Eighteenth Planning Committee Meeting (Co-Chairs)
59th Annual DPI/NGO Conference (6-8 September 2006)
Thursday, 1 June 2006
3:00pm – 5:00 pm
Tenth Floor Board Room S-1027
1.0 Pre-Meeting Comments
1.1 Robin Delarocca joined in the NGO Section. She will assist in the preparation and organization of the Conference
2.0 Adoption of the Agenda
2.1 The agenda was adopted.
3.0 Adoption of the Minutes
3.1 In 6.2.1, instead of “…videos relating to the conference,” it should have read “videos relating to MDGs and Conference themes.”
3.2 In 6.3.1, it should read “…Juan Carlos for authorizing a pass for their intern.”
3.3 The minutes were adopted.
4.0 Discussion of Plenary and Roundtable Themes
5.0 Recommendation of Speakers
5.1 Michaela discussed the programme. She discussed speaker invitations, and informed the committee that because no letters have gone out yet to the speakers presently on the draft conference agenda, and therefore we have seen no responses, the “B” list has not yet been considered.
5.1.1 Many letters were reported ready to be signed and sent.
5.1.2 Michaela requested that a copy of each of these be sent to Hunter or Sheila, as Michaela would be absent for the next few weeks. Hunter’s email is Bergschneider@gmail.com.
5.2 There was some discussion regarding which expenses would be covered by the DPI for speakers.
6.0 Subcommittee Reports
6.1
6.1.1 25 May was the launch of the online registration. Emails advising the NGO Headquarters on their unique password and ID’s were sent before 25 May. To date 189 have registered online. It was noted that questions regarding ID and passwords were being referred to Headquarters. 500 hard copies were mailed to those without email addresses. There were rave reviews regarding the ease of the registration process. It was noted that ECOSOC NGO’s who have not attended the conference did not have information in the database and therefore receive the registration form and therefore will by regular mail.
6.1.2
Michaela encouraged the
6.1.3 Joe requested a grid to compare those who registered and attended with those who registered and did not attend last year’s conference. He said it was important to have a master email list with the fields of those who attended in the past.
6.1.4 It was noted that interns were considered exempt from “The Rule of 5” as are subcommittee Co-chairs.
6.2 Internet
6.2.1 The committee reported that they had been updating the site, and that the goal was to launch the site 15 June.
6.2.2 The committee requested a box informing people of the Midday Workshops, to be included on the website.
6.2.3 The committee expressed that it would be important to find all the email addresses of those who did not submit an institutional or personal email address.
6.2.4
Michaela pointed out that online registration was a new
process, and that the younger generation has a better knowledge of the internet
and online communication. She called on the younger generation and the interns
to help Mona and the
6.2.5 Sarah passed out airline information for the committee’s review, regarding sponsorship and a draft letter.
6.2.5.1 There was some discussion on this.
6.2.6 Sarah discussed marketing and promotion website, and the ideas the committee had come up with.
6.2.6.1 There was extensive discussion on in this regard, including revisiting the Conference postcard as a tool for promoting the Conference and the Conference website.
6.2.7 Sarah discussed the Google “Adword” grant, with which Google has tentatively expressed interest in providing us.
6.3 Multigenerational
6.3.1 The committee reported that they had worked on several workshops that were ready for submission.
6.4 Events and Fundraising
6.4.1 The Committee was not present.
6.5 Troubleshooting
6.5.1 The committee reported that they had been dealing with the system glitches described by the Internet and Midday Workshop committees.
6.5.2 Michaela requested that all future material be dated.
6.6 Networking
6.6.1 The committee reported that they had developed a paper that they would like to include in the Conference kit. They also reported that they had a programme outline for their initiatives, and discussed the specifics of that. They said that the status of securing a tent and a location for networking was still ambiguous.
6.7 Media
6.7.1 Jeff reported that efforts toward the film festival were being coordinated with the networking committee, and discussed those specifics. He noted that they were interested in preventing scheduling conflicts with the events other committees were planning.
6.7.2 Jeff discussed encouraging leaders of Midday Workshops to do stories, once those leaders have been identified.
6.7.3 Jeff talked about the Atlantic Monthly and gaining them as a corporate sponsor.
6.7.3.1 Michaela commented that there were large international media outfits looking for global stories, and suggested ways in which the media committee might get in touch with some of those.
6.7.4 There was some discussion regarding StoryCorps involvement in the Conference, and finding the appropriate funding ($1500 per diem) to facilitate that initiative.
6.8 Midday Workshops
6.8.1 There was some discussion regarding informing participants about the Midday Workshop form.
6.8.2 There was a comment that the midday workshop form was not working properly.
6.8.3 The committee reported that the deadline had been extended to the 15 June. They said that they had been experiencing some glitches, and that hopefully they would be resolved soon.
6.8.4 The committee reported that the most popular theme was peacebuilding.
7.0 Other Business
7.1 There was discussion regarding NGO contact information and troubleshooting therein.
7.2 It was noted that Conference information was sent to the NGO representatives, while information as well as a username and password was sent only to NGO headquarters.
7.3 There was some discussion regarding the logistics of UN passes, and who would need them to participate or speak at the Conference.
7.4 The Executive Committee voted that the C
7.5 Co-chairs of committees would be exempt from the total five representatives from each NGO.
7.6 Sol passed out a blurb that would go on the website, describing the Conference.
8.0 Next Meeting
8.1 Thursday, 8 June 2006 (Venue TBA)