What is convention planning like?

Did you ever wonder what it is like to be in charge of planning a juggling convention? I never did, until I actually did it myself.

Well, I'm not done yet. Today is February 2. The convention is taking place March 30 - April 1. It's called the Pacific Northwest Juggling Convention.

I wrote about this back in the early stages of the process. I haven't written much about it. Maybe the lack of talking about it has to do with the fact that there were a lot of downs in an up and down experience.

Here's what I was thinking at the beginning stage of the planning process:

July 5, 2006 ~ Corvallis Juggling Festival

July 25, 2006 ~ Thank God for juggling festivals

August 18, 2006 ~ O$U Juggler$

August 27, 2006 ~ NW Juggling Festival

September 10, 2006 ~ Follow Your Bliss

Here's what I'm thinking now:

I'm really proud of the convention website I built on blogger. I believe the website does a good job of informing people. What more can you ask for?

I'm really proud of the money our committee has raised through donations. It's because of donations that we've been able to make the convention entirely FREE to the public.

I'm really excited about the allstar line-up we've booked for the Public Show. All of the performers have agreed to perform for the cost of travel expenses which has made our job of making this event FREE possible to do. I got some of my favorite jugglers to come like: Vanillatown, Aaron Gregg, and Matt Hall.

I'm really excited about hosting the Sean McKinney Freestyle Competition. I believe it will add a lot of energy to the Public Show, and the convention in general.

There are two people that I am extremely proud to be working with on this project... Angela Schwindt and David Sallee. Angela is the director of the One Wheel Wonders and the Corvallis Juggling & Unicycling Club. David Sallee is an instructor for the Oregon State University Jugglers Club. Both are my friends and both have put a lot of energy into the convention. This convention would not be possible without them.

There is a lot of planning left. I think I'll be doing a more working than playing during the convention, but that's okay. My motivation for bringing the convention to Corvallis is intensely personal. I made a lot of friends, had a lot of fun, and was very successful during my 3 year residency in Corvallis. The PNWJC is my way of saying "thank you" to the City.

Quote of The Day

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. ~Vernon Sanders Law