Introduction
Welcome to the wonderful, complex, bewildering world of conference planning! Congratulations on the vision that has brought you here. We in the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) Youth Office hope that this book will help you bring the conference experience to your congregation, cluster, or district.For many young people, conferences are the heart and soul of Unitarian Universalism. Conferences allow people to leave the usual world behind, and together create a world that embodies our faith.
As Unitarian Universalists, we believe that the world was not created by a far-away God a long time ago and left to humans to hang out on. We believe that human beings have the power to create the world each day. That divine power is tangible when conferences are running well.
What This Book Offers
Two ingredients are necessary for planning a good conference: 1) committed, hard-working youth and advisors and 2) good communications among all of those people. Although we can't give you either of these vital ingredients, we can offer you our best understanding of how to create them yourselves. We hope this information will empower you to decide: how to pick a theme, what should go on a flyer, how to distribute the work so that there won't be major oversights, and the thousands of other details involved in conference planning.
Those of us who have been involved in planning a large number of conferences notice that patterns emerge that make the experience either delightful or miserable. (Few conference planning experiences are boring.)
It is important for the people who plan the conference to enjoy themselves and find a spirit of community. The energy which spawns a conference will influence whether or not the conference is bouncing and healthy or sickly and feeble. Therefore, prepare to enjoy yourselves! Community is beginning right now as you add your own thoughts and reflections to these pages.
First, have fun. As Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."
Second, have the courage to claim your vision of a conference, even if it seems strange or different. Remember, they laughed at Galileo.
Finally, remember you are never alone. You work in a tradition of youth conferences that has been central to our Unitarian and Universalist faiths as far back as we know. It is your right and privilege to uphold and re-create that tradition. You work in a continent full of YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) youth who have planned or are planning conferences. If you feel alone and desperate, please call the YRUU Programs Specialists at the UUA: (617) 948-4350. At the very least, they can tell you a joke.
How to Use This Book
This book is intended to guide all potential conference planners on the very practical and personal business of creating the conference you want. While you may wish to read the entire book right now, it is also very effective as a resource book.
If you are preparing to begin planning your first conference, read Chapters 1, 2, and 6 right away. These chapters create an overview of what you are getting yourself into. The rest of the chapters detail the overview, and may be given to various people on your conference planning staff. Since you will be making many committee decisions, refer to Appendix A, Meeting Tips.
We have tried to avoid jargon, but if you find yourself wondering, "What the heck is a touch group?" or "What do they mean by fishbowl?" check the glossary.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
