Since my first convention as a freshman, Spring Convention has been a pinnacle point of my year. Spring has been where I have met some of my best friends and made my most cherished memories at various Spring Conventions. For Almost everyone in USY, USYer looks forward to attending Spring Convention is a highlight of the yearevery year. For many, it is the last time they will see their friends until after the summer. I want to be a convention chairman so that I can personally ensure that the 2012 NERUSY Spring Convention 2012 is a huge success by having a large attendance, a well executed theme, and new programming. Once the convention comes to a close, USYers will look back on that weekend as one of the best experiences of their USY careers.that makes everyone who attends walk away yearning for the next time they can see their USY friends.

Being a convention chairman is not an easya long term commitment that requires a lot of time and effort. BeginningAs of the end of January, I will not have anyno daily after school commitments, allowing me to focus my efforts on being a chairman. Seeing as though I live in Newton, I wouldwould be able tonot have a problem with going into the NERUSY office whenever necessary., If I am offered the position of convention chairman Iand am prepared to make Spring Convention 2012 my top priority. For the past two years, I have helped out with Spring Convention orientation. I met with the Regional Executive Board and convention chairmen planning, filming, and editing the orientation video. In addition, I put together various designs for giveaways and flyers, including last year’s logo. Both years I went to Spring Convention a day early in order to work on the orientation video and help out with whatever was needed. Those experiences have given me a good understanding ofn how a lot many of the logistical aspects of Spring Convention work. Being President of my chapter for two years in a row, as well as one of the editors-in-chief of my school newspaper, and President of The Shirt Guys LLC., I understand the importance of working as a team, delegating tasks efficiently, and meeting deadlines making sure deadlines are met. which areI believe all of these skills are crucial for a convention chairman to have, which will ultimatelyto makeing sure NERUSY Spring Convention 2012 is a success.

After going toattending three consecutive Spring Conventions and helping out significantly with two of them, I have conjured many ideas of how to make a better Spring Convention. First, I think it is important to incorporate the theme intowill all aspects of the convention. For instance, if the theme were “NERUSY University”, the REL/ED focus for the weekend would be on teaching and learning. There would be more learner’s Minyanim, giving everyone an opportunity to learn something new about a prayer or a prayer service. The Kitot would be focused around the importance of education in Judaism, such asincluding why it is important to teach your kids and yourself about Judaism. The Israel Affairs/Programming Vice PresidentROG would be able to run a program comparing high school and college in IsraelIsraeli education, with to high school and college in American education. The SA/TO drive would be for attendants of NERUSY Spring Convention 2012 to bring used or new school supplies, books, textbooks, and backpacks to be donated as well. Also, in conjunction with this year’s SA/TO push to up-cycle used electronics, attendants of the convention can also bring old calculators and other technology to be up-cycled. The dance would be themed “Mathletes vs. Athletes” (nerds vs. jocks), which will surely prompt many entertaining costumes. is an easy enough costume to make that everyone would be able to come dressed up. A huge part of ensuring Spring Convention 2012’s success will be proactivethe marketing leading up to the convention. I intend to work closely with the regional Ccommunications VP to make sure we have a strong marketing campaign that involves every chapter in some way., such as For example, having multiple chapters could make personalized promotional videos that are targeted towards individual chapter members that are on the fence about coming to the convention. Also, I will also work with the Ccommunications VP to make similar promotional videos at lounges. When the time comes aroundapplications to register for Spring Convention are first sent out, many USYers may not have seen their USY friends for a few months, deterring them from signing up for Spring Convention. To remedy this problem, I will work closely with the RGB lounge chairs to make lounges incorporate Spring Convention leading up to the registration deadline incorporate Spring Convention. For instance, if we can increase attendance by holdingave mulitplea raffles at lounges whose winners will beare announced at Spring Convention, this will help increase attendance. I believe that if a USYer spends goes to just at least one lounge where Spring Convention is advertised, they will be motivated by their friends they made or reconnected with that night to sign up to attend Spring Convention 2012for the convention. After Spring Convention, everyone who attendedall attendees leaves with the same feeling of wanting more USY. It is my vision to extend everyone’s strong feelings for USY by posting to Facebook the promotional, orientation, and other unseen videos to Facebook, as well as other unseen videos, which will keep people’s minds on Spring Convention, as well as hooked on USY. In addition, I intend to send out a “satisfaction survey” to everyone who attended to find out what they liked and didn’t like, so that future Spring Convention’s can continue to improve. In additionFinally, I want to hear from the USYers who didn’t attend Spring Convention 2012 as to why they didn’t register. This will give future chairman a good idea of how they promote conventions in years to come. Between having a well thought out theme, strong marketing campaign Spring Convention heavily to those disconnected USYers and learning from Spring Convention 2012’s successes and failures after the convention is over, I believe my new ideas will help make this year’s, as well as future Spring Conventions, better than they have ever been in the past.