>> **EXTREMELY IMPORTANT** The Society has passed a bylaw that says if
>> you are not staying in a Society Block Approved Hotel, then your
>> registration becomes null and void. All chapters have not been
>> told which hotel they have been assigned to and there are more
>> details about this forthcoming. But, before you book a room at a
>> Motel 6 to save money because of the cost of the registration,
>> note that if said Motel 6 is not on the approved housing list,
>> your registration is no good and therefore you will not be
>> allowed to compete with the chorus on stage.
>>
>> Tim Lowrance
>> Bass - Vocal Majority
>> Bass - Texas Millionaires
>> Bass - The William Kratt Chord Co.
>
> They care because they get convention rates on the official hotels
> and the rates are probably a function of how many rooms are filled
> up.
>
> Not enough people at the official hotels, rates go up, and maybe
> fewer attendees. Of course, I know a lot of people who only come
> if they can stay at a cheaper hotel "off the grid".
>
> Which they should just continue to do because, as I said, it is
> unprovable by anyone in any capacity that they aren't just staying
> with friends.
>
> I really hope this policy is a rumor, if not it really and truly
> sucks. Don't even get me started on seat selection...
>
> Steve Nester
> Sounds of Concord
> 30 time International attendee

Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 14:51:17 -0600
From: "Ed Watson" <ewatson@...>

Hello brother and sister Harmonetters,

Ed Watson here - the horse's... mouth. I wish to either throw some
cold water on this brushfire, or some gasoline, depending on your
view of the Society. Before I get too far, please keep in mind that
the Society is not your enemy, not your pincushion, not your punching
bag. It is a group (you included) that love a unique style and
artform of music, that elevated the Bluegrass Student Union, the Mid-
States Four, the Vocal Majority, and the Westminster Chorus to star
status because of the beauty and skill of their singing. (Okay, Todd
wants me to add Acoustix) We support arrangers, composers,
competitions, quartets, choruses, the BQPA, the Harmonet,
international affiliates, high school and college youth, the
building, the library, licensing resources, legal and tax and
insurance information and coverage, and so much more. Every time you
get mad at the Society without firmly grounded facts, you diminish
it, and therefore yourself. If debate is legitimate, then fine. But
I'd rather you just wrote an e-mail to me and I'll give you the best
answer I can.

So, here are some facts for you, then... you decide. This was an
answer given last week to the Toronto Northern Lights Chorus, in
response to a request for more information about the housing policy,
which has been in the policy manual for at least 20 years.

QUOTE
I am an officer of the Society Board (secretary), of the Society
Corporation (secretary), and of the Society (Executive
Director/CEO). I explain this because you are right to express to me
concerns and displeasure with policy, or in this case policy
enforcement, but as an officer it is my job to enforce Board policy.

This policy has been around for many years, certainly well before I
became the CEO. Have we always enforced it? I can't speak for
certain, but I doubt it. I do know that we have found cases since I
have been CEO of choruses attempting to stay "as a chorus" outside
our hotel block, and we have taken corrective action. Without going
into great detail about the policy, I will say that it is important
to the Society that our convention goers use our hotel blocks to the
greatest extent possible. This enables the Society to project future
hotel use to cities bidding for our convention, and also ensures the
convention bureaus and hospitality folks are friendly and welcoming
to us at convention time. We often get perqs as a Society (such as
discounts on the venue or convention center, comp rooms for staff and
some VIPs, and hotel and meeting room rates well below those charged
to businesses bringing less traffic) that allow us to bring our
convention rates down well below those of other organizations. $300 -
$500 rates are not unusual for business conventions, and the Sweet
Adelines, a similar organization to ours, just raised their
convention fees to $200+ for their annual competition. If you are
asking me to let TNL be an exception, that would not be fair or
equitable -- what about other choruses that stay in the block? Their
participation enables the Society to push forward. Unknowingly,
those in your chorus who do not stay in the block are hurting the
Society, even if only a bit.

There is NO change to the housing policy this year.

1) The accommodation of all chorus competitors (and all
attendees, for that matter) in the reserved block of hotel rooms has
been mandatory for at least 20 years. Nothing has changed.

2) The ramifications of any member(s) not abiding by this
policy remain as they have been for the last 20 years.

We are sensitive to our members needs, and we have had very few
problems with competitor chapters. We would never punish a chapter
for individual behavior, unless it was chapter policy.

END QUOTE

So, there it is. Nothing has changed, except that John
Schneider "reminded" chorus contacts on the FAM trip of the rule
that's been there for a long time. Yes, there are Society costs
defrayed by the hotels and vistors bureau (sounds a lot better
than "kickbacks") that would come out of the Society's budget
anyway. If the hotel didn't "comp" us a room for a staff member, we
would buy it and take it out of the same budget. Then what would
happen to dues or registration costs? And when we convince other
cities that we're worth having, that they should give us something to
come to their town, because we bring lots of good tourists with money
to spend, we use the number of hotel room nights as a factor in their
decisions. They GIVE us money in the hopes of making more. If you
don't stay in the block, we can't use your number. Since most of the
rates for the next few years are WAY DOWN (negotiated during the
tourism scare post-911, 2001) that was VERY important.

I (Ed, in case this post is so long you have forgotten) want to
finish with the busing issue. Someone in this thread spoke of the
Sweet Adelines in Hawaii and how you needed your room key to get on a
shuttle bus. He was right, and I would propose we do the same
thing. Why? Buses cost OVER $160,000 for a convention, and even
more with fuel charges added. We often get busing covered, but only
because we use a block of hotels downtown. During the 4th of July
week which is a poor week for the hospitality industry. That means
you get for $129.00 what someone else pays $200.00 for on a different
week.

We are currently a dwindling Society. Membership is going down,
attendance is going down. You may say that's because of the pricing -
I would say look around. Buy any Starbucks coffee lately? Drop
your $5.00 in my pot, Joe? We are not the only group looking at ways
to convince Convention and Visitors Bureaus that we're an attractive
convention; increasing our clout in times of decreasing size. Won't
you please take a look at this post, the posts before and after, then
decide what you want to think. If you have questions or wish me to
explain further, e-mail me privately and I'll respond. I get the
digest, so I won't see any of this until tomorrow. Thanks for
sticking with me this far.

Behind...when I leave the world behind...