The main purpose for holding a convention by IOLI is to have the Annual Meeting which is required in our byelaws. If everyone present at the convention decided to skip it, we may not have a quorum for any votes that are needed as it is based on a percentage of convention attendees being present. The classes are what we all go for, along with the vendor room, anything else is cream on top.
Cruises have been considered but for everyone that would love a lace cruise, there is someone who would not like to be on the water. I would love to give it a try. I know we looked into using a college in 2008 but there was nothing with accessibility to an airport, and long walks between bedrooms and classrooms. Devon did a nice comparison of costs. Recently I was considering taking craft classes in the summer locally, but the teaching fee was $120 for two hours, plus a high kit cost, so I decided I did not need to learn another craft. One other thing to bear in mind when you stay somewhere other than the convention hotel is that the use of the hotel meeting rooms are usually tied into a set number of bedrooms booked and it can be worrying when planning a convention that you might not meet the minimum room numbers and face a penalty. That has happened at some past IOLI conventions causing them to make a loss. IOLI conventions try to break even, not gouge the attendees to make a profit. I know it worried me when I signed the hotel contract in 2008 and faced a $20,000 penalty on my credit card if we did not meet the goals set by the hotel. This year is the first of a co-hosting situation with IOLI carrying the worry. Janice Janice Blair Crystal Lake, 50 miles northwest of Chicago, Illinois, USA www.jblace.com http://www.lacemakersofillinois.org - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
