American Symphony Orchestra League 62nd National Conference::Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you're affiliated with an orchestra or a business, or are attending as an individual, start planning now! Be sure to attend the Conference Orientation on Wednesday at 1:15 pm. This session, tailored especially to first-time Conference delegates, will help you navigate Conference's complex offerings and will also clue you in to some year-round League services you may have been missing. Better yet, sign up for one of our pre-Conference Orchestra Leadership Academy seminars.

Also, we will again offer "Dine-Arounds" where you can meet new people for dinner on Thursday. Sign-up sheets will be on the bulletin board next to the Registration Area all day on Wednesday and Thursday, and at the Conference Orientation on Wednesday at 1:15pm. Join your constituency's online discussion group today—it's free! This will inform you about the sessions specific to your concerns, and will give you the year-round opportunity to be in touch with your colleagues online. Your constituency's developing agenda will also be regularly updated online.

Around June 1, look for the Conference Program Schedule at http://www.leagueconference.org. It's a chronological listing of Conference events, with a schedule grid for each day and useful maps, downloadable as an Acrobat Reader file. You can use this to plan your time. (You'll also receive the Schedule in booklet form when you register on-site in Nashville.) The Schedule offers an excellent chance to decide in advance which of the Orchestra Toolbox and Perspectives Sessions you'd like to attend. Plan to attend all meetings of your constituency group. When you arrive at Conference, carry the Conference Program Schedule with you at all times so you can quickly adjust your plans if needed.

We'll say it again: Attend all your constituent-group meetings! You'll meet colleagues who can show you the ropes and introduce you to others who share your concerns and challenges. You'll also pick up great ideas to bring back to your orchestra. When you get home, you can build on these relationships by making use of the League's online constituent discussion groups and talk to your colleagues all year! If other representatives of your orchestra's staff, board, volunteer group, or musicians are coming to the Conference, coordinate schedules with them so that, together, you can cover as many of the public sessions as possible.

And finally, once you're in Nashville, take notes in meetings and sessions. Save every handout. Go over them at the end of each day, or on the plane home, and think about how to apply the most useful ideas to your everyday challenges.

2. How much should I budget to attend the Conference?

You'll need to budget four primary expenses for each individual attending the Conference:

Additionally, you may also want to add an Orchestra Leadership Academy seminar for one or more individuals from your group.

3. The Conference hotel seems expensive. Why doesn't the League refer delegates to cheaper hotels?

We encourage delegates to stay at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel to enhance your Conference experience. Many Conference events take place there and we want to ensure that you don't miss out on any of the action or after-hours networking opportunities.

In addition, in order to keep Conference registration fees low, the League enters into agreements with the Conference hotel that require us to fill a certain number of hotel rooms. If they are not reserved by League delegates, the League must still pay for them, and will be forced to raise registration fees accordingly.

We have set up a special group rate; however, in order to save even more, you may consider sharing rooms at the Conference hotel, either with another delegate from your orchestra or with a colleague from another orchestra. It's quite common for delegates to send out a roommate request on the League's online discussion groups to share a room. This can also be a great networking opportunity, since you can trade impressions about what you've heard and experienced during the day.

However, as convenient as Renaissance Nashville Hotel is to Conference events, we'd rather have you stay offsite than miss the Conference entirely! Lodging may also be available at religious facilities, youth hostels, or YMCAs. A little investigation may yield an arrangement that makes the difference between attending and staying home, whether for you or for additional delegates from your orchestra.

4. How can I benefit from attending the Conference?

For many orchestras, the cost of sending staff to Conference may seem like a great deal of money until you look at the benefits you and your orchestra receive. Here are just a few:

We understand that the orchestra field faces financial constraints. For this reason, there are discounts for multiple registrants from the same orchestra or business and for those affiliated with member youth, collegiate, and smaller-budget orchestras (budgets under $469,999) as well as volunteers. And new this year, we are offering a special FIRST-TIMER DISCOUNT for those who have never attended a League Conference, or haven't since 2001. See the registration form for more information.

But don't forget that there may be technical assistance funding available for Conference through your state arts agency, local Chamber of Commerce, or various foundations. Be sure to ask! Many are happy to fund Conference attendance. The League also developed a grant proposal template that you can use when applying for professional development support. Don't forget to request enough funds to cover travel, hotel, and meals. Even without such funding—or with partial funding—you'll pick up cost-saving or revenue-producing ideas that will very likely pay for your trip to the Conference, and benefit your orchestra in the coming years. Can you really afford to be out of the loop?

5. When can I register onsite, and when can I visit Business Partners and Exhibitors?

When you arrive at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel, proceed to Registration inside the Exhibit Area to pick up your registration materials and Conference Program Book:

Tuesday, June 19: 8:30am-10:30am & 2:00pm-6:00pm
Wednesday, June 20: 7:00am-5:00pm
Thursday, June 21: 7:00am-5:30pm
Friday, June 22: 7:00am-5:00pm

Visit with Business Partners and Exhibitors during these times:

Wednesday, June 20: 7:00am-4:00pm
Thursday, June 21: 7:30am-2pm
Friday, June 22: 7:00am-12:00 pm & 1:45 pm-5:00 pm

6. I'm having trouble with my online registration form. Whom can I contact for help?

If you have questions about filling out the form or you're having trouble submitting it electronically, please send an e-mail to conference@symphony.org, or call Member Services at 646-822-4026.

7. Does the League provide tapes or transcripts of Conference events for those who can't attend?

Our conference events, by their very nature, are interactive—with discussion, debate, and comments from the floor as essential components. While some material can be transcribed (keynote speeches, for example, are often highlighted in SYMPHONY Magazine, the most compelling Conference experiences usually involve demonstrations, audio-visual presentations, unscripted conversation, and other interactive elements. You have to be there to take full advantage of the Conference's multi-layered learning opportunities.

In the past, the League has taped sessions without successfully capturing the spirit and content of the proceedings. We found that too often, the recordings were unusable because much of the material was lost—not to mention impossible to transcribe! To engineer the events in such a way that all comments would be clear on tape—which is necessary to produce a useful transcript—would stifle the free flow of information that distinguishes an in-person gathering. Despite these limitations, in the past we have contracted with companies that taped all Conference events. The quality of the tapes was poor due to the factors noted above. Interestingly, we weren't able to sell enough tapes to maintain a contract with an affordable and high-quality vendor; the level of interest, despite extensive promotion, was simply not high enough.

If you are unable to attend, all is not lost. We ask the leaders of each constituent group to take detailed notes from meetings and share them with the League's online discussion groups. You may wish to remind your constituent leader of your need for these notes. In addition, on occasion, we print selected speeches from the Conference in SYMPHONY Magazine. However, we must stress that these services are only a stopgap and cannot take the place of attending Conference in person. If you are skipping the Conference for financial reasons, please consider the suggestions above.

You may also wish to visit www.symphony.org/book/index.shtml for other League resources that are more suited to written form than are Conference events.

8. There's so much going on! I'd like to attend several sessions and meetings that conflict with one another. Why are there so many conflicts?

We're aware of the conflicts that can take place at the Conference, and there doesn't seem to be a way of avoiding them other than extending Conference to a week—and even then, we'd probably find conflicts! The orchestra field is complex, and its many constituent groups like to meet with those who share their specific concerns. Marketing directors find it most helpful to meet with other marketing directors; artistic administrators with other artistic administrators; managers of smaller-budget orchestras with those who manage similar orchestras, and so on. Most of these meetings are limited to those from the specific constituent group, in order to focus discussion in the limited time available.

We make every effort to cover all bases so you receive the greatest possible benefit from the Conference. We've planned the schedule so that closed meetings of specific constituent groups coincide with one another, which limits conflicts to a great degree. The best way to avoid any conflicts that remain is by bringing more people from your orchestra to the Conference, even for just a day or two at a time. If cost is a concern, check the suggestions above for supplementing your Conference budget. And don't forget that there are discounts on registration for multiple registrants from the same orchestra, and musicians may register for free.

If bringing more than one individual from your orchestra isn't a possibility, remember that each constituent group tends to incorporate issues into its meeting agenda that have been discussed at the large sessions. For instance, if there is a marketing session that conflicts with another important session for managers, the managers may well have a special session in their meetings that addresses specific marketing issues.

If you're a manager who is interested in the meeting topics of development, marketing, or other non-executive constituencies, consider talking with your constituent leader about adding some of these topics to your group's meeting agenda. You'll have a greater opportunity to ask questions specific to your orchestra's situation, and can tailor the topics more closely to your needs. For example, you might work with your constituent leader to identify a marketing director from a larger orchestra to speak to your group about applying relationship marketing concepts at an orchestra without a dedicated marketing department.