Jain Digest 2006 07 Vol 24 No 3

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 35

2007 JAINA CONVENTION PLANS
Before sweet memories of 2005 JAINA Convention fade into history, JAINA has begun planning for 2007 Convention. The next convention will most likely be held on the east coast.
In the years past, all the conventions were sponsored by a single host Jain Center. At the Board of Directors meeting in July 1999, a resolution was passed that the future conventions should be conducted by JAINA. JAINA has been moving towards that goal. The 2001, 2003 and 2005 conventions were managed by a JAINA Convention Board formed specifically to organize and manage a particular convention. These Convention Boards had representatives both from JAINA and the host center. The First Vice President of JAINA was appointed as the Convener of the Convention and a representative of the host center was nominated to be the co-convener.
Now JAINA has decided that the 2007 Convention and possibly all the other future conventions to follow, will be organized by JAINA with help of many member centers. Jointly with JAINA these centers will work towards the successful implementation of the convention. Each center would be asked to take responsibility of one or two of the management committees such as scholar invitation, souvenir publication, registration, and publicity, etc.
By moving from a single Jain center sponsoring the convention to multi center format, JAINA believes that the active participation of more centers will produce better results. The strain on any one center will also reduce as the management functions are distributed among different centers and this set-up will attract larger number of volunteers. The direct involvement of the different centers in the 2007 convention will energize them to commit for the 2009 convention and beyond. The new arrangement allows us to reuse the talent pool available at the different JAINA member centers.
The glorious experience of the past 25 years, JAINA conventions are also getting larger, making the task of organizing such big events overwhelming. If such conventions have to be managed primarily by a single center, only centers with fairly large membership can handle such events, leaving little room for participation of the small and medium size centers. The new JAINA format will make the involvement of centers with just a few members possible. With the available networking technology it is now possible for multiple remotely located groups to cohesively communicate and effectively plan and organize the convention. The JAINA Convention Board will continue to Co-ordinate works of all the centers and the committees to create a seamless structure capable of producing a JAINA Convention that we can all be proud of.
This year JAINA will introduce a group registration concept. Centers will be requested to coordinate registration efforts for their members as a group. By involving multiple centers and also proposing group registration at centers, we will be creating an environment where centers take the ownership of the convention. By partnering with multiple centers, we will be making them all a part of an integral JAINA convention management team.
In the months of March and April, JAINA Convention Board members will get in touch with you to discuss how we in JAINA can work with your center jointly with other centers to plan the 2007 Convention. In the meanwhile if you have any constructive suggestion or if your center would like to participate please write to Convener; 2007 JAINA convention at dilipvshah@gmail.com
JAIN DIGEST⚫ Spring 2005 / 33 Jain Education International 2010_03