It’s the time of year when State/Provinces/Districts (S/P/D) of the P.E.O. Sisterhood have their conventions. The main purpose of the S/P/D convention is to transact the business of the S/P/D. It’s also a time for the making new friends, the continuing of the left over conversations of old friends, and a way to energize the membership. For the last six months, I have been serving as the Convention Registrar of the Illinois State Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood.
It has been a learning experience and I had the opportunity to continue my love/hate relationship with an Access database. It has challenged me and through it I have been able to serve the organization.
I leave for convention tomorrow. Currently I am waiting for phone calls from convention attendees who will be notified that they are staying at the overflow hotel. Calls will be referred to me. Although the overflow hotel can be reached by walking through a short corridor to the back of the main hotel and walking about 100 steps away, I know that some of the women will feel like we are putting them in Siberia. I can understand that feeling. I hope I can make them feel ok with the situation. Both hotels are quite nice, so that is a positive, too. The overflow hotel is one of my favorite chains, so it’s easy for me to talk it up.
But frankly, my attitude has always been that almost nothing is earth shattering. If you don’t tell people that things aren’t going exactly as planned and don’t show negative feelings about it, it really won’t be a problem. Things become problems when people make them problems. I want people to leave with a smile on their face feeling that the time they were there was well spent.
The 2015 Convention logo of the Illinois State Chapter
It’s what I used to tell recruitment chairmen when I was advising chapters. As sorority recruitment season comes around, there will some Recruitment Chair-zillas, the ones who demand everything be “PERFECT.” In making a big deal about the small imperfections, a toxic energy is produced and it can chill to the bones. Attendees know something is amiss. Doing the best we can with what we have is sometimes all that we can do. There are so many things that people expend needless time and energy on, that, in the end, don’t really matter.
I know that the next four days will be filled with challenges and choices and I hope that I can serve the Illinois State Chapter well. I hope the odds are with me.
The 2014-15 Executive Board of the Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O. The one playing “Big Red” is the amazing, talented, and fun Kylie Towers Smith, Kappa Kappa Gamma’s Archivist.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
