By: Kim Dickerson-Oard, guest contributor On 7/15/2010
Recently, Bishop Scott Jones and I were interviewed by the Salina Journal newspaper about the Sessions Planning Committee’s decision to move the Kansas West Annual Conference from the Salina Bicentennial Center to the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. We shared that the decision was made due to the steep increases in facility rental, meals and food service as well as the more restrictive policies of the facility.
In the two years I have chaired the Sessions Planning Committee, there has been no topic more highly considered by our committee than the topic of venue for the Annual Conference. To be quite honest, there are not that many venues in Kansas that are able meet the needs of the conference. We have a venue subcommittee that has looked at facilities in Hays at Fort Hays State University, in Hutchinson at Grand Prairie Hotel and the Kansas State Fairgrounds, in Salina at the Bicentennial Center and Kansas Wesleyan University and in Wichita at Century II coupled with Wichita First United Methodist Church.
The subcommittee has compiled a list of the requirements we need, and various venues have been forthright in saying they cannot accommodate our needs.
To the disappointment of many, Kansas Wesleyan University is one of the venues that has said it cannot adequately meet the needs of the 800-1,000 delegates and visitors. Through experience, we have learned that the Grand Prairie Hotel in Hutchinson is too small. Fort Hays also is a venue that cannot handle a group our size.
This past year, the Sessions Planning Committee spent a considerable amount of time discussing the pros and cons of the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson and Century II in Wichita.
Century II was appealing because it can provide much of what the Bicentennial Center has provided in the past in the way of staging and support. The sanctuary at Wichita First also would be a more worshipful venue for the Ordination and Commissioning Service than a large gym.
The challenges of using Century II, however, are many. For example, there is only paid parking around the facility. The adjoining hotel is up to $30 more per night than the hotel we partnered with in Salina. The cost for meals and facility rental is high, not to mention the fact that we have to work with a local labor union for the audio/visual needs. The policies on bringing food in are just as restrictive as the ones at the Bicentennial Center.
Another thing the committee has kept in mind as it has chosen a location is the tragic memory of the pastor who was killed when the Annual Conference was held at Century II many years ago. We also have been mindful that many of our rural members to Annual Conference have said they would not attend if it was held in Wichita. I believe we will need to keep Wichita in mind as a possibility for the future, however, especially as we await the information about the new episcopal area.
The state fairgrounds in Hutchinson is appealing because of the ample space for gathering, meals, parking and unlimited Wi-Fi Internet connections.
The challenges will include creating a meeting space. The buildings we will be using are very bare. We will not have the staging, tables and chairs of the Bicentennial Center to use, and we will not have the same number of staff helping us out. In addition, there are not enough small break-out rooms for the various needs we have. We are discussing asking some of our Volunteers In Mission to consider allowing us to borrow their RVs to house some of the meeting places.
I share all of this to let the conference members know that we have considerable challenges in finding a venue that will meet all of our needs. Please be in prayer for the Sessions Committee as we iron out all the details of moving the Annual Conference to the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson May 25-27, 2011, with the Clergy Session May 24. Please feel free to contact me with your comments at 316-722-8504 or kim.aldersgate@sbcglobal.net.
Rev. Kim Dickerson-Oard is the Sessions Planning Committee chairperson and associate pastor at Wichita Aldersgate UMC.