Behind the Scenes...The Making of an Annual Conference

With the 2010 Annual Conference just around the corner (June 11-13), we thought it might be interesting to take a quick peek behind the scenes at some of the lesser-known efforts that help make Annual Conference a highlight of our year.

~Planning~
As one might expect, every Annual Conference begins with the assembly of a Planning Committee. However, what many don’t realize is that the committee actually begins planning the next Annual Conference just a couple of months after the current year’s Annual Conference is wrapped-up. The Planning Committee, which consists of Conference staff, host-church representatives and Conference Lay Leaders, meets regularly for many months to work out every detail. Individuals from this committee take on various assignments, from transportation, to communication, to multi-media and logistics, fanning out across the region to organize our Conference’s resources near and far.

There actually is one element of Annual Conference which often gets planned years in advance - guest speakers. Because our Conference leadership desires to provide first-rate teaching and inspiration to Annual Conference attendees, they often have to use some foresight to book such popular speakers years in advance.

This year’s guest teacher, Clif Christopher, had to be booked almost two years ago and, already, Conference leadership is looking ahead to future years.

~Preparation~
All that planning eventually gives way to preparation, as the wheels of activity pick up speed all across the Conference. One enormous and often overlooked aspect of preparation comes in the form of the approximately 40 reports that make up the substance of Annual Conference business sessions.

All Conference boards and DINE Teams are required to give a report of their various activities and recommendations to the Annual Conference. Those reports, which also are included in the pre-conference information packets provided to attendees, and later in the Conference Journal, must be ready months in advance to allow for publishing and distribution.

Suffice it to say that the logistics of assembling, publishing and distributing those 40 reports is nothing short of a monumental task for Conference staff. As you read this article, they have already begun assembling those reports for this year’s conference.

Things really begin to pick up speed in the five or so months leading up to Annual Conference.

Plans on paper are put into motion. Catering menus for six meals are finalized, while copy machines crank out updated itineraries. Worship services are scheduled to the minute and video presentations grow from script to screen. But, for all the activity happening throughout the Conference, nowhere is it busier than at “ground zero,” as the host church begins to brace for a landslide of logistical challenges.

Consider that even the largest churches in our Conference don’t own enough tables and chairs to accommodate the more than 600 conference attendees. Still, other critical questions must be answered in short order: Where to put all those display booths? Which ones need electricity? (Do we even have that many electrical outlets!?) Do we have enough workers for the nursery? (Did you know there is free childcare provided throughout all of Annual Conference?) Can we staff the first aid booth around-the-clock? Do we have enough volunteers to direct traffic? Will the church janitorial staff be able to work overtime?

Because getting 400 extra folding chairs delivered on a moment’s notice isn’t exactly easy to do, preparing for a pleasant Annual Conference means the host church and Conference staff must resolve this and many practical issues months in advance.

~Price~
Speaking of folding chairs … all of this preparation doesn’t come cheaply, though the financial cost of Annual Conference is another aspect to which most attendees likely give little consideration. A typical Annual Conference cost more than $50,000, and that’s with a very concerted effort to curb costs. This year in particular, a peek behind the scenes reveals some pretty heavy number crunching taking place.

According to Conference Treasurer and Director of Financial Stewardship Dave Andersen, for a number of years conducting Annual Conference has cost far more than the Conference budget has received in attendance fees and Shared Ministries contributions from churches.

There are several reasons for this, which include the Conference leadership’s desire to keep attendance fees low and to allow many people to attend for free. But most significantly, the “Conference Ministry” budget (which is funded by all Conference churches as a part of Shared Ministries) has never been funded to the level of the expenses required to operate all-Conference ministries like Annual Conference & and Roundup.

According to Andersen, that account is currently funded to only 62% of the required operating expenses for this year due to the fact that not all churches have chosen to participate fully in Shared Ministries. (Enter the sound of calculators clicking furiously away in the background.)

So, just where has the money needed for Annual Conference come? It comes from two sources:  First, from reserve accounts set aside for critical budget shortages. Those reserve funds have been tapped for several years to pay for large portions of Annual Conferences. Second, from the host church, which has historically been forced to foot much of the bill for their service to the rest of us, requiring them to spend at least twice as much out of their own ministry budget as the Conference is able to reimburse.

If it sounds like things have been a little “out of whack,” that’s exactly what Andersen and Conference Director of Mission and Administration Ava Berry have been thinking for the past year.

“In years past, it made more sense to re-purpose the reserve funds,” Berry said. “But those reserve accounts we’ve been relying on to pay for Annual Conference are not as full as they once were, and we don’t think it is wise to continue dipping into those funds  At this point, that wouldn’t be good stewardship. And, it isn’t right that Annual Conference costs the host church so much out of pocket. They and their staff already are providing a huge service to all of us, and that church’s ministries shouldn’t have to suffer as a result.”

Andersen echoed Berry’s thoughts. “It just isn’t wise to continue spending reserve funds for regular expenses; that’s not really the purpose of those funds. Annual Conference needs to pay for itself without being a drain on funds that are set aside to protect the important ministries of our Conference,” he said.

The result of all this behind-the-scenes number crunching is that, in addition to cutting some amenities at this year’s Annual Conference, the Planning Committee has been forced to raise attendance fees to $50 per person (or $25 for 1 one day attendance), and to require everyone to pay for admission. The one notable exception to this: retired clergy and their spouses will be allowed to attend this year’s conference for free.

“We have cut a full day from the conference schedule, obtained a private donation (from Sears Methodist Retirement Systems) to help underwrite a portion of our Centennial Celebration party and cut thousands of dollars in other expenses,” Berry said. “This will be one of the least-expensive Annual Conferences in years and yet, if everyone who is supposed to pay their fee does pay it, even with the increased fee, we will still just break even. It’s important to remember that one of the highest priorities of the Conference leadership is the sound, financial stewardship of the funds our churches give, and our Annual Conference event needs to start falling in line with that priority.”

While the fee increase itself isn’t happening “behind the scenes,” it’s worth noting that the good stewardship behind the fee increase is the hidden story.

With shorter business sessions and the addition of the Centennial Celebration party, the 2010 Annual Conference is on track to be one of the most festive yet. There are high expectations for the worship services, and Clif Christopher promises to be a memorable guest teacher.

If you attend the conference this year, remember, it’s the unseen efforts of a lot of people that will make this Annual Conference look easy!