|
I think it is very important to have an annual
convention. It is also important to broaden the appeal of the convention and to
do a better job of marketing it.
We seem to have a lock on the people who want to
spend three days on a bus running around from garden to garden looking at
irises. BTW, many of those people don't want to look at anything else. When
there is no bloom, they are sorely disappointed.
How about getting a lock on people who might
want to learn something new?
How about getting a lock on younger people?
Hint: You're not going to do it with 3 days of bus tours looking at poorly
grown irises.
Conventions are supposed to be about the
EXPERIENCE. The typical AIS convention is about the garden.
The Convention should be the ultimate exercise in
hospitality. One of the reasons that the garden tours are so popular is that the
garden hosts open their gardens and really try to make the guests feel at home.
It is rare for that warmth and hospitality to
carry over to the hotel. The hosts are no longer really on their home turf. The
cards are stacked against them.
Although I have not missed a convention for many
years, I have never received a mailing encouraging me to attend the next
convention. I haven't been to the Mid-Atlantic Nurseryman's Association Trade
Show (MANTS) for 4 years, but I still get mailings encouraging me to register
and attend. Funny thing is that it costs me nothing to attend. Likewise, I still
get mailings for the Pennsylvania Nurseryman's Association Trade Show (PANTS),
which I haven't attended for 6 years.
The fourth year that I registered for the
Maryland Municipal League (MML) Association Convention, I was asked to
moderate one of the sessions. I agreed. My job was to make announcements at the
beginning of a session (fire exits, no smoking, complete the session survey an
give to monitors when you leave, etc) and to introduce the presenter. Other
people were enlisted as monitors and to man the Lost & Found and information
booth for an hour or so.
Practically every convention (except
for AIS conventions) I have attended has had a keynote speaker.
Keynote speakers are not cheap, but they are worth their weight in gold.
You would think that the MML would select a keynote speaker with a deep
background in municipal government. When they have done that, they have come up
with some pretty bad speakers. The one exception was Reuben Greenberg, Chief of
Police for Charleston, SC. Two of the best were Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin
Carson and Marketing Motivational speaker Jeff Tobe. Neither of them had first
hand experience with municipal government, but they knew how to reach people and
get their point across--which always had something to do with the theme of the
Convention. Benjamin Carson happens to be a black man. The theme of the
convention was Celebrating Diversity--and he drove the theme home without point
out that he was a black man.
So, why do I go to conventions? In all honesty, I
started attending in 2000 simply because I had volunteered my
club to host the SJI convention. I went to five AIS Conventions to
observe and learn everything I could about conventions. I came away with a very
short list of do's and a very long list of do not's. I took notes on such
mundane things as how long it takes to load a bus and what hours the hospitality
table should be open. Why to I continue to go to conventions? It's not because
I enjoy watching a slow-motion train wreck. Every year, I keep hoping that
they will get better. Every year, there are a few steps forward--and a few steps
backward.
I would add that Paul Gossett does a great job. He
does it by gently cajoling, because the AIS has passed the responsibility
to the host. That's all he really can
do.
You may have read the Convention handbook. My
favorite example of how the AIS has handed it all over is the Convention
Code of Ethics. It is up to the Convention Committee to adopt the Code of
Ethics--if they see fit to do so. It is NOT automatically the Code of Ethics for
any group that agrees to host the AIS Convention.
Back in my hole.
Dennis Hager
|