What’s new for Convention 2024?

Two unique features have been generated by our theme, New Possibilities for Connection. The first is how things are happening behind the scenes while the program is being created for you. You will start to experience the second one Friday morning when you will be instructed not to sit with your partner for the first workshop.

Feature one: We are intentionally putting into practice New Possibilities for Connection while creating convention.

Our first step in creating this Convention was to find new possibilities for connection with all of the wonderful people involved in organizing this event! Volunteers on several committees are contributing to making it all happen. These committees – Convention and Events, Training and Development, Communications, Finance, Community Care, and Operations – each have specific responsibilities that kick in at various times as we prepare for convention. If these committees do their work in “silos,” they miss the opportunity to accept input from people who are getting involved later in the cycle but whose point of view is critical to a successful event. By creating new possibilities for connection, everyone has the opportunity to be heard in time to make a difference.

Our new possibility, now a reality, is that everyone’s input is valuable at every point in the planning and implementation process, regardless of the committee they signed up for. Now everyone involved in creating convention is invited to all meetings being held by all committees. There is a new page in our internal collaboration app, Basecamp, called Committee Synergy Reports that ensures everyone is literally “on the same page.”

The enthusiasm generated by a shared commitment has been extraordinary in many ways. Opening up more possibilities for connection has resulted in learning from those with expertise and experience, and there is receptivity to new ideas. Productivity has increased through collaboration, and we enjoy celebrating our accomplishments together with our co-creators!

Feature two: For the first time ever, CCC will offer a workshop for YOU as an individual before moving into the next Couple workshops. Then we will explore new possibilities for connection within Couple, Quartet, then in and beyond Circle.

Workshop #1: Welcoming all of me

In CCC, we tend to focus on Couple as a shared identity from which to address life and see the world as a “we.” Our first workshop will provide the opportunity to acknowledge ourselves as individuals and to focus on our own internal connections to ourselves. Using some of the techniques from our couple practices, we will free ourselves from past disappointments and clear out expectations of ourselves that may stand in the way of new possibilities for connection. We will embrace who we are for ourselves before we move into exploring the other relationships we enjoy in CCC.

Workshop #2: Honoring the “ME” in ”WE,” or what have we done for me lately?

In this session, we will take a new look at how we generate Couple. Sometimes we fall into the trap of the 50-50 model of relationship, forgetting that honoring ourselves is actually how we create Couple. In this workshop, we will explore the ways Couple sources happiness for each of us, rather than demanding sacrifice. We will discover the importance of honoring the “ME” in ”WE” Workshop

#3: Exploring untapped possibilities of the Quartet

Through inquiry, exercises, and reflection, we will discover new and creative ways that CCC members can connect in Quartet, as well as unique ways to coach and work with distinctions and assignments. Like the entity “Couple,” the “Quartet” is more powerful than the sum of its parts and can provide possibilities of connection that are unique to this relationship.

Workshop #4: Creating and sharing the experience of connection

Even more interactive and experiential than the first three workshops, we will weave together the new possibilities and connections we have generated in the previous sessions. Building on these possibilities and on the connections made in the relaxed and playful time we have spent together in community, we will explore how these new discoveries can expand and enrich our relationships in our Circles and in our world beyond.

Throughout the workshops and activities of Convention, you and your Couple will be the explorers, out to discover new possibilities for connection. While you will be guided throughout the weekend programming, it will be you and your Couple who will recognize or generate the best paths for you.

If you have already registered and would like to up your game in a way guaranteed to boost your possibilities for connection, then join the folks making it happen by participating on one of our committees leading up to or during convention. Just send an email to the Convention Committee and let them know you are interested to Kim Uhlig at [email protected].

If you are not registered yet, but would like to attend Convention, we still have some rooms available. Register here:

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By Cathy-Anne Gins and Robb McDougle, Hudson Valley Virtual Circle