Conclaves - Back to the Future

[john1082]

Thirty years ago the Fraternity operated in some ways in a regional manner. We had geographic areas known as Conclaves which existed more or less to host a regional training session. They were also a great way to foster friendships with Brothers in other chapters. Of late we have drifted away from this model.

But I have good intel which suggests that we may well be moving back to this model. I cannot reveal sources and methods but I am confidant that this is in the works!

Great news!

Everything old is new again.

[GammaZeta]

YES!

It's about time the higher ups of LXA started listening to me again.

Regional operations, meetings, conclaves, etc., are the way to go.

I've said it for years.

[EM1843]

I'd be really happy to see a return to conclaves.

[Tom Earp]

I find this very exciting if it becomes true.

I attended two in Kansas City and met many Brothers from different Zetas.

My main complaint was that the two were held at a very high profille and expensive hotel. The other was for the fact that my Zeta which is @ 2 1/2 hours away was sent to Texas. I never figured out how this could be cost effecient.

Now, there are many states that have Zetas that are close to a central area and more Brothers would be able to attend. While I lived @ 20 minutes away, it was cheaper for me to be at the hotel and pay for it than drive daily.

Another thing that I never understood. I would pay for food but not hotel room. So, how could it be more expensive?

If, they were regional and IHQ-We pay for only one delegate, this may give the chance for more to attend. It would cost less over all for each extra Brother and IHQ-We as a whole.

Just a thought.

[john1082]

I suspect that they will be planned to be cost effective for the undergrads. Meeting at or near a college campus that can provide classroom space. The likely style of hotel would be a Holiday Inn or the like. With the country divided into ten or twelve regions there would be a pair of conclaves per month although I would anticipate that the winter quarter would be the heaviest time, thereby bypassing the football season.

The host chapter would have their work cut out for them but it really would be an exercise in working together and that planning exercise, in itself, is a great learning tool

The style would have to change from the conclaves of the seventies were were simply an excuse for 300 brothers to get together to trash the UCLA house.

[HONKY660]

Conclaves were never cost effective for my chapter. El Paso is 8 hours away from the next big Texas city, so being in the southwest conclave didn't work for us, but yet being in the western conclave didn't work either because the conclaves were held in california somewhere usually which is 12 hours away. But it was usually cheaper to travel by plane to california than texas, go figure, so we usually went to the western conclave meetings. Sucks being the bastard city of texas.
IHQ usually pays for the delagate to attend, being that it is a requirement in our constitution that at least one delagate attends per chapter, otherwise they fine you $1,000. We used to pay for at least one delagate, then road trip it, then shack up in the delagates room for free. Some would attend the conference, others just there to party with bros from all over. Overall a good time. Conclave meetings are always held in the spring, I guess because so much less happens in the spring semester in schools.
If, or when they create the new conclaves, it will be interesting where they put my chapter and New Mexico State U. New Mexico State U is in Las Cruces, which is 45 minutes away from El Paso. Since we no longer have chapters in arizona, our chapters sit in no mans land, right in between both borders.

Last regional conferences I attended a couple years back, were either in Dallas 10 hours away, or in Oklahoma City 11 hours away.

[john1082]

The events were held at different times throughout the country. The Pacific Conclave tried to hold theirs during the fall - that way Reno didn't have to do Donner Pass in the winter. Typically the host school would get a big block of football tickets for the Saturday afternoon game and that would be 25% of the program.

We'd have to space them out in order to get HQ participation.

As far as redrawing the Conclave lines goes, there is nothing that says that we have to use the same ones as last time. UTEP and New Mexico might well fit in better with the Colorado chapters than with Texas.
California and Nevada fit in nicely, but what about Oregon and Washington? The natural order of things would suggest that we have a more or less equal number of chapters in each Conclave but practicality may require that we have some smaller ones.

What this opportunity gives us is a chance to organize how we interact between the Zetas and to organize ourselves in a way that makes sense for the undergrads, not HQ in Indy.

[Tom Earp]

Even though I received a PM explaining how much money was lost via the Regionals, I still wonder if it could not be worked out?

Granted there are manythings involved as Hotel contracts, but if a re alignment was figured in it could possibly work today.

I am sure that Zetas are more interested in those close to them. Say for example in jsut the Kansas City area, There is Ks., Mo., Neb., Iowa, with enough Zetas. Or say Texas while HUGE, it could be worked into Arizona, Col., or some others.

Just some food for thought?

I wish there would be more information coming from IHQ concerning this and LCAP.

[john1082]

I think the details regarding the conclaves are still being worked out and I doubt that we'll see anything before GA next summer.

[PiLambda1]

STLCOP hosted a conclave type seminar a year or two ago...we had chapters from all over come together to do IMPACT 1 and 2. I think, in all, we had 6-7 different chapters represented...

It was a good time and interesting experience.

[boz130]

While the idea of a conclave is good, I've seen a better model for us to follow. This wouldn't cost an arm, leg or any other body part.

ATO has a "drive-in" leadership workshop each spring. They invite chapters in an area that's within a five hour drive from the host site. For example, I attended a conference in Indy, and they had chapters from IN, IL, MI & OH.

This particular workshop was held @ a Holiday Inn Express near the Indy airport. Sign-in is from 8:00-8:30AM & the participants are served juice/bagels/etc. Starting @ 8:30, they have the meeting in a large break-out room.

The conference leaders (IHQ & alums from that particular geographic area) address various subjects over the course of the morning and then have a working lunch (box lunches are wheeled into the meeting space).

Things wrap up by 3:00PM and the participants are free to go. Since they're only facing a drive of five hours or less, everybody gets to sleep @ their home chapter that nite.

Costs for this sort of thing are much less because there's generally no lodging needed (except for chapters farther than a five hour trek). Gotta figure that a prototypical 20-year-old can get up @ 3:00AM for a road trip.

Since I was a conclave attendee back in the Dark Ages (30+ years ago), I recognize the value of having meetings w/other chapters involved. I also realize that the ATO model doesn't provide for the amount of bonding that a Friday nite-Sunday AM meeting does.

However, I observed that these UGs interacted within a small group setting because they were assigned to groups outside of their home chapter. For example, three guys from Illinois State would wind up in groups A, B & C.

Affordable (<$75/person + road trip $$$), utilizing both chapter members and area alumni, AND it's time-efficient - works for me. Of course, if we ever put a chapter at the Univ. of Hawaii, all bets are off...

In ZAX,
BF

[GammaZeta]

Perfect Boz,

I think that is the model to use; "drive-in".

[Bilski]

Personally, I'd love to see more regional conclaves. Simply put, few brothers can afford to fly out to Texas in the middle of the first month of the spring semester. The same goes for most GA/LS's which span more days than many can take off from their summer jobs. I'm not sure how these conferences were losing money, but they sound like a great investment to me.

Regional conferences seem to be the best solution to dispersing new programs as well. The TBI could be much more effectively spread if I could send 8 or more brothers to a regional conference instead of trying to get the 1 or 2 that attend GA to tell us all about it. I believe there was a push to have regional alumni trained in the program for a similar purpose and it seems to me like they'd have that much less work to do if they didn't have to travel to all the chapters!

Lastly, one of the biggest challenges facing my zeta is the lack of officer training. Since most GA/LS's focus on recruitment, IMPACT leadership, and this new TBI there's no use for me to send an Theta, Iota, Gamma, Epsilon, or Tau. As a chapter that is still recovering from a drastic membership crisis, the continuity of officer training has been interrupted, only to be replaced with the shell of an officer manual those old PDFs on fraternitymanuals.com can offer. I look forward to the new manuals IHQ is writing, but I wish there was something more hands-on available in the interim and for the future.

[Shane Foley]

Originally Posted by Bilski

Personally, I'd love to see more regional conclaves. Simply put, few brothers can afford to fly out to Texas in the middle of the first month of the spring semester. The same goes for most GA/LS's which span more days than many can take off from their summer jobs. I'm not sure how these conferences were losing money, but they sound like a great investment to me.

Regional conferences seem to be the best solution to dispersing new programs as well. The TBI could be much more effectively spread if I could send 8 or more brothers to a regional conference instead of trying to get the 1 or 2 that attend GA to tell us all about it. I believe there was a push to have regional alumni trained in the program for a similar purpose and it seems to me like they'd have that much less work to do if they didn't have to travel to all the chapters!

Lastly, one of the biggest challenges facing my zeta is the lack of officer training. Since most GA/LS's focus on recruitment, IMPACT leadership, and this new TBI there's no use for me to send an Theta, Iota, Gamma, Epsilon, or Tau. As a chapter that is still recovering from a drastic membership crisis, the continuity of officer training has been interrupted, only to be replaced with the shell of an officer manual those old PDFs on fraternitymanuals.com can offer. I look forward to the new manuals IHQ is writing, but I wish there was something more hands-on available in the interim and for the future.

The reason the RLC were costly--They were in expensive hotels. While HQ tried to reduce the costs, expensive rooms and meals add up. Having more local conferences have more flexibility as people can priceline rooms and/or stack a lot of people in a room. College students (especially those from the same chapter) don't need fancy accomodations.

Another option that was tried 5 years ago were one-day gatherings organized by the ELCs at a chapter. It was designed for fewer chapters and a more relaxed format and FREE. There were advantages and disadvantages to those gatherings. The purpose was to provide more opportunities for contacts with brothers from other chapters.

Shane

[PiLambda1]

Originally Posted by Shane Foley

The reason the RLC were costly--They were in expensive hotels. While HQ tried to reduce the costs, expensive rooms and meals add up. Having more local conferences have more flexibility as people can priceline rooms and/or stack a lot of people in a room. College students (especially those from the same chapter) don't need fancy accomodations.

Another option that was tried 5 years ago were one-day gatherings organized by the ELCs at a chapter. It was designed for fewer chapters and a more relaxed format and FREE. There were advantages and disadvantages to those gatherings. The purpose was to provide more opportunities for contacts with brothers from other chapters.

Shane

Shane, this sounds like it's got great potential. I wish we could start doing this again. The Brothers at STLCOP (and the students at STLCOP in general) are traditionally from rural Missouri and Illinois. While we are a very diverse chapter, and not necessarily fitting that mold, but many of us have never been to a traditional college/university atmosphere or most importantly, a real fraternity house.

If something like this were held at Mizzou, every chapter in MO, Kansas and Illinois are within striking distance of GK Zeta. It would allow us to have a short road trip over and experience some things we havent been exposed to before...and have a good time in a real fraternity house on a real college campus! I know that probably sounds pretty weak to some of you all, but STLCOP has 1000 students, zero fraternity houses (2 have houses, but one of them is off limits to non-members and the other is run down, in the ghetto, and problems surround it), and we are the only social/general Fraternity on campus -- so our fraternal experience is markedly different from what other Brothers have gone through...

Of course, a few of our guys have visited other chapters and houses...I haven't really had the luxury.


In ZAX,
Brandon
PLZ 001