At the annual convention of the Australian Lace Guild, we have workshops which run from 9.30 a.m. - 3.30 p.m. each day, with a 20 minute break for a morning-tea cuppa, and an hour for lunch. Workshops are usually either 2 and/or 4 days, depending on the subject.
On Saturday morning, we have our Annual General Meeting, then in the afternoon, it's time for vendors. There are no vendors during the week - only on Saturday afternoon. Wednesday is a free day - and the committee usually organise an optional bus trip to a local place or places of interest, which is very much appreciated by the people who live in other states. This all seems to work very well - I've never heard complaints about the timetable, and it can mean, as Betty said, that someone who wants to do a workshop on Monday/Tuesday has to hang around till Saturday for the AGM and final dinner. I was in this position myself a few years ago, and I just took a pillow and sat in the back of a workshop making my own lace. We also get a small influx of new people on the Thursday/Friday, who've just come for a shortened convention. We usually try to have the convention in accommodation such as university colleges (our convention is held in the holiday period) or similar - which helps limit the cost. The exception was when the Tasmanian Branch of the Guild organised the AGM - there we held the convention in a hotel due to lack of other suitable accommodation. Ruth Budge (Sydney, Australia) "Panza, Robin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>From: Clay Blackwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] I also have never seen the limits on the vendor rooms either...if you take a short class, you can only go in on the day of your class!! <<< This seems poorly thought out to me. If I'm taking class all day, that doesn't leave much time to shop! I'd want to have an extra day before or after my class day(s) to shop. I wonder if the committee can be persuaded to relax this rule, at least. Can't people who enroll in shorter classes have one extra day to shop as part of their package? I think I understand the commuter fee. Convention hotels provide meeting rooms and support (cleaning, setting up tables, water/glasses, etc.) on the assumption they're being used by people paying for sleeping rooms. Yes, there's a significant fee for the use of each meeting room, but it's still partly subsidized by the registration of sleeping guests. If people sleep at home or at some nearby cheap motel, the convention hotel isn't getting its "fair share" (from the hotel's point of view) of revenue for the meeting rooms it's providing. It may be that there are more than the usual number of cheap motels near this year's convention, and the committee is worried about getting enough registration at the convention hotel to cover the meeting room fees. The committee may have imposed the commuter fee to help pay for meeting rooms that will be used by people the committee expects will find cheaper housing. just my opinion, Robin P. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://personals.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Personals New people, new possibilities. FREE for a limited time. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]