Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: The 2015 Conference in Durham & Future Conferences

[Alice Alexander (alicecohous]

Many thanks Sharon. Great feedback.

I want to confirm that the plan is a national cohousing conference every
two years. The location for 2017 has not been determined.

I want to echo Sharon's good suggestion that we consider standard locations
for the national conference. I have had this experience with other
organizations and associations, and it has worked well! But all is still up
for consideration.

I encourage all of you to share ideas and consider involvement in *regional
conferences* that Coho/US can co-host with you, providing tremendous
support, but relying on local cohousing communities - forming, building
and/or existing - to take a leadership role. We would like to co-host
regional conferences at least every other alternating national conference
year, and could consider more often. Anyone up for co-hosting a regional
conference in early 2016?

Please include these ideas in your 2015 National Conference Survey; you may
also email me <alicecohous [at] gmail.com> directly. Many thanks.
Alice Alexander, Coho/US Executive Director

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 4:27 PM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
> (I figure that subject line will search well in the archives!)
>
> I loved the conference. The best I’ve been to in a long time. Ditto all
> the things Ann said. Good food, good space, nice organization, wonderful
> presentations, a good location with alternative housing and restaurants,
> close to several cohousing communities.
>
> I liked being in a hotel. It was more lively than being on a deserted
> college campus. The campuses are less expensive but also less lively and
> comfortable. In Denver for example everything closed at 5:00 and you
> couldn’t get a soda or a snack except by going off campus. Without a car,
> that was no easy for everyone.
>
> The Marriott was directly connected to the Civic Center that was designed
> for meetings — large and small. And for meals. The cost of $125 a night for
> a single is very inexpensive compared to DC, New England, California, etc.
>
> My suggestion is that Cohousing.org find a similar place west of the
> Mississippi, and alternate between it and Durham. it is much easier to plan
> a conference in a familiar hotel and reservations and planning need to
> happen 2 years in advance. Conference planning is much easier in a repeat
> location because the staff knows your group won’t trash the rooms or cause
> trouble in the bar. Or smoke where they aren’t supposed to. And the
> planning committee knows the location — what works and what doesn’t.
>
> It’s also much easier to attend a conference in a place you’ve been
> before. It takes time to locate services and learn the in and outs of a
> location. I paid for internet service in the Marriott, for example, only to
> find that it didn’t work right next door in the civic center. Our
> wireless's at Takoma Village go that far! Then I discovered there was free
> wireless in the Civic Center. And I now know where all the meeting rooms
> are. A big help.
>
> Alternating locations all over the place sounds like it is meeting the
> needs of everyone but a conference spot can never be satisfactory for
> everyone. Better to focus on arranging group travel plans to a good
> location. Moving the conference itself creates a lot of work and you start
> with inexperience every time.
>
> With internet connections the planning work can be spread out so each
> location doesn’t have to be overwhelmed.
>
> Just an idea based on too much experience.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines, Washington DC
>
> "The story of history is the story of organization."
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>
>
>


-- 
Alice Alexander
Executive Director
www.cohousing.org <http://www.cohous.org>
[image: The Cohousing Association]