Convention Report 2010
Jul. 6th, 2010 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjarvisWe're back in DC again after a fun weekend at the annual IAGSDC convention, this year in Chicago.
Our flight from Baltimore to Midway was pretty easy; the GO Express airport shuttle was a delight as well. And the hotel --wow! It's a beautiful bit of architecture with great staff.
The Chicago convention team had clearly worked hard to make this a great convention and it showed: all aspects were incredibly smooth, including check-in, dance spaces and the brunch & banquet. We didn't go on the fun badge tour but friends gave an enthusiastic report.
This convention was actually more about business than dancing for me again this year (although admittedly not as much as last year when I was the convention registrar). I attended the IAGSDC delegates meeting on behalf of the Gay Callers Association (non-voting), making a report to the delegates and collecting data for the GCA membership meeting immediately following. The big news largely was the confirmation that the 2014 convention will be in Salt Lake City, UT, and Times Squares of New York City expressed an interest in hosting the 2015 convention.
A handful of delegates expressed their bitter dissatisfaction that the delegates meeting was taking place on the Thursday before the convention, prior to Friday's opening ceremonies. I like having it earlier as it means the delegates don't have to sacrifice dancing time during the convention. Those objecting seemed to latch specifically onto an interpretation of the IAGSDC by-laws which declares the meeting must happen during the convention and the convention itself isn't considered to have started until the opening ceremonies, but that's grasping at straws, IMHO: I say the convention begins with the first scheduled event. I'll look more deeply into the IAGSDC by-laws later.
The GCA meeting was surprisingly uneventful as well. I know there's widespread dissatisfaction with this year's methodology for selecting & assigning non-staff callers to the guest spots but John Oldfield made a great speech which I think acknowledged the annoyance of many but reminded them firmly that the non-staff callers work at the pleasure of the host committee and as professionals, we should accept gratefully the opportunities we have. Ken Ritucci has completed his term as vice-president and is replaced by Arlene Kaspick; Arlene's role as secretary will now be filled by Jane Clewe. Interestingly, no one (including myself included) could remember precisely when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rlegters was elected the primary IAGSDC delegates or when I became the alternate delegate so we weren't sure if our terms expired or not. I guess I'm the alternate delegate for life until I look up in my notes when our positions should be up for election.
A subsequent meeting of the new GCA board was very useful. I hope we repeat this in future as we can cover a lot more ground in one hour face-to-face than we can via email.
The convention planners' meeting was of great personal interest. Danny Lee has updated the IAGSDC web site to now allow convention planning documents to be uploaded directly, relieving Seth Levine & Ett McAtee of a huge amount of archiving work. I was able to upload some 20 documents during the meeting itself; there are many more but I didn't want to use up all of my wireless bandwidth too soon. I like that the Chicago convention has done away with the display of club banners. While they're very nice, it costs thousands of dollars to hang them, not to mention countless volunteer hours to request, receive, sort, store and return.
I was in five group photos this year, not including the all-dancers group photo, each with costume changes. They included: DC Lambda Squares, Chesapeake Squares, Ettseteras, GCA members, GCA board. I bought all but the GCA board photo. Some day, I'll have to frame or at least properly insert into photo albums all of the convention club photos I've collected over the years.
I had five calling gigs this year, two Mainstream and one each of Plus, Advanced and C1. In all, they went pretty well. I had planned to work from cards for the C1 and sight-resolve the rest but I ultimately used cards for the Advanced as well, largely as a safety precaution against nervousness. The Plus set stumbled once when my pilot and my alternate pilot square both broke down but that was easily handled. The second Mainstream seat crashed badly at least twice but I think the crowd laughed it off since that floor was composed heavily of newbie dancers and it was the last hour of the convention so all were more than a little brain-dead.
The big lesson for me was about focus. I readily admit I get nervous when there are other big-name callers in the hall watching and evaluating. Of course, I know they are there to be supportive and to see if there are tips they can offer which would make me a better caller but it raises the bar (and my blood pressure) a little. It's silly to be additionally nervous as I know they mean well and it's ridiculous that I should give extra effort in my calling when they're present: after all, shouldn't I be giving 110% to the *dancers* every time I'm on mic? Anyway, the big emotional wallop didn't happen this time.
My first gig was an Advanced set, with both Mike DeSisto (just finished) and Sandie Bryant (up next) in the hall. I just called as though they were just another pair of dancers and had no attack of nerves at all.
During my C1 tip, I had a single square on the floor. There were barely enough bodies available for a second square but only if both John Marshall and Mary Hutchison danced as well. And I wasn't nervous.
Mike Kellog caught the end of my first Mainstream set and complimented me on the singing call portion he had heard. I even had Mike DeSisto in one Mainstream set as a dancer and he said he liked it as well. I still think a little nervousness is good to force mental clarity and a best effort but I think I'm past the point of being near-paralysis.
Between the gigs and their prep time, the club photos, the misc costume changes and the meetings, I think I only danced 4-5 tips the entire weekend. Oddly enough, that's just fine with me. These conventions are as much about business and responsibilities for me as they are about dance time --which probably says a lot about my personality. This weekend was a good balance for me personally so I feel emotionally and mentally fulfilled. And I didn't embarrass my ancestors with my C2 dancing.
Outside of the convention itself, I had a great time Monday catching up with Rob Russo, a Chicago native we know from chorus connections. Eric Mulder (Boston) was able to join us on some of our morning & early afternoon tourist adventures and we had much fun with Steve Heyl and John Griffin (San Diego). There was much schmoozing during the convention itself after dancing at the hotel lounge with so many friends, as well as parties hosted by Brian Keating & Mark McLoney one night and Joe "Missy" Brown in his room another.
This was my first trip to Chicago and I'm looking forward to returning again some day. We're toying with gathering a bunch of friends from Grand Rapids and Cleveland for a Chicago weekend trip some day but have yet to compare & coordinate calendars to see when it might be viable.
I still have some work to do when we get home, beyond the laundry and deferred domestic duties. I need to write up my report to the GCA membership to give to our GCA secretary for inclusion in the minutes. The rest of our 2009 convention docs have to be annotated and uploaded to the IAGSDC web site. I have hundreds of photos to be labeled, sorted and posted. And somewhere in this mess, I have a full time job waiting for me for the balance of the week.
Our flight from Baltimore to Midway was pretty easy; the GO Express airport shuttle was a delight as well. And the hotel --wow! It's a beautiful bit of architecture with great staff.
The Chicago convention team had clearly worked hard to make this a great convention and it showed: all aspects were incredibly smooth, including check-in, dance spaces and the brunch & banquet. We didn't go on the fun badge tour but friends gave an enthusiastic report.
This convention was actually more about business than dancing for me again this year (although admittedly not as much as last year when I was the convention registrar). I attended the IAGSDC delegates meeting on behalf of the Gay Callers Association (non-voting), making a report to the delegates and collecting data for the GCA membership meeting immediately following. The big news largely was the confirmation that the 2014 convention will be in Salt Lake City, UT, and Times Squares of New York City expressed an interest in hosting the 2015 convention.
A handful of delegates expressed their bitter dissatisfaction that the delegates meeting was taking place on the Thursday before the convention, prior to Friday's opening ceremonies. I like having it earlier as it means the delegates don't have to sacrifice dancing time during the convention. Those objecting seemed to latch specifically onto an interpretation of the IAGSDC by-laws which declares the meeting must happen during the convention and the convention itself isn't considered to have started until the opening ceremonies, but that's grasping at straws, IMHO: I say the convention begins with the first scheduled event. I'll look more deeply into the IAGSDC by-laws later.
The GCA meeting was surprisingly uneventful as well. I know there's widespread dissatisfaction with this year's methodology for selecting & assigning non-staff callers to the guest spots but John Oldfield made a great speech which I think acknowledged the annoyance of many but reminded them firmly that the non-staff callers work at the pleasure of the host committee and as professionals, we should accept gratefully the opportunities we have. Ken Ritucci has completed his term as vice-president and is replaced by Arlene Kaspick; Arlene's role as secretary will now be filled by Jane Clewe. Interestingly, no one (including myself included) could remember precisely when
rlegters was elected the primary IAGSDC delegates or when I became the alternate delegate so we weren't sure if our terms expired or not. I guess I'm the alternate delegate for life until I look up in my notes when our positions should be up for election.A subsequent meeting of the new GCA board was very useful. I hope we repeat this in future as we can cover a lot more ground in one hour face-to-face than we can via email.
The convention planners' meeting was of great personal interest. Danny Lee has updated the IAGSDC web site to now allow convention planning documents to be uploaded directly, relieving Seth Levine & Ett McAtee of a huge amount of archiving work. I was able to upload some 20 documents during the meeting itself; there are many more but I didn't want to use up all of my wireless bandwidth too soon. I like that the Chicago convention has done away with the display of club banners. While they're very nice, it costs thousands of dollars to hang them, not to mention countless volunteer hours to request, receive, sort, store and return.
I was in five group photos this year, not including the all-dancers group photo, each with costume changes. They included: DC Lambda Squares, Chesapeake Squares, Ettseteras, GCA members, GCA board. I bought all but the GCA board photo. Some day, I'll have to frame or at least properly insert into photo albums all of the convention club photos I've collected over the years.
I had five calling gigs this year, two Mainstream and one each of Plus, Advanced and C1. In all, they went pretty well. I had planned to work from cards for the C1 and sight-resolve the rest but I ultimately used cards for the Advanced as well, largely as a safety precaution against nervousness. The Plus set stumbled once when my pilot and my alternate pilot square both broke down but that was easily handled. The second Mainstream seat crashed badly at least twice but I think the crowd laughed it off since that floor was composed heavily of newbie dancers and it was the last hour of the convention so all were more than a little brain-dead.
The big lesson for me was about focus. I readily admit I get nervous when there are other big-name callers in the hall watching and evaluating. Of course, I know they are there to be supportive and to see if there are tips they can offer which would make me a better caller but it raises the bar (and my blood pressure) a little. It's silly to be additionally nervous as I know they mean well and it's ridiculous that I should give extra effort in my calling when they're present: after all, shouldn't I be giving 110% to the *dancers* every time I'm on mic? Anyway, the big emotional wallop didn't happen this time.
My first gig was an Advanced set, with both Mike DeSisto (just finished) and Sandie Bryant (up next) in the hall. I just called as though they were just another pair of dancers and had no attack of nerves at all.
During my C1 tip, I had a single square on the floor. There were barely enough bodies available for a second square but only if both John Marshall and Mary Hutchison danced as well. And I wasn't nervous.
Mike Kellog caught the end of my first Mainstream set and complimented me on the singing call portion he had heard. I even had Mike DeSisto in one Mainstream set as a dancer and he said he liked it as well. I still think a little nervousness is good to force mental clarity and a best effort but I think I'm past the point of being near-paralysis.
Between the gigs and their prep time, the club photos, the misc costume changes and the meetings, I think I only danced 4-5 tips the entire weekend. Oddly enough, that's just fine with me. These conventions are as much about business and responsibilities for me as they are about dance time --which probably says a lot about my personality. This weekend was a good balance for me personally so I feel emotionally and mentally fulfilled. And I didn't embarrass my ancestors with my C2 dancing.
Outside of the convention itself, I had a great time Monday catching up with Rob Russo, a Chicago native we know from chorus connections. Eric Mulder (Boston) was able to join us on some of our morning & early afternoon tourist adventures and we had much fun with Steve Heyl and John Griffin (San Diego). There was much schmoozing during the convention itself after dancing at the hotel lounge with so many friends, as well as parties hosted by Brian Keating & Mark McLoney one night and Joe "Missy" Brown in his room another.
This was my first trip to Chicago and I'm looking forward to returning again some day. We're toying with gathering a bunch of friends from Grand Rapids and Cleveland for a Chicago weekend trip some day but have yet to compare & coordinate calendars to see when it might be viable.
I still have some work to do when we get home, beyond the laundry and deferred domestic duties. I need to write up my report to the GCA membership to give to our GCA secretary for inclusion in the minutes. The rest of our 2009 convention docs have to be annotated and uploaded to the IAGSDC web site. I have hundreds of photos to be labeled, sorted and posted. And somewhere in this mess, I have a full time job waiting for me for the balance of the week.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 01:24 am (UTC)HUGS!
GCA Delegate
Date: 2010-07-07 04:28 am (UTC)Re: GCA Delegate
Date: 2010-07-07 06:25 pm (UTC)You guys were missed... I hope we'll see you some time soon!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 12:34 pm (UTC)now there's a mathematical fallacy. You (like everyone else who uses this kind of hyperbole) only have 100% to start off with, and some of that is going to be required for breathing and standing up. To say you're aiming for 110% is to set yourself (and your blood pressure) up for failure. and it might explain why "the big emotional wallop didn't happen"
I was in five group photos this year, not including the all-dancers group photo, each with costume changes. They included: DC Lambda Squares, Chesapeake Squares, Ettseteras, GCA members, GCA board.
ah, so THIS is why you're so very involved -- it's for the wardrobe-increase opportunities. You do it for the new frocks! (seriously - there are separate outfits for GCA members and GCA board as well as the other dancing groups? heavenly days!)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 03:11 pm (UTC)I sent you an email during the convention but I got a "Delivery Status Notification (Delay)" the following day. "Delivery to the recipient has been delayed. Message will be retried for 2 more day(s). Technical details of temporary failure: DNS Error: Could not contact DNS servers." Did you ever receive it?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 06:23 pm (UTC)