, I believe they reported around 300 voting delegates, but don't hold me to that second number.

ETA: 23,000 is incredible! Our entire structure would have to be different. Like.. How do you ever find a hotel with meeting rooms large enough for everybody? And banquets? Do they have multiple banquet halls? I just can't even imagine!

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

Many groups are having Conventions this summer. How many delegates attend your gathering? Seems like the NPC groups always draw more than our male counterparts and NPHC groups have us all beat!

I'm curious about the total # in attendance.

Twice now I've published a newsletter for the DG convention. Each time I had 600 copies printed. The last time, I got home from taking them to the venue and found the printer had left another 100 on my doorstep; he had forgotten to deliver them. But the convention wasn't shorted.

Now, that's not necessarily an indication. But at both these conventions, I found little to keep the interest of the non-voting delegate(s). I think ASUADPi may be on to something there.

[tld221]

its been pointed out many a times on GC that alumni involvement is greater in NPHC than NPC, or at the very least ingrained in the potential member upon initiation. Also, NPHC conventions (Boules) happen over the summer (is this the same for NPC?) so it may not be on undergraduate members' radar to attend. If i had to make an educated guess, perhaps that explains the difference in attendance numbers?

I honestly dont know what our last convention numbers were, but I do know it was to be in New Orleans, and then that Katrina thing happened and it got moved to Dallas. I dont know if that threw attendance off. But I'd say we get a few thousand at Boule.

I have a question for NPCers: who is in charge of organizing your conventions, your IHQ, the local alumnae clubs/chapters, or do you have a specific team who coordinates it? I know with ours, the planning is up to the local graduate chapters to the city Boule is taking place, and i believe the surrounding undergraduate chapters assist (or perhaps the chapters that are advised by the hosting graduate chapter?).

Originally Posted by tld221

its been pointed out many a times on GC that alumni involvement is greater in NPHC than NPC, or at the very least ingrained in the potential member upon initiation. Also, NPHC conventions (Boules) happen over the summer (is this the same for NPC?) so it may not be on undergraduate members' radar to attend. If i had to make an educated guess, perhaps that explains the difference in attendance numbers?

I honestly dont know what our last convention numbers were, but I do know it was to be in New Orleans, and then that Katrina thing happened and it got moved to Dallas. I dont know if that threw attendance off. But I'd say we get a few thousand at Boule.

I have a question for NPCers: who is in charge of organizing your conventions, your IHQ, the local alumnae clubs/chapters, or do you have a specific team who coordinates it? I know with ours, the planning is up to the local graduate chapters to the city Boule is taking place, and i believe the surrounding undergraduate chapters assist (or perhaps the chapters that are advised by the hosting graduate chapter?).

We have an alumna who serves as Convention Coordinator. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong) She and her team work closely with the Alumnae Chapter/Club nearest to the Convention city.

AGD Conventions take place during the summer, and they take place every 2 years. In non-Convention years, we have TLC (The Leadership Conference), regional conferences that train collegiate leaders.

[KappaKittyCat]

The only time I went to convention it was as a non-voting delegate. Kappa does a very good job of having workshops for everyone, and all are expected to attend the business meeting portion, regardless of whether they can vote.

I had a blast.

As for numbers, I have no clue... 600-800?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by OTW

We have an alumna who serves as Convention Coordinator. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong) She and her team work closely with the Alumnae Chapter/Club nearest to the Convention city.

AGD Conventions take place during the summer, and they take place every 2 years. In non-Convention years, we have TLC (The Leadership Conference), regional conferences that train collegiate leaders.

That's pretty much true but International Council takes care of parts of it, The Leadership Institute takes care of parts of it (most of the workshops and speakers are taken care of by them now), our Education Committee took care of large chunks of it, and The Foundation takes care of parts of it too. The IHQ staff do a lot too. It's really a huge team effort. The more I type the more people I want to add who had a huge part in pulling this last one together.

[DoctorD]

Originally Posted by AGDee

That's pretty much true but International Council takes care of parts of it, The Leadership Institute takes care of parts of it (most of the workshops and speakers are taken care of by them now), our Education Committee took care of large chunks of it, and The Foundation takes care of parts of it too. The IHQ staff do a lot too. It's really a huge team effort. The more I type the more people I want to add who had a huge part in pulling this last one together.

Yep - Education Committee and The Leadership Institute worked together to handle all programming this convention. LI proposal went through Education Committee prior to going to IC.

This go round the Philanthropy Committee had a huge role, too.

Team effort is ever so true. IHQ staff member worked hand in hand with Convention committee chair regarding arrangements, and then each team had its responsibilities in making sure convention went off with as few bugs as possible. And while I know of bugs that occurred on my end, I would venture to say that very few in attendance were aware.

Our IHQ staff is phenomenal! As are our incredible volunteers!

ETA: I'm REALLY curious about the 23,000 logistics, too! Do tell!

[Senusret I]

This is a press release related to the AKA convention: http://aka1908.com/news/centennialboule2/

Logistics.... well, DC has a HUGE convention center they will be using. There are host hotels all over the place. They were stuffing convention bags this week and invited lots of people to volunteer. I've never planned a convention, so I really don't know what all goes into it or how the AKAs are planning theirs. It will most likely be better than the Alpha Centennial, which many of us were disappointed in.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by KappaKittyCat

Kappa does a very good job of having workshops for everyone, and all are expected to attend the business meeting portion, regardless of whether they can vote.

Ditto for Chi Omega.

We always seem to have more than 1000 attendees. I know our largest gathering, to date, was 2004 in San Antonio with 1300+

Chi Omega has a Convention Director (volunteer) that plans the gathering along with a volunteer team, HQ staff and National Officers.

[KSUViolet06]

I believe there were about 700-800 or so at our 2007 Convention in Nashville.

[PeppyGPhiB]

There were 700+ at Gamma Phi Beta's Convention this week in Cincinnati. As for number of voting delegates, I seem to recall it was 170 or so. So as you can see, Gamma Phi does a great job of making Convention a fun, informative and worthwhile event for everyone.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

This is a press release related to the AKA convention: http://aka1908.com/news/centennialboule2/

20,000 attendees expected?? I knew it would be big, but damn.

ETA: I guess I should have answered the question at hand. Our conference will be in Norman, OK (University of Oklahoma) this summer. This conference is geared more toward officers, so attendance will be lower than usual. Our conferences generally bring several hundred brothers, plus 100-or-so members of the sororities we're cool with.