Doc. # 33

Report of the Ad Hoc National Convention Committee

The charter of the ad hoc committee on National Conventions is derived from the following minute item from the Minutes of the July, 2000, meeting of the Board of Directors which is repeated here:

30. On motion of Mr. Race, seconded by Mr. Stinson, it was unanimously VOTED that an Ad Hoc Committee on National Conventions shall be appointed by the President. The task of this committee shall be to articulate the purposes and goals for holding ARRL National Conventions and to identify appropriate ways to measure the success of National Conventions. The committee will submit its report to the Board at the Annual Meeting in January, 2001.

To this end, President Haynie appointed the following to this committee: Wade Walstrom (Chair), Evelyn Gauzens, and Gary Johnston.

The committee met several times via conference call to determine what the purposes and goals for holding National Conventions might be.

The committee offers the following statement of purpose and goals.

PURPOSE:

Establish the ARRL as a visible entity representing the interests of amateur radio to members, non-members, and the general public.

Discussion: A national convention is an opportunity for the ARRL to touch more hams directly and for the membership and the rest of the ham community to meet the HQ staff, the ARRL officers, and the directors.

GOALS:

The committee recommends, as a minimum, the following as goals for an ARRL National Convention:

1. An ARRL National Convention should be held every three (3) years.

   Discussion:

   If the time between conventions is longer than three years, interest in the convention dwindles. If they occur more often, they tend to be taken for granted and interest dwindles.

2. The site selected for a National Convention should be an established convention/hamfest with a demonstrated two (2) year attendance historical average of at least 10,000.

   Discussion:

   The committee discussed this goal at length.

   As pointed out in the VRC white paper, hams do not come to a hamfest because it is a "National Convention." Therefore to meet the above stated purpose and goals, we need to go where the hams are.

   This stated goal would essentially limit the site of future National Conventions to one location and would exclude all other locations from hosting a National Convention. A site committee should aggressively court promising sites rather than take applications from all potential sites and make a site selection based on that sites' ability to achieve the goals for a convention.

3. An ARRL National Convention should host activities that are unique to a National Convention and nowhere else. Excellence in all aspects of the convention should continually be the trademark of an ARRL National Convention.

   Discussion: The committee makes that the following recommendations to achieve this goal:

   1. Establish the National Convention as a gathering where cutting edge technological forums are presented.

      1. Include presentations by the top technical authors who have been recently published in QST, QEX, etc.

      2. Present an award for technical excellence to the best technical presentation at a National Convention.

   2. Establish and present National Awards for exemplary achievement of volunteers in all phases of amateur radio, such as Club of the Year, Section Manager of the Year, Emergency Coordinator of the Year, QST Article of the Year, etc

   3. Insure the presence of exhibits of all major amateur radio manufacturers and dealers.

4. An ARRL National Convention should maintain an atmosphere that will cause members to take pride in their ARRL membership and, hopefully, inspire non-members to become members.

   Discussion: The committee makes that the following recommendations to achieve this goal:

   1. Continue and enhance forums on the use and benefits of amateur radio in education, amateur radio in space, new operating modes, public service, etc.

   2. Continue to encourage participation by the FCC, but expand to include sample state and local agencies on how amateur radio plays a part in their operations.

   3. Emphasize ARRL efforts preserving and expanding frequency allocation, establishing relief from public and private antenna restrictions, protection of the amateur radio spectrum, etc.

   4. Use every means possible to allow current members to keep their ARRL membership current and encourage non-members to become members.

SUCCESS MEASUREMENT:

If the stated purpose and goals are met, the National Convention will be a success.

If the attendees leave the National Convention talking about how "awesome" the convention was, the new technology that presented, the award they received, or how they are already looking forward to the next National Convention, the National Convention is a success.

If ARRL, through book sales, etc., breaks even or returns a profit, financially, and the hosting organization also breaks even or returns a profit, the National Convention is a success.

An additional recommendation that the committee presents is that in the intervening years between ARRL National Conventions, the ARRL sponsor at least one "regional" convention, moving the location to different parts of the country. A "regional" convention would not necessarily be bound by Section or Division boundaries and would have the same stated purpose as the National Convention, but with appropriately scaled back goals.

Respectfully submitted:

Wade Walstrom
Evelyn Gauzens
Gary Johnston