MAC Messages Number 87:
May/June 2001

Annual Meetings

Annual meeting planning seems to be at the top of my to do list, so that is the subject of this issue's message. I am preparing to go to Orlando, Florida for the MLA Annual Meeting where I will be meeting with MLA leaders and leaders from other chapters to talk about many issues that we all have in common. Preparations are well underway for our annual meeting this fall in Ocean City, Maryland. The Program and Local Arrangements committees are busy planning for an engaging meeting in a beautiful location on (hopefully not in) the Atlantic Ocean. You will be hearing more about the meeting in the coming months, so be sure to keep October 17-20 open and plan on attending this year's meeting.

Since my last message, I have finished appointing an Annual Meeting Task Force, which is being chaired by Pat Hammond. This task force will be studying all aspects of our annual meeting planning process. An ongoing concern for MAC is the rising cost associated with our annual meetings. In recent years, it has been a tricky balancing act for the meeting planners to accommodate rising costs without incurring prohibitively high registration costs for members. The Annual Meeting Task Force will be preparing a preliminary report for the September MAC Executive Board meeting.

Our annual meetings would not happen if it were not for the countless volunteer hours put in by the Program and Local Arrangement committees every year. To say that the site selection process for this year's meeting in Ocean City was an ordeal is an understatement. The Maryland Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) made dozens of visits to potential meeting sites before coming up with recommendations for the Executive Board. The MAC Board ultimately chose the Ocean City location and the LAC proceeded to develop a budget within the scope of past annual meetings. The MAC Board felt that the final budget submitted by the LAC would result in an unacceptably high registration fee, so we asked that the LAC identify any optional items that could be eliminated. After reviewing the revised LAC budget, and member evaluations from past meetings, the MAC Board asked the LAC to eliminate some hospitality items such as table decorations, cookies for afternoon breaks, a meeting photographer, entertainment, and the traditional registration gift for attendees. These cost savings, combined with a meeting subsidy from the MAC treasury, are resulting in a meeting registration fee that is $15 more than last year's meeting. It is the MAC Board's hope that this increase will not be burdensome to most members.

I hope you all have a good summer! "I'm going to Disney World!"

Jonathan Lord
MAC Chair

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