Convention Overview


Omega Phi Alpha's national convention is the only time during the year when representatives of each chapter can come together to make decisions that will guide the future of the sorority. Although day-to-day administrative decisions are made throughout the year by the national officers, all important national issues are decided by the convention delegation at the sorority's national convention. In addition, a large part of convention is devoted to exchanging ideas and developing skills that chapter leaders will use in maintaining a healthy chapter. It's critical that all chapters are represented at the annual convention. The more active sisters who can attend, the better your chapter will be for it!

What to Expect...
Each day of convention will be an organized jumble of workshops, business meetings and fellowship activities. Convention delegates arrive on Wednesday afternoon or evening and depart on Sunday afternoon. However, the actual schedule of each year's convention is subject to change, based on the needs of the sorority at the time.

Workshops in the past have included Motivation, Dealing with Difficult People, Time Management, Delegation, How to Strengthen Commitment in Sisters and Building Meaningful Rituals. In addition, there will be workshops to discuss specific legislation and to hammer out the proposed national budget for the next year. The workshops alone are a fantastic reason to send as many sisters as you chapter can afford.

There are also a number of standing committees and councils that meet at convention. The Presidents Council (the president of each chapter or her designee) meets to discuss leadership issues at the chapter level. The Service Council (the service chair of each chapter) meets to brainstorm ideas for improving OPA's program of service at the national and local levels. The Membership Council (the pledge educators of each chapter) meets to discuss pledge education issues like revising materials and/or restructuring communication channels. The Nominating Committee (with representatives from each chapter) meets to review the petitions for national office and to develop a slate of officers to present the delegation. Sometimes the Scholarship Board of Trustees and/or the Budget Committee meet at Convention. Each of these committees and councils represents another opportunity for an active sister to become more involved in the national decision-making process.

Depending on the amount of legislation submitted to the national vice president during the year, there are usually 8-10 hours of formal business meeting at convention. These meetings are chaired by the national president and conducted in relaxed form of Parliamentary Procedure. (Convention almost always includes a brief workshop covering Parliamentary Procedure for those chapters who do not use at their chapter meetings.)

Convention business meetings include the following highlights:

  • National officers present their annual reports.
  • Chapters present their annual reports.
  • National proposals are reviewed and voted on.
  • The national constitution and by-laws may be amended.
  • The national budget for the following year is approved.
  • National officers are elected.
  • The following year's convention site is announced.

Throughout convention, insignia items are for sale in the Rose shop, which is operated by the national insignia coordinator. Many of these items are provided by the national sorority and are sold at cost. However, chapters have the opportunity to sell items on consignment at the Rose Shop, as well. The chapters set the price and collect the unsold items and their sales revenues at the end of convention. If your chapter is creative or you have a good wholesale vendor with insignia items you'd like to share with you national sisters, this can be a good opportunity for you to make a little money!

At the end of convention, a banquet is held to celebrate OPA's achievements for the year as well as the friendships forged during the week together. During the banquet, the winners of the national display award, the national travel award, the national membership award, the national service award, as well as other chapter awards, leadership awards and alumnae awards are announced. In addition, the Chapter Excellence Program and Sisterhood Award Program awards are presented to chapters and the Individual Achievement in Service Awards are presented to sisters. The new national officers are installed. The national president (the new one if there has just been a changeover) announces the sorority's President's Project for the coming year.

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