FORGE FORWARD [WI]

[Kate Thomas]

FORGE FORWARD 2007

Get ready for the 1 st National FTM/SOFFA Conference in the HEARTLAND:

March 29 – April 1, 2007

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

http://www.forge-forward.org/conference/index.php

 

From March 29 to April 1, 2007, FTM+/SOFFAs who have been unable to afford and/or make it to one of the coasts for a national conference will finally have the opportunity to attend one closer to home. The FORGE Forward conference will also give Midwest service providers and LGBT community members the opportunity to hear and benefit from the best trainers, workshop leaders, speakers, and entertainers the transgender community has to offer. Plus, it will give us Midwesterners the chance to showcase what we have been doing while everyone else was looking toward the coasts! 

Come and join us for the exciting inauguration of what we hope will be many Midwest-based FTM+/SOFFA conferences.

[Kate Thomas]

Volunteer Organizers Needed for National FORGE Conference

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY *********

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT INFORMATION: FORGE FORWARD 2007 Conference
PO Box 1272
Milwaukee, WI 53201
www.forge-forward.org/conference
conference@...

December 19, 2006

The workshop confirmations and registrations are
rolling in for the FORGE Forward 2007 Conference
and Intensives, scheduled for Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, March 29 – April 1, 2007, and now we need more help!

We have literally dozens of organizers' jobs for
which we need volunteers. Several of these allow
a volunteer coordinator to put hir own stamp on a
particular piece of the conference: art show;
author readings; buddy/mentor program;
entertainers' stage crew; massage coordinator;
rites of passage; singles event(s); vendors; and
yoga/meditation. These coordinators are expected
to work with the conference organizers to design
and schedule a particular type of programming,
recruit others if necessary, and make sure all
goes as planned at the conference itself.

Another group of jobs require the donation of
professional skills and/or connections: ASL
interpreters; childcare coordinator; legal
advice; medical emergencies coordinator; mental
health/crisis coordinator; and security
coordinator. Many of these jobs require
pre-conference recruitment and scheduling of
additional volunteers, along with their onsite
training and management. We are also looking for
skilled, volunteer masters/mistresses of
ceremonies to stage-manage lengthy plenary
events, and visual/sound system engineers to
organize, oversee, and trouble-shoot rented
equipment for both workshops and plenaries.

If you live in the Milwaukee area, we have
several volunteer opportunities we need local
folks to fill. We need both a housing
coordinator and a transportation coordinator to
solicit volunteer hosts or drivers, match those
in need with those with resources, and help
resolve problems as they arise the weekend of the
conference. We also need several volunteers to
solicit local businesses and restaurants for
donations and coupons. And if your idea of an
exciting afternoon or evening is stuffing envelopes, PLEASE let us know!

Still haven't made a match between your interests
and our needs? Then perhaps you are one of the
special people we are looking for. We need a
highly dedicated, organized, and skilled person
to take on perhaps the most challenging job:
volunteer coordinator. The volunteer coordinator
must have relevant experience and sufficient
available time to permit hir to effectively
recruit, schedule, train, and manage the dozens
of onsite volunteers a smooth-running conference
depends on. We are also looking for someone with
media experience and creativity to shore up our
media outreach efforts pre-conference and oversee
media representatives during the conference. Are
you a skilled or aspiring retail manager? We
need a person or a close-knit team to manage onsite T-shirt sales.

The Conference has posted job descriptions for
all of these positions. In addition to a list of
each job's responsibilities, the descriptions
include our assessment of how much work is
involved before and/or at the conference itself
and whether volunteers can work from anywhere or
need to be located in Southeastern
Wisconsin. The descriptions – and how to
volunteer – are available at
http://www.forge-forward.org/conference/participate/volunteer.php

In addition to the excitement and kudos involved
in helping pull off what promises to be an
exciting, even life-changing, event, all
conference volunteers will receive small stipends
they can use to reduce their own registration
fees or donate to the scholarship fund. Very
low-income participants who do pre-conference
volunteer work will also be put on the priority
list for additional scholarship assistance as it becomes available.

What else are we missing? If you've got an idea
or are experienced with a constituency that has
sometimes been dissatisfied with or overlooked by
previous trans/SOFFA conferences, we'd like to
hear from you.