Hosting a State WNGEA Conference.

Over the past 40 years each annual conference has had a host. When a unit sponsored host could not host the conference, the Executive Council stepped in. I am sure that most all units would be interested in hosting a state conference, but they don’t know what is all involved doing it. Those units that have been hosts in the past have had much success doing so, and many have hosted several conferences. Besides providing excellent entertainment for the conference attendees, past conference committee and units have had a profitable experience for the special projects for their units.

The key to a successful conference hosting is having adequate lead time to properly prepare all that is needed. One year might not be ideal, but it can be done. Two years is an ideal preparation time. The longer the lead time, the more time the host has to prepare and build up the finances they need to host the state conference.

If you feel that your unit is ready to host a state WNGEA conference, you need to do several things before making a commitment:

> Pick a year you want to prepare for.

> Request a WNGEA Conference Handbook and Guide.

> You will be sent a updated CD of the State Conference Handbook with all the changes, and working spreasheets and forms. This will give you an idea how to manage your conference.

> Make your bid presentation at the next State Conference, or at any Quarterly Executive Council meetings.

Any unit, or group of units that wish to look into becoming a host for a WNGEA Annual Membership Educational Conference, the point of contact should send an email to the WNGEA Executive Director requesting a complete set of documents. What you will receive is a CD with all the documents in the original .DOC and .XLS format, with all the updates that have been made.  This is updated annually.

When the unit or group of units decide on bidding on a specific conference year, then any updates made to the handbook documents will be emailed to the unit to keep them up to date. This will be done for all updates during the time between the bid acceptance and the end of the conference.

This handbook is a work in progress, and will be adjusted as recommended changes are received, evaluated, and updated. We have alot of expertise in the WNGEA that have put on conferences, and we hope that all of that expertise can contribute to this handbook. It can only get better.

The location for the WNGEA conference needs to be in the same vicinity as the WINGA conference per a request of the TAG.