Planning for an In-Person WILPF Congress in 2024

2017 Chicago Congress Leadership Institute participants and presenters.

By Darien De Lu
WILPF US President

January 2023

About three years ago, as WILPF President, I was working with the national Congress Committee, looking for appropriate venues for our 2020 Congress. Then the COVID pandemic began, and our planning was upended! Fortunately, after a one-year delay of the Congress, Congress Coordinator Mary Hanson Harrison organized our first-ever virtual WILPF Congress, with almost ten days of amazing programming!

Yet a virtual Congress just isn’t the same as an in-person one. Now – with masks, tests, and boosters as needed – WILPF US is looking at planning the 2024 Congress as an in-person event. Possibly we can offer some sessions as hybrid virtual and in-person. The complex machinery of putting on a WILPF Congress has multiple “moving parts,” and here I’m going to lay out the basic planning components and steps.

Our WILPF Congresses are major undertakings that are largely dependent on volunteer efforts by WILPF members and branches. What about you and/or your branch? Are you ready to step up – and to benefit from the excitement, energy, and the nationwide WILPF connections that such involvement can offer?

Right now WILPF is beginning the search for the 2024 Congress venue. The ideal location has a supportive branch and good transit connections (especially – even in these times when we’re increasingly aware of the climate costs of flying – air connections, which are necessary for many participants going to a national Congress). We’ll see how close we can come to that ideal. Are you or your branch interested in receiving more information?

Whether or not your branch is interested – and even if you’re not in a branch – Congress planning can connect you with other WILPFers in satisfying and necessary work. The official planning usually starts with the appointment of the Congress Committee. That committee will solicit members and branches to invite us to their city as a Congress site. In cooperation with interested branches, they do the initial research on venue pros and cons. Then – based on these invitations from branches, venue possibilities, and other locally available advantages, and other factors and considerations – the Congress Committee members make a site recommendation to the Board.

Once a site is chosen, the Site Committee – usually about 8-12 folks from the site vicinity – will form and take over the planning work for the local on-the-ground logistics. (I was on the 2005 San Francisco Site Committee, along with others who were within about a 200-mile radius of SF. I believe we all enjoyed those site meetings, and the planning we did helped connect a number of local branches. Members from a wide area all contributed to the success of the 2005 Congress. It was a wonderful opportunity to work with and get to know many dedicated WILPFers.)

The Congress Committee may continue as an advisor for all planning. Also – usually after the site is chosen and the site committee work is underway – the President consults with the Steering Committee to appoint the Congress Program Committee. (The Congress Program Committee is separate from the Site Committee. but – obviously – stays in close contact to confirm the kinds of facilities needed, the available time slots, and local cultural talent.)

For all of these committees, some prior Congress experience is helpful. But, since there will certainly be experienced folks on each one, that is by no means required. For now, a few folks have stepped up to bring together a sort of pre-committee. This pre-committee has started with several interested members, yet down the line, there will be a formal member-appointment process for the Congress Committee – which could include you. Are you interested?  You can contact me at President@wilpfUS.org for more information.

The Board will work with these committees to determine how to get member input in planning the Congress.  An anonymous wise woman from a decades-back site committee gave important feedback calling for the Congress program to be posted on the website as soon as possible with clear information (workshops and leaders, maps and directions, etc.), for officers and board members to be introduced in the first plenary, and for members to be invited to participate rather than having long letters read to them on opening night. In other words, WILPFers want to attend, get information, participate, and know about their options. 

We always have amazing and memorable Congress experiences. And there are sometimes great ideas that don’t work out! What ideas might you want to try? Contact me for more information: President@wilpfUS.org.

I’m glad to see people looking forward to the 2024 Congress – as well as to the “pre-Congress-year Gathering” to take place in 2023. That gathering – a much simpler affair than a Congress, with a likely focus on our connections as activists – will be a good foundation for 2024. (See more info in the announcement part of this eNews.) As a virtual event, it will be a chance for WILPFers across the country to get to know others and reconnect. 

In WILPF, it’s making the connections that makes us a stronger organization!