Re: GWA Meeting Critique

**"bbmackey" b*@prodigy.net**

It is amazing how wonderful an event can be, yet need improvement. And there 
are always unexpected elements, such as the weather-- as one of the LAC 
members I was really worried.

Certain things about the meeting hotel were difficult. However, since GWA 
needed a huge convention hall for exhibits and relatively low prices for 
rooms, our options were limited. Philadelphia would have been too costly and 
GWA was there in 2000 anyway. Our exec director nixed Wilmington.

The Radisson/Scanticon choice would not have been a problem if the hotels 
had not overbooked by taking in that Baptist event. Perhaps the hotel was 
not told that so many of our members would need rooms for those few nights 
prior to the official start of the meeting. These two connected hotels would 
have been large enough to house our entire group if they had reserved enough 
rooms for us. People who called in reservations as soon as they had the 
hotel phone number from our mailing were told it was already filled. 
Overbooking caused us unecessary fragmentation, wasted time, and confusion.

Then there was the tornado. Many attendees are not used to thunderstorms, 
let alone the small tornado that broke large trees, caused roadbed flooding, 
and shot rafts of bark chip mulch all over the place. It even damaged 
portions of the Radisson and caused a six-hour power outage. We were lucky 
to get the cold breakfast.

I thought the Saturday and Sunday trips were great but I was too tired to do 
the Monday morning tours so I slept late.

In my opinion, what was the best of the symposium? The keynote speaker, 
William McDonough (author of "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make 
Things").

What was the worst? The lunches on the bus! It was the packaging. I was 
ready to help save the planet, but then came lunch inside a huge white 
plastic shopping bag. Inside the bag were polystyrene containers of food. 
Please!  Can't we just get sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, served in a 
brown bag, plus an apple and a drink in a recyclable bottle? Even McDonald's 
does better than we did. We created a ton of non-biodegradeable waste here. 
And I was ashamed yet glad that I had that plastic shopping bag because the 
lunch (Sunday I think) was dripping grease that otherwise would have been in 
my lap.

Nonetheless, it was just a supremely wonderful and exciting time. I met many 
new friends and caught up with old ones. I pressed review copies of my 
latest projects on likely prospects. I took photos everywhere I went and 
will use them for years to come. I got great ideas for future projects and 
methods, plus fine new plants for my garden. The Chanticleer evening was 
magical. It's really a psychological recharge to take part in an event like 
the GWA symposium.

With best wishes,
Betty

Betty Mackey, Publisher
B. B. Mackey Books
P. O. Box 475
Wayne, PA 19087
bbmackey@prodigy.net
www.mackeybooks.com

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