Chair, Spring Conference

The Spring Chair is a service position to coordinate organizing the Spring Conference — an event that celebrates AA and carries a powerful message to the still-suffering alcoholic that AA is about more than one-hour meetings in basements. As Chair you are responsible for the overall planning, organization, information management, coordination, and motivation of the conference — and finally, for passing on your experience, strength, and hope to the next Chair.

Contact Spring Conference Chair

Qualifications

• Sound sobriety and a working knowledge of AA principles and the Twelve Traditions.
• Generally serves first as Vice-Chair of the prior conference, so they see the event organized end-to-end before chairing.
• Willingness to recruit a committee, run regular planning meetings, and pass complete records to the next Chair.
• Time and energy to commit through the planning year — conference venues are booked roughly a year in advance.

Key Responsibilities

• Pick the conference theme. The poster, website, and panel discussion will all be influenced by it. (The Archives Committee maintains a list of past themes.)
• Book the main speaker(s) — popular speakers often need to be booked a year or more in advance. Give consideration to at least one Canadian speaker, and avoid speakers who have spoken in Ottawa in the last 5–7 years.
• Coordinate venue booking. Only the Intergroup Chair or Vice-Chair can sign the venue contract (since Intergroup carries the liability insurance), but the Conference Chair drives venue selection.
• Set the conference date, ticket price, and budget — in consultation with the Intergroup Board.
• Work closely with Intergroup. By the Intergroup bylaws, the Intergroup Vice-Chair (or delegate) attends every conference committee meeting.
• Work with the Intergroup Webmaster on a conference web page, the Treasurer on payment processing, and the Newsletter Editor on conference articles for Our Primary Purpose.
• Build the committee — assign coordinators for Treasurer, Poster/Ticket Designer, Publicity, Ticket Sales, Registration, Fellowship Room, Greeters, Panels, Out-of-town Speaker Escort, Alanon/Alateen Representative, Service Tables, Saturday Night Entertainment, and Security.
• Run regular conference committee meetings, follow up on action items, and keep the committee aligned on theme, schedule, and budget.
• Attend monthly Intergroup meetings and report on conference progress.
• Manage email correspondence with attention to anonymity, consistency, and timeliness.
• After the conference, pass minutes, financial records, and committee materials on to the next Chair (and to the Intergroup Executive Board).

Full guidelines: see the Spring & Fall Conference Guidelines (PDF) — detailed checklist covering venue, theme, speakers, committee structure, finance, and timing. Conference history and dates are on the Annual Conferences page.