During the month of May, the co-chairs began organizing work in preparation for the 2009 conference.  The current co-chairs organized three very important conference calls: (1) with the past Program Committee co-chairs, (2) with the current Finance Committee co-chairs, and (3) with the Communication Committee co-chairs.

The goal of the first call was to glean tasks and any order of processes that the past Program Committee co-chairs had either inherited or created for and during the creation of the 2008 conference.  We found this interaction with Andrew and Jordan very helpful since the conversation gave us virtual starting blocks as we began to organize our workflow and prepared to engage the committee as a whole toward the end of the month of May.

Next, our call with the Finance Committee co-chairs helped us to better understand our roles in the financial process and procedures as they are related to the Annual Conference.  We took away from this meeting three major points: (1) the need, importance, and role of the “sponsorship” liaison – a volunteer member who works with, between and among the Finance Committee, the Program Committee, the Host Committee, and any other member volunteers in the identification and engagement of any potential conference sponsors; (2) the need to highlight and actively advertise the availability of scholarship funds for members to attend the conference; and (3) the role of the Program Committee co-chairs to in the tracking of speaker’s fees/honoraria.  After the call, we further clarified these items with both Andrew and Jordan.

Finally, our call with the Communications Committee co-chairs helped us to understand how to better engage their committee with the advertisement and promotion of the annual conference among membership as well as the public at-large.  Topics also addressed were conference program creation and proofing, the conference theme, and save the date card.

On May 22nd, we met with GMN’s executive director, Michelle Greanias, to discuss goals of the Program Committee.  During this call we also addressed any of the questions that were raised during the conference calls highlighted above and ways she could be of service to the work of the committee.

Our first convening of the committee took place on May 28.  The committee members agreed to continue meeting the fourth Wednesday of the month at 2:00PM Eastern Time.  There were approximately 22 participants who participated on the call.  We discussed the committee’s structure, roles, and responsibilities; follow up from the 2008 conference; and brainstormed sessions for the 2009 conference.

Next steps include a conference call to debrief from the 2008 conference with Catherine, Marva, and Michelle; discussing a possible name change to “conference committee” with our members; and making a recommendation on a 2010 conference location.