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A First Time Delegate's Guide to Convention

This is absolutely not an official document. I offer it to those who have no other source of information about what is involved in a national convention.
Barbara J. Wardenburg, an habitual national convention goer.

HAVE FUN

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A DELEGATE

THE CONVENTION WORKBOOK

You must bring the workbook to Convention. Put it in a three-ring binder. You'll be glad you did. Put some dividers in the notebook so you can organize program materials and other important stuff. You'll receive a Convention Program booklet at the delegate registration table at the hotel. Your goal should be to get everything in your notebook and be the best organized person at convention. :)

Contents of the Convention Workbook

• p. 1 table of Contents

• p. 2 Daily "At A Glance" Schedule
  From that schedule begin making your own daily schedule - one page per day. Write in Caucus times and highlight the meetings you MUST attend. Jot down with whom you promised to have lunch and where you're meeting.

• pp. 3-4 Proposed Convention Rules and Procedures:
  Read this section and be aware that the Plenary Sessions are very structured and these Rules, if adopted by the delegates, will RULE. For example: program items are PROPOSED at one session and VOTED ON at another session; same with the budget and bylaws. People who care strongly about something may make a motion to change the order of introduction or voting on program items. Pay attention! This is hot stuff. One theory is that if your proposal is at the end of the list it will fail because there will be no more energy/money left. N.B. that the section on rules for Resolutions is different from prior years. And, it may be controversial. On pages 4-6 there is a section on the basics of Parliamentary Procedure. If you have questions about the Rules you can get answers at the Delegates' Briefings or ask questions about Parliamentary Procedure at the Parliamentarian's Briefing; both briefings are Saturday morning. The Parliamentarian is also available during convention to answer questions.

  A special word about voting: At every session an official delegate count is given and a "majority" and "2/3" are calculated from that number. Guess what? The "official delegate count" is the number of delegates who have picked up their badges from the registration desk to that point. It is NOT the number of delegates actually present at the session. So, whenever partisans suspect a close vote they will call for a counted vote and everyone will groan and the doors will be locked and you will get out your voting cards (unless you left them up in your room in which case you get to watch the rest of us hand in our voting cards) so that a majority and 2/3 will be calculated on the number actually in the room who planned ahead and brought their voting cards with them. But it does give you a chance to chat, lobby, knit or stand and stretch. According to the Bylaws , Art. IX, Sec. 5, (see Workbook p. 45) a quorum is at least 20% of the possible number of delegates (not including national Board members) and at least 25 states must be represented. No absentee or proxy voting is allowed. (Bylaws, Art. IX, Sec. 3)

• pp. 7-8 Process for Election of LWVUS Officers, Directors and Nominating Committee
  Gives information about the candidate forum on Sunday (although the online Caucus list says that the forum is Monday morning - check your Program for the correct day) , and the text of the Fair Campaign Practices Pledge. "From the floor" candidates. if any, are also invited to participate in the forum. This is your chance to find out what the candidates think the League should be doing.

• p. 9-12 Nominations:
  Bios and photos of the candidates selected by the Nominating Committee for the LWVUS Board and 2008-9 Nominating Committee.

• pp. 13-17 Proposed LWVUS Program:
  
  • Recommended Program items - p. 13:
    Based on the program planning reports submitted by local and state Leagues, the national Board makes recommendations concerning our current Positions and possibly a new study or concurrence. This year the Board recommends retaining all current LWVUS Positions. (pp. 16-17) It is also recommending "a comprehensive health care program to educate members and communities in order to be better prepared to do health care advocacy as needed." Leagues that proposed this item will work to get it adopted by the delegates. There are a number of caucuses scheduled on this topic.

  • Not-Recommended Program Items - p. 15:
    If you are supporting an item submitted during the program planning process , but not recommended by the national Board , you must work to get it voted for consideration before the item can be voted to become part of the 2008-2010 Program (See "Program Adoption At A Glance - p. 14). The Parliamentarian will have a "Briefing" on Saturday morning prior to the first Plenary Session. The Parliamentarian will also be available by appointment during Convention to help you with this process. Don't try to wing it. Consult with the Parliamentarian and treat her well. :)

    Some of the not-recommended program items (p. 15) will be discussed at Caucuses organized by supporters. They will put you to work making signs and writing speeches if you show the least interest. :) Caucus times and locations will be listed in your Convention Program. If you are organizing a Caucus and you want National Board members or staff to attend you must invite them. They have a policy of not attending caucuses without an invitation.

  Proponents who sense that their proposed study or concurrence is dying will be creative. Watch for proposals to "expand" existing Positions to include their item. Some proponents may decide to join forces with other studies/concurrences in an expanded version and there may be friendly and unfriendly amendments on the floor which would affect an item. A brief version of the current Positions is in the Convention Workbook (pp. 16-17). If you want to know whether an "expansion" is truly justified you should bring with you a copy of Impact on Issues 2006-8 which contains a more complete description of current Positions.

• pp. 18-28 LWVUS & LWVUSEF Proposed Budgets
  There is good news and bad news. The number of members (p. 29) is down - except in Alabama, Delaware, DC, Florida, HONG KONG, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Virgin Islands, and West Virginia, but the number of Leagues is up - unless you add the numbers in that column and discover that the number of Leagues is actually down by 21. If you can get the numbers in the last column to add up to 850 I will buy you a cup of tea at convention. :) When the number of members goes down the PMP goes up - because fixed expenses don't go down (that's the way I see it). So let's all sit next to a delegate from one of the above named states and see how they increased (or kept) their membership.

  You will vote only on the LWVUS budget. The LWVUSEF (Education Fund) budget is for information only and is not voted on by the convention delegates. However, you have to look at both budgets to understand what the true expenses are. For example, office rent shows up in both budgets and you have to add the two numbers to get the total rent paid. Most expenses show up in both budgets. Pages 25-27 show the budgets combined.

  Delegates adopt a one year budget for LWVUS. The budget for 2009-10 will be adopted by the delegates to the 2009 national Council. The Adopted Budget shown on the budget pages is the budget adopted by the delegates to the 2007 national Council.

  Read the budget section carefully before you go to convention. If you need help with it ask your LL Treasurer to go over it with you. Discuss at least the proposed PMP increases (from $26.80 to $28 in 2008 and from $28 to $29.20 in 2009) and the draw down of reserves with your Board. Things you might want to look at include items which have both an income and expense line. For example, does the income from fundraising exceed the expense of fundraising? Do items which you would expect to break even such as publications and conventions actually bring in enough income to cover the expenses? You will have to wait until you get a copy of the Treasurer's report to compare the 2007-8 budgeted item with the 2007-8 income and expense. However, you can get some numbers from prior years in the Annual Reports. The LWVUS/LWVUSEF Annual Reports have "Statement of Activities" pages showing the combined income and expenses of LWVUS/LWVUSEF. There is also a comparison of various years' total income and expenses (budgeted and actual) on page 28 of the Workbook.

  Please remember that if you want to make a change in the LWVUS budget you must change both the income section AND the expense section. The League budget always balances. Page 18 is an overview of the budgets and is worth reading before you get into the numbers. Reading the committee reports on pages 48-63 will give you an idea of how LWVUS spends its money.

  While there appears to be money in the proposed LWVUSEF budget for the health care education program and for redistricting materials, I see no money in either budget for a new study. It is fair to ask supporters of not recommended items how they propose to fund their items if adopted.

  There will be notes to the budget posted on the LWVUS website (Convention Budget section) and there will be some budget Question and Answer (Q&A) sessions during Convention:

  • Saturday evening
  • Sunday morning
  • Sunday evening
  Get as much information at the budget Q&As as you need. Delegates get very testy at people who don't do their homework and ask complicated budget questions during the Plenary Sessions. If you want to amend the LWVUS budget decide ahead of time exactly what you want to do and then make your motion on the floor of the convention. The Budget is passed by a majority vote. However, to change the PMP requires a 3/5 vote (Bylaws, Art. XIII, Sec. 2 & 3 on page 47 of the Workbook. )

  Also, pick up a copy of the LWVUS Treasurer's report as soon as it is available at Convention. That will tell you how we're doing for the current fiscal year and may affect your thinking about whether the proposed budget is realistic.

• p. 29 Membership Count 2005-8
  Gives the number of Leagues in each state and the number of members in each state.

• p. 30 Staffing Chart
  An organization chart for the national office.

• pp. 31-42 Proposed Bylaw Amendments
  There are 11 proposed amendments to the Bylaw - a record, I think. The current Bylaws are conveniently located on pp. 43-47
  
  • Recommended Proposed Amendments
    The LWVUS Board is recommending amendments to Article VIII (p. 35), Article IX (p. 39), Article X (p. 40), Article XI (p. 40), and Article XII (p. 41). These will be voted on at Convention.

  • Not-Recommended Proposed Amendments
    The other 6 proposed amendments must first be "moved for consideration" and, if that vote is affirmative, then they may be presented to the convention for a vote. LWV CT is sponsoring caucuses on Sat. evening and Sun. morning to discuss its proposed amendments to Article IX (p. 35) and Article 10 (p. 41).
  Give these proposed amendments serious thought before convention because you'll get caught up in Program issues when you get to convention.

• pp.43-47 Bylaws and Certificate of Incorporation
  

• pp.48-63 Committee Reports
  Read this section because it is really interesting to see what national has been doing and it helps in understanding the line items in the budget.

CONVENTION PROGRAM BOOK

Miscellaneous

YOUR NOTEBOOK

• Your name and some way to contact you in case you mislay it
• The Convention Workbook
• The Convention Program book (available at Convention)
• Your daily schedule pages
• Impact on Issues
  If Program is very important to you then at least one person in your delegation, should have a copy. Impact on Issues 2006-8 is available from the LWVUS webpage Or, Impact on Issues can probably be purchased at the Wares Mart.
• A page for writing down room numbers. The hotel will not give you anyone's room number. If you want to shove a note or papers under someone's door you must have their room number.
• Paper for note taking
• A copy of your League's Program Planning report

REPORTS

CAUCUSES

Caucus rooms can be reserved without charge by contacting the national office before the deadline. If rooms are available they may also be signed up for during convention.

BUSINESS CARDS

MEETING PLACES/MESSAGES

Hotels no longer give out the room number of guests. Keep a sheet of paper in the front of your notebook for room numbers of friends and allies.

SNACKS

WARES MART

STATE AND "BIG CITY" MEETINGS

LEAGUE LINGO

VOLUNTEERS

SUGGESTED PACKING LIST

1. In my tote bag I will put:
   • a 3 ring binder containing the Workbook with my personal daily schedule, extra paper, Impact on Issues, my League's Program Planning Report, and printouts of material from my computer pertaining to convention business. I will safety pin a business card to the top of the bag. At Convention I will add the Program booklet and my voting cards
   • pencils, pens, highlighter, a few paper clips, some post-its
   • snack food, my headache drug of choice, kleenex, hand-wipes, an empty water bottle (to fill up with hotel tap water and save a few pennies)
   • sweater
   • cell phone (collect cell phone numbers from delegates you will want to contact during convention)
   • book or Sudoko/crossword puzzles, or knitting
   • my business cards
   • a small flashlight (you never know)
2. In a small purse (which I will keep in the tote bag during Convention so I will have only one thing to carry) I will put:
   • transportation tickets, driver's license
   • health insurance cards & doctor's phone number (just a precaution)
   • credit card, ATM card, check book (for Wares Mart purchases)
   • Hilton room confirmation number, address (921 SW 6th Ave.), and phone number (503-226-1611 or 1-800-445-8667)
   • LWVUS registration confirmation
   • Cash, including some dollar bills (for tips) and quarters for the soda machine (optional) :)
3. In my suitcase (from the handle of which dangles a luggage tag) I will put:
   • the tote bag (and contents)
   • a china coffee mug (in case the room has only those paper cups) and some of my favorite tea bags
   • snacks (homemade, of course)
   • spare pair of eye glasses
   • sunglasses (in case I ever see the light of day)
   • umbrella or light rain coat (pessimist!)
   • a couple of bandaids (for paper cuts or blisters)
   • a plastic bag for dirty clothes
   • toiletries/cosmetics, pjs, vitamins
   • assorted clothes, some of which will, undoubtedly, not go with anything else I bring, and an extra pair of comfortable shoes
   • charger for my cell phone
   • postcard stamps (which I think will be 27 cents after May 12) and addresses

P.S. If you are not reading this unofficial convention webpage for the first year then you may have a sense of deja vu. Yes, I recycle material.

Barbara Wardenburg - barbward@pacbell.net
a member of the League of Women Voters of Los Altos/Mtn. View Area, CA
2 May 2008

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