Episcopal Press and News

General Convention Manager's Office Busy 12 Months in Year

Diocesan Press Service. June 12, 1975 [75222]

LOUSVILLE, Ky. -- The work of the General Convention Manager's office, planning the 1976 Convention of the Episcopal Church, has moved from "the planning to the implementation stage," according to Bob N. Wallace, the manager. "The massive coordination of all the functions 2nd activities of General Convention has begun," he said.

Mr. Wallace, the full-time manager of the Church's triennial Convention since the office was established in 1972, has been planning since the close of the 1973 Convention with officials and with the Joint Standing Committee on Agenda and Arrangements.

His contacts have also been with a great variety of others in Minneapolis/St. Paul, where the 1976 Convention will be held -- the Bishop of Minnesota, hotels, restaurants, convention facilities, decorators, distributors of equipment and supplies, prospective exhibitors -- and with a wide range of groups in the Episcopal Church who have a stake in the Convention arrangements.

The Convention will open on Saturday, September 11, with an afternoon service at the St. Paul Civic Center and will close at noon on Thursday, September 23. All sessions after the opening service will be held at the Minneapolis Auditorium and Convention Hall.

Mr. Wallace said the facilities will be quite adequate for the thousands of official representatives and visitors who are expected to attend part or all of the Convention. The versatile, flexible facilities, he said, are capable of handling extended national conventions of 10,000 or more.

The Minneapolis hall is within walking distance of many hotels, motels, restaurants, and shops, Mr. Wallace pointed out. In addition, he said, there is a large modern cafeteria, accommodating up to 400, conveniently located on the mezzanine level near the exhibit hall and the meeting rooms for the bishops and deputies.

"Down town," he said, "is just five minutes and ten cents away from the convention hall via the Q.T. busses which run frequently."

In planning the General Convention, Mr. Wallace works closely with Suffragan Bishop Scott Field Bailey, Executive Officer, Houston, Tex., who also supervises the work of the Secretary-Treasurer, the Rev. James R. Gundrum, Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Wallace points out that planning the Episcopal Church's triennial Convention, while a mammoth undertaking, is not the whole of the General Convention Manager's job. In addition to working on plans for the 1976 Convention, Mr. Wallace is also doing preliminary planning for future Conventions. Firm sites and dates have already been approved for the 66th Convention in Denver, Colo., September 8-20, 1979, and for the 67th meeting in Milwaukee, Wis., October 9-21, 1982.

He said that before the 1976 Convention he will recommend to Bishop Bailey a site for the 1985 meeting, and after approval by the presidents of the two houses which make up Convention, the choice will go to the Agenda and Arrangements Committee for recommendation to the site committee of the 1976 Convention.

" Fewer and fewer cities can accommodate a convention the size of the Episcopal Church's General Convention, " Mr. Wallace said. A minimum of 350, 000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space is needed, and at least 3,000 sleeping rooms are required for the official deputies, bishops, women delegates, exhibitors, and visitors. "During the three weeks of preliminary hearings and the legislative sessions, " he said, "there are from 10 to 12 other conventions meeting at the same time, including the Triennial Meeting of the Women of the Church, the Church Periodical Club, the Church Altar Guild, the Foundation for Christian Theology, and the American Church Union. "

The Convention Manager's office also arranges meetings for Church groups of any size from a small committee to a diocesan convention. This on-going service, he said, is available to any group in the Church, official or unofficial. Groups for which arrangements have been made -- including hotel accomodations, meals, registration details, "everything except planning the program" -- include the House of Bishops, the Agenda and Arrangements Committee, the Clergy Deployment Office, Coalition-14, and the Episcopal Church Foundation.

About 100 such meetings are arranged each year by Mr. Wallace's wife, Jane, who serves in the Manager's office as Meetings Coordinator. When his office makes arrangements for meetings, Mr. Wallace said, not only is the group spared the time it takes to work out the details, but there are often substantial financial savings, made possible by rate reductions which he is able to negotiate.

The Manager's office is located in Louisville, Ky., but Mr. Wallace expects to set up his Minneapolis office about July 1, 1976.

He said that registration forms for the 1976 Convention will be mailed from his office on January 2, 1976, to bishops, deputies, women delegates, the press, and a great many others who need them. In addition, he said, forms will appear in The Episcopalian and elsewhere. The official registration fee, he said, will be $15, with visitors paying $7.50. Advance payment of registration fees will not be required. All housing requests will be handled by Mr. Wallace's office.

Mr. Wallace said that he encourages groups, large and small, to contact his office for information about the year-around services offered: Mr. Bob N. Wallace, 100 North Sixth Street, Suite 305, Louisville, Ky. 40202, Tel. 502/582-2561.