Gilbert Lawrence wrote:
> Perhaps one way to get more people to attend is to have coinciding reunions
> of schools,
> colleges and professional get-together.
GL,
The G.O.A. holds a festival called VIVA GOA every year, here in Toronto. About
7,000 people attend the festival. When we were planing the Toronto convention,
we thought that we would capture more delegates if we held it on the
same weekend as VIVA GOA. Well, this year, for the first time, VIVA GOA did not
take place. The organizers had problems securing a venue, etc. They did not
know till the last minute if VIVA GOA would be held. It costs the organizers
about $40,000 to host VIVA GOA.
We went ahead with our plans. Kevin went to every Goan social for the past
three months informing people about the conference. On some weekends, he went
to two or three functions, trying to sell our convention. The response we got
from Toronto area residents was not what we hoped for. The response we got from
Goanetters was similar.
> One conference speaker described Goans being "united in their disunion".
> Then another writes how he button-holed
> a Goanet moderator for rejecting (his and others) posts because they are
> "inappropriate". These two attendees should
> have talked to each other. I for one wish to thank the Goanet moderators for
> rejecting "inappropriate" posts. I hope the
> moderators exercise their prerogatives, to provide a climate on the internet,
> for more unity among Goans. From the spate
> of recent posts it looks like more needs to be done in this regard. Perhaps
> Goans in Toronto and the 'greater Toronto
> regions' are sending a 'loud' message by their absence. And some of us
> may still not be getting that message.
The convention was very stimulating to me. I learnt a lot from the writers
workshop. I also learnt a lot from the presentations that were made, some by
those who came all the way from Goa on their own expense. I made new friends
and met for the first time, whose writers on Goanet who I have admired for
a long time. I came away from the convention enriched by what I had learnt and
by those I had met.
Others, perhaps, had different experiences.
One delegate, who I am told was sued after the 1988 Goan convention in Toronto,
rushed to the internet with every negative item he could find/was fed. His
first post, set the tone for all that followed and essentially destroyed six
months of hard work.
Let me give you a small example of the work involved. We invited a Mando group
from Goa. The Canadian High Commission in India denied their visa application.
We had a deadline for printing the convention program and had to go ahead.
Members from the committee then contacted the local politicians and managed to
get a letter that eventually secured the Mando groups visa. The Mando group
suddenly informed us that they were coming and arriving on the Monday of the
convention week. They arrived a day before, on Sunday. Suddenly we had to find
accommodation and venues for them to perform.
This type of situation was repeated a hundred times during the convention.
Mervyn3.0
BTW,
1) we missed you.
2) someone came up to me on the opening day of the convention, claiming he was
Mario. He disappeared when I asked him to return my money :-)
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