Cohousing-L Mailing List: NAConf97: supplement to first announcement

[Marci Malinowycz (SoDance]

(all conference postings will have a subject line beginning with NAConf97)

Some further information about the North American Cohousing Conference 1997:

-------------------------
 Philosophy
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The conference cost is called a "membership" rather than an admission fee, to 
indicate that this is a participatory rather than a passive event. In general, 
all members are considered participants in the conference, and all pay a 
membership fee to attend, plus contribute their time in some way. In addition 
to roles being filled in the course of planning the conference, there will be 
opportunities to help at the conference (registration, child care, meals, 
speaking, notetaking, resource room staffing, carpooling, and other tasks). A 
few speakers will be recruited and compensated in some way, by a no-cost 
membership or possibly with some travel costs or speakers fees.

It is our intent to make it possible for all members to feel able to 
participate fully. Child care costs will be covered by all memberships, and 
parents will be consulted in the planning. Meals will be arranged with 
consideration for various dietary requirements and preferences; specify your 
needs and wishes when you register. Other special needs will be accomodated as 
much as possible; let us know what you require.

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 Staffing
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Up until now, Marci Malinowycz (with the help of her partner Tom Whitmore, 
both at 206-763-2623, sodance [at] msn.com) has been acting as coordinator, 
working 
with various individuals to put the basic framework of the conference into 
place. Now is the time to form the committee that will create the program and 
other features to hang on that framework. There are a number of roles not yet 
spoken for in preparing this conference. Some should be filled by folks local 
to the conference, while others can be handled at a distance through mail, 
phone, email, and the occasional visit. And if someone would like to step 
forward and coordinate the whole thing with Marci assisting, or co-coordinate 
it along with Marci, well, bless you!

The resource room will be the heart of the conference. It will offer 
information, resources, sales, references, and other support. Professionals 
and businesses will be able to sponsor the conference by taking table space, 
and cohousing groups and other nonprofit organizations can promote their 
ventures at no cost. Displays, conversation nooks, refreshments, networking, 
and other features will be made available to conference members. Marci will 
coordinate this area, and there is room for volunteers to take specific 
subareas that interest them.

The main program needs a coordinator. This can be an individual or an 
organization, and need not be local. Preregistrations will be made available 
so that available attendees can be included in the program. Some funds will be 
available to help bring special speakers. Marci will work with the program, 
especially to recruit local speakers.

The burning souls day will be coordinated by RMCA. Look for details in a later 
message.

Two types of tour coordinators are needed. Local cohousing communities and 
sites will be visited during the three-day conference; someone local is needed 
to arrange times, contacts, and transportation. During the days before and 
after the conference, tours of outlying sites will be offered; someone (or a 
team of representatives of each area), not necessarily local, is needed to 
make these arrangements and offer them as part of preregistration.

A preregistration coordinator is needed. This can be managed at a distance, 
but might be best if handled locally. This coordinator will keep registration 
records, coordinate later mailings to preregistered members, and work with 
other departments (treasurer, accomodations, child care, program, and so on).

An onsite registration coordinator will be needed. This could be split among 
several people, to handle staffing the registration table, pulling together 
the membership packets, and so on.

While most accomodations will be arranged directly by individual attendees for 
themselves, a coordinator is needed to handle requests to stay in area 
cohousing and to arrange with local communities to provide guest space. This 
may be best handled locally, though not necessarily.

A child care coordinator is needed to arrange for professional child care, 
track requests, and schedule parents and other volunteers. This may be able to 
be done at a distance, with help from the conference coordinator or other 
local contact.

One or more meals coordinators will arrange the various possible food events: 
continental breakfasts, banquet or buffet, welcome reception, snack table, 
party refreshments. Some work can be done at a distance, but most should be 
handled locally. Solicited donations and discounts will supplement the meals 
budget; several can do this, and Marci will work on this area.

A budget coordinator is needed, and need not be local. The treasurer is Rob 
Sandelin, using the NICA accounts. Costs will be covered partly by 
sponsorships and donations, to keep it affordable for everyone, so work is 
needed to solicit this support.

There are a variety of areas not covered by the above descriptions, and of 
course any area yet to be envisioned and proposed as part of the conference 
will need volunteers to make it happen.

-------------------------
 Communications
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The www.cohousing.org web site maintained by Stuart Staniford-Chen will 
provide the most up-to-date and detailed information about the conference, in 
pages linked from the Events page.

An email mailing list is available, thanks to Stuart, for conducting an 
ongoing electronic meeting among these coordinators and anyone who wishes to 
participate in the conference planning. Email stanifor [at] cs.ucdavis.edu to 
subscribe. Summaries of the list's discussions will be posted from time to 
time on the cohousing-L list and the web page, to inform those who want to 
keep up but not participate in the detailed discussion.

If you live near Seattle and can give some time to the conference, contact 
Marci and let her know what areas you are interested in; meetings and work 
sessions will be held as needed, around the schedules of those participating. 
If you are going to be visiting the Seattle area and would like to work on the 
conference or just be in a discussion about it, contact Marci to make 
arrangements. Conversations related to the conference can take place at a 
series of cohousing salons Marci is hosting at the PCC near her home in West 
Seattle, on the second Monday of each month, 6-8pm; contact her or check the 
events page on the cohousing web site.

Marci will be travelling from time to time, and would like to meet with 
interested planning participants and groups who are not in the Seattle area. 
If your locale is hosting a cohousing-related event, and a conversation or 
work session related to NAConf97 would fit with or around your event, let her 
know.