Convention Committee … Fall 2020

Convention Committee Report – October 30, 2020

In spite of the current Covid-19 conditions, the convention committee is working diligently to plan for our 2021 Convention. We do not know what the new year will bring. We do not know if we will be able to meet at Chautauqua Harbor, but we are planning and praying that our convention will come together in person.

Our in-person planning is coming along with workshops and other events nearly complete.

Yet, we and the hotel are still restricted to 50 congregants in a room which we hope will change by spring. The last time we were able to meet in Syracuse for 2019, we had nearly 150 participants. Will it work if the restriction remains? We can’t say at this time. It may not.

As we are keeping with the same theme as last year, that sadly, we were not able to present, we have confirmed that most of our speakers and workshop leaders are ok with the upcoming year. The altered time frame did not work for a few who will not be able to participate in 2021, and we are working on other options.

While meetings are different; but functional on Zoom, Convention is designed to especially to be interactive. It’s the main reason we meet in fellowship together. It’s where we get together to hug, laugh and share time like no other gathering that’s offered. This is difficult to reproduce in a virtual atmosphere. That being said, we are currently working on a greatly reduced but hopefully informative and interesting gathering with maybe a bit of fun added in, should the need arise.

We will continue to monitor the situation carefully within the NYS and Allegany-Chautauqua region and are in contact with the hotel; still working on events for the in-person experience. We will also continue to plan for the virtual experience of some sort which would presumably be a decision for the board at some point after the first of the year.

We hope to have better answers soon. We plan to release the 2021 Convention Times registration package shortly after the first of the year. We will also have online payment available on our website.

Respectfully Submitted, The Convention Committee

Cindy Kamm, Joyce Camp, Co-Chairs