Behind the Curtain
What does it take to produce a CCC convention? And who did it this year?
After three years of virtual conventions, the CCC Board of Directors envisioned a post-quarantine in-person convention, but were people ready? It would take a bold commitment. The best venue was in Princeton, NJ, which would require a minimum of 35 couples to break even. In the end, 49 couples gathered enthusiastically for a successful convention with the theme, “A Weekend to Remember.”
The convention quartet, Carol and Duane Gumbs and Kim and Tom Uhlig, led from their declaration, “We light the way for couples to play.” They created a convention agenda, had monthly committee meetings via Zoom, and provided monthly status reports to the Board.
Couples from 8 different circles stepped up to co-create. Here’s a breakdown of the teams:
1) Training and Development, led by Francine and Steve Turtz, created a new model of the workshops, in which one leads to the next, which builds on the previous one. So there was a through line couples could find in the progression of workshops. This vision took coordination and contributions by many couples, including the quartets who volunteered to write and present the workshops to fit the new model.
2) Budget management: Amy and Steve Burke kept all the various committees’ expenses within the established budget.
3) Activities and Socials were very engaging and were organized by Stephanie and Chris Measzros and Charlaine Lapointe and Jackie Thompson.
4) Communications: Cathy-Anne Gins and Robb McDougle and Lauren and René Debelius put out clear information to raise awareness of convention. They built up the excitement with a campaign that featured the “post card” logo created by MaryAnne Erickson which was turned into custom tote bags and mugs for attendees.
5) Registration: sourced by Amy and Steve Burke along with CCC Operations Manager, Michelle Clayton. The Burkes also did “hello” calls to be sure each couple’s particular needs would be met upon arrival.
6) Welcoming: At convention, couples were warmly met by Bebe and Mike Brusky and Cindy and Randy Neumany. Arriving couples were gifted a themed tote bag and mug, featuring beautiful artwork by Mary Anne Erickson, plus snacks, water, and the weekend’s agenda.
7) Masters of Ceremony were Francine and Steve Turtz and Lisa Henley and Gary Clement, who guided couples confidently through the three days.
8) Production (Logistics): Amy and Steve Burke managed anything that came up, ensuring the pieces fit together as a whole with ease.
9) Childcare was managed by Liz November and Tavian Caldwell and Jen Schwartz and Joe Jacobs. The kids joined us for meals, activities, and on the dance floor!
10) Audio-Visual was smoothly and professionally run by Maria and Vince Cattano.
11) Our Operations Manager, Michelle Clayton contributed to almost every task of all the teams!
These leaders plus more team members than can be individually acknowledged here gave their time for the rewarding sense of community that was so present throughout convention, for being with like-minded couples, and to share joy and fun together. Couples who contributed to creating convention felt the difference CCC made in their lives and in new relationships they formed. They all want to keep that in existence!
It was clear to convention attendees that being there was an invaluable and memorable experience for everyone. There is no doubt that convention should be in place every year to foster community, partnership, and leadership and for pure fun! At convention 2023, attendees enthusiastically voted for holding convention in 2024.
How will Convention 2024 come to be? Now picture your couple in the mix. We have already started planning but it’s not too late to join in. Would it be growth for your couple to step up and contribute in one of the areas mentioned here? Some other way? Let’s have a conversation about it. Please contact Kim Uhlig about how your couple might be a part of Convention 2024.
By Roxanne Duniway with contributions from Carol and Duane Gumbs and Kim and Tom Uhlig
Behind The Curtain of the Convention Workshops
For former attendees, this year’s four convention workshops were a bit different from usual. There was an extra layer to them, a through line, dreamed up by Carol Gumbs, Rhona Fiore, and Eloise Bruce of the Northern New Jersey circle. They knew that, in order to come back after three years of quarantine, this year’s convention content had to be special. The Training and Development team had proposed two topics, Curiosity and Community. Carol’s idea was that all four workshops could build, one upon the other, over the course of the weekend, culminating in a great big Couple in Community workshop. Carol and her buddies, Rhona and Eloise, set to work investigating the relationship between curiosity: couples being curious about each other, and the role of their CCC community.
They found that being curious within couple started to surface something more spiritual: a feeling of profound connection, or communing. Further in their conversations, the three women concluded that being willing and able to commune within couple was essential to being able to create as a couple and manifest couple dreams. Additionally, the support and practices of the CCC community provided an environment for a couple to flourish while practicing couple curiosity, communing, and creating. The second and third workshop concepts, communing and creating, had now been born!
Carol, Rhona, and Eloise shared the idea with Training and Development and spent many weeks in early 2023 fleshing out draft ideas for the middle two workshops, tying them in with the first one and the last one, which were well under way. Kate Husband and Doug Ferguson of the Michigan without Borders circle and Joanne Barnett and Gary Waldron of the Baltimore Reimagined circle had already volunteered to create and present the Couple Curiosity workshop. Karen May and John Mara and Phyllis Koch-Sheras and Peter Sheras of the Heart of Virginia Circle had already agreed to head up the Couple in Community workshop.
In early June, Carol, Rhona, and Eloise were ready to give away the two fledgling workshops. They were happy that volunteers stepped up, without any arm twisting. Jen and Joe Jacobs of the Rocky Mountain circle and Roxanne and Bob Duniway of the Seattle circle, despite never having met each other, took on writing and presenting Couple Communing. Kathleen and John Arban of the Capitol Connectors circle and Margaret and Ravi Bhola of the Westworld virtual circle took on responsibility for Couple Creating. These new quartets were each made aware of the importance of keeping the other three workshops in mind so that their finished work would contribute to the through line of all four workshops. Additional Zoom meetings with Carol, Rhona, and Eloise ensured that things were on track. In only six weeks, the two new workshops were written and practiced and ready for convention.
The last task was to ensure that the connections between each of the ninety-minute workshops were clear to convention attendees. The flow from one workshop into the next depended on the emcee quartet. Francine and Steve Turtz of the Westworld circle and Lisa Henley and Gary Clement of the Sunrise circle guided participants along the workshop roadmap with confidence.
By Roxanne Duniway with contributions from Rhona Fiore, Eloise Bruce, and Carol Gumbs