REGISTRATION COORDINATORS REPORT
6.2 Action Items:
“Save the Date” magnets and business cards were taken to the National Convention in October 2008
and were sent to all local and unit coordinators. Information was also sent in the District newsletter.
In February 2009, the website for the convention was “live” and it contained information to register
and was maintained through convention. All local and unit coordinators were given the link to the
website and it was posted on the National website for easy access. In order to keep costs down, all
information was sent via e-mail rather than mailings.
Reminders were sent to all local and unit coordinators leading up to convention and incentives for
early registration were established. The first incentive was if participants registered before April 15th,
they received a free T-shirt for each adult registering. The next incentive was to register before May
31st when the price increased. A final incentive was sent out to local coordinators offering a “BOGO”
for the hotel rooms. This was only used by a few people but it enabled us to meet the minimum
number of hotel nights in our contract with the hotel.
The website contained pages including: (see attached)
A home page to provide the date and location of the convention.
A page to contact us with any questions.
A registration page where all participants could fill out the registration form online and print it
to mail with their check or e-mail it if they chose to pay with a credit card. They could also
print it out to fill in by hand and mail with their check.
A page with links to local attractions, the hotel,
A page with information about the speakers
A page with the convention schedule.
The website was shown to and approved by the committee before going live. It was updated as
convention got closer.
We created an Access database to track all registration information. This included hotel nights,
childcare, breakout sessions, lunch choices, t-shirt selection. This format allowed us to easily provide
reports to each committee in their requested format without having to dig through all the information.
As each registration was received, it was input into the database and a confirmation was sent by e-mail
to give participants a chance to update any missing or incorrect information (see attached). This also
gave us an easy method to send e-mails to all those attending. It also gave a receipt for communities
needing proof for reimbursement. We were able to do a mail merge from the database for the name
tags, labels, etc as needed. Checks were given to convention treasurer weekly.
Plastic holders were passed from 2007 Knoxville convention and we only had to purchase a few
additional holders. They were collected at the end of our weekend and passed to New Orleans for the
2011 convention. The names tags included their name & their spouses name, their community, unit,
any leadership position they held. On the back of the name tag was a label with their lunch and
breakout session choices. Also included was the convention schedule.
Once all registrations were received, we looked at participants first and second choices and were able
to give everyone their preferred breakout sessions. Once we saw how many people were in each, we
assigned them to once of the 3 rooms we had based on the size of the group. As previously stated, the
assigned breakout sessions were on the programs and name tags.
The liturgy committee contacted people to help with readings and Eucharistic ministry for masses and
reminded priests to bring vestments.
Each committee member was given a list of participants with information related to their assigned
convention task/committee. Each unit coordinator was given a list of participants from their unit who
were attending at the district meeting on Thursday. It was also e-mailed ahead of time to those who
requested it.
The convention program included: (see attached)
a welcome letter from the District coordinators
a welcome letter from the Bishop
a welcome letter from the Apostolic Nuncio
the Papal blessing
district leadership directory
the schedule for the convention
the childcare/kids club schedule
Map of the hotel
Hospitality room schedule/information
bios of the speakers
Local attractions
Maps and lists of local restaurants
Friday enrichment schedule
List of attendees, their e-mail address, unit and community (sorted by unit)
Benefactors page
Blank pages for notes
Evaluation
All hotel registrations were handled by the registration couple and any special requests or needs were
given to the appropriate committee and the hotel. This was done because we had one master bill that
all rooms were on and we were able to be tax exempt because of this. It made it easier for those
registering because they just had to send in their form and money with their room preference and # of
nights to us and we set the rooms up with the hotel. It was important that we (registration couple)
were available as participants registered with the hotel because there were several glitches in the room
assignments and we were able to work them out quickly with the hotel without inconveniencing the
person checking in too much. Most glitches were caught earlier in the week as the district board
arrived and so they didn’t affect the bulk of the attendees.
The hospitality committee was given all special dietary requests and childcare needs.
The liturgy committee was given all volunteers to assist with mass.
All transportation was handled by participants and those that needed made use of the hotel airport
shuttle.
Tables were requested for registration area and were set up by the hotel as requested by the facilities
committee. When participants checked in, they received a bag of goodies, a program and their t-
shirts.
Extra registration packets for walk-in registrants were available but not needed.
Registration couple had 3 volunteers to assist with registration. All participants who attended the
Friday enrichment were checked in at the conclusion of the enrichment to decrease the rush later in the
evening.
Submitted by Jamie & Dawn Oehmann
August 19, 2009