8:00am – 12:00pm

Changing Times - Times for Change*
Examine trends and issues that affect current and potential volunteer corps. How might social changes make a difference as you recruit and work with volunteers in your orchestra.

Capitol Hill Picnic and Volunteer Orientation
Meet the Volunteer Council and hear an overview of the Conference. You’ll also meet and greet other volunteer delegates at this picnic lunch sponsored by the Volunteer Council Sustainers.

1:00pm – 6:30pm

Orchestras on the Hill (Capacity is limited! Register now to participate!)

The policy decisions made in Washington, D.C. impact orchestras back home.  Make the case to your Senator(s) or Representatives at Orchestras on the Hill. No matter your role or affiliation, this day is for everyone. Prepare for your meetings at a briefing, meet with members of Congress, and attend a Hill reception.

1:00pm - 2:15pm
Legislative Briefing (Hilton Washington)

Worried about what to say at your Hill meetings? Don’t worry! We’ll tell you all you need to know, including what to bring, how your state chairman will conduct your meeting, and talking points. Meet other Conference attendees from your state. Speakers

2:15pm - 3:15pm
Buses to the Hill

Buses will leave from the T Street entrance on the Terrace Level (one floor below the lobby) of the Hilton Washington.

3:30pm - 5:30pm
Hill Meetings(Capitol Hill)

You’ve been briefed – you’re now ready to meet with your members of Congress!

5:00pm - 6:30pm
Hill Reception, (Cannon Caucus Room, Capitol Hill)

7:15pm

We’re inviting you and your members of Congress to join us in the beautiful Cannon Caucus Room after your Hill meetings. Hear Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Mark O’Connor perform. We'll also present the Gold Baton Award for distinguished service to music and the arts to National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Leonard Slatkin and to the Congressional Arts Caucus. Representative Slaughter (D-NY) and Representative Shays (R-CT) will accept on behalf of the Congressional Arts Caucus.

National Friends of the League Donor Appreciation Dinner
Sponsored by Steinway & Sons
(by invitation only)

7:15am – 8:15am

Volunteer Networking Breakfast*

Discuss strategies for making the case to your community leaders and local legislators with special guest Andy Finch, Senior Director of Government Affairs, Americans for the Arts. Full breakfast will be served.

8:15am – 9:30am

Opening Session/Keynote Address

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee delivers this year’s Opening Session Keynote Address on why he chose to focus on the arts during his chairmanship of the Education Commission of the States.

Youth Orchestra Performance
Members of six Washington D.C. area youth orchestras perform under the direction of Emil de Cou, Associate Conductor, National Symphony Orchestra.

Opening Session sponsored by Classical Movements Inc.

9:45am – 11:00am

Opening Forums

Choose from one of the following sessions available to all Conference delegates:

Making the Case
Persuade a prospective donor, convince a key policymaker, earn the community's trust, and win the hearts of your audience. How? Know your facts, and communicate them in a compelling way. Learn why four leading public figures are advocates for music, and how they make the case for orchestras. Receive a collection of our best statistics, arguments, and quotes about American orchestras to help you make the case for your orchestra at home – must have tools when fundraising for your volunteer organization! Speakers

Don’t Mess with My Concerts
What do we really know about our fellow audience members and why they attend concerts? We’ll explain – and challenge – some assumptions that have, until now, influenced orchestras’ approaches to concerts, and examine some new approaches as well. Speakers

11:15am – 12:30pm

Gold Ribbon Award and Special Project Presentations 
Come hear – and see – this year’s Gold Ribbon award-winning ideas in a series of short PowerPoint presentations. Join us at the presentation of the Volunteer Council Fund-Raising, Service and Membership Awards, the Sally Parker Education Awards, the Audrey Baird Audience Development Awards, and the Classics and Phoenix Awards.

12:45pm – 2:00pm

Volunteer Networking Lunch* and Keynote Address
Share your successes in finding, recruiting, and retaining new membership. The Keynote address will be given by Abigail Trafford, author of My Time: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life and columnist for The Washington Post. She will speak about entering a new stage in life, and about making opportunities to contribute to your community.

2:15pm – 3:30pm

Silver Awards, Awards of Distinction, and Membership Workshop

Join the Volunteer Council in recognizing Silver Award winners and The Symphony Guild of Charlotte for their Award of Distinction. Guild members Debbie Abels, Julia Church, Joan Foley, Linda Weisbruch, and Melissa Woolf will facilitate a workshop on their three-year process of membership restructuring that revitalized their membership program with exciting results.

3:45pm – 5:00pm

Orchestra Toolbox Sessions

Choose from six compelling sessions, including:

Be a Winner
What makes a successful volunteer audience development, service, education, and membership project? Silver Ribbon winners, selected from the 2005 Gold Book: A Sourcebook of Successful Fund-Raising, Education, Audience Development, Service and Membership Projects tell you how to create successful projects. Two panels will be repeated so that you can hear both presentations. Speakers

5:00pm – 6:15pm

Buses to the Kennedy Center

Buses to the Kennedy Center will leave from the T Street entrance on the Terrace Level (one floor below the lobby) of the Hilton Washington.

7:00pm

National Symphony Orchestra Concert* and Tune-Up Party

The National Symphony Orchestra performs under Leonard Slatkin at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Concert Hall. Guest artists include Mark O'Connor and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin.
Tune-Up Party hosted by the National Symphony Orchestra

9:00pm - 9:30pm

Tour of the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Take a Jaffe Holden Acoustics Tour featuring the acoustical design of the John F. Kennedy Center Concert Hall immediately following the concert.

11:00pm

Gone, But Not Forgotten

Enjoy a chat with orchestra veterans – those risqué, devil-may-care, caution-to-the-wind, impresarios – as they reveal all they couldn’t say…on the job.

7:30am - 8:45am

Volunteer Networking Breakfast*

9:00am - 10:15am

Share your impressions of changes, challenges, and solutions for 2005 with other volunteers from comparable-sized orchestras. Full-plated breakfast will be served.

The Music of Volunteers
Volunteer leaders are critical to the success of any orchestra. Learn how to identify leadership qualities and how to measure their effectiveness.

Speaker: David Styers, Senior Director, Volunteer Center Development, Points of Light Foundation.

10:30am - 11:45am

Choose from the following sessions:

No Talent, No Time? A Nominating Workshop 
Lou Hurckes, Member of The Women’s Association of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, will discuss how to build a firm foundation for the nominating committee, and how to prepare people to say “yes.” 

Strategic Planning Workshop 
This interactive workshop will provide you with the tools to create a viable strategic plan. Determine where you want your organization to go, how to get it there, and how to measure success. Sabrina L. Reilly, Past President, Junior League of Washington, D.C. and Martha Vann, Masters Degree in Organizational Development from American University, will enhance your ability to think strategically about your organization and ensure its sustainability.

Welcome to the Top
Attend this workshop if you will be a president in the 2005-06 season. Discuss leadership techniques to make your presidency satisfying for you – and successful for your volunteer organization. Meet with Volunteer Council President Sunny Lundgren, President-elect Pam Weaver, and Immediate Past President Eva Gayle Gibbs.

12:00pm – 1:30pm

Conference Luncheon*

Drawing from his recent book, The Four Pillars of High Performance, Paul Light will explore strategies for attaining maximum effectiveness in a future of unprecedented change and uncertainty. Light is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service, Robert Wagner School of Public Service, New York University.

Sponsored by: Clarion Associates, Inc., IMG Artists, Artsmarketing Services Inc.

1:45pm – 3:00pm

Fundraising Keeps the Music Playing

Take home the tools you need to empower your group to raise the big bucks.

3:15pm – 4:15pm

Silver Award Fund-Raising Showcase 

Join these popular and interactive roundtables and hear winning ideas for planning and achieving successful fundraisers.

4:30pm – 6:00pm

Awards Celebration and Reception

Celebrate the field's achievements at the Awards Celebration and Reception with emcee Marvin Hamlisch. We'll award the League/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, the MetLife Awards for Excellence in Community Engagement, the Bank of America Awards for Excellence in Orchestra Education, The Volunteer Council Gold Ribbon Awards, and the Helen M. Thompson Award. You will also hear remarks by NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, and performances by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, led by director Lieutenant Colonel Michael Colburn. 

 

8:00pm

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Concert*

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs under Yuri Temirkanov at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore with guest artist Vadim Repin, violin.

Buses will leave promptly at 6:00 pm from the T Street entrance on the Terrace Level (one floor below the lobby) of the Hilton Washington.

8:00pm

National Philharmonic Performance-Demonstration*

Experience a concert hall as you never have before at a demonstration of the visible and invisible features of the design responsible for making the new Music Center at Strathmore a concert hall for the 21st century.

To get to the Music Center at Strathmore, take the Metro from the Dupont Circle Station to the Strathmore/Grosvenor station, (8 stops on the Red Line towards Shady Grove) and walk to the Music Center through a covered skyway. This trip will take approximately 45 minutes from door to door including a ten minute walk down Connecticut Ave. to the Dupont Circle Station. Round trip tickets may be purchased at the Metro station for $4.50. 

8:00pm

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Concert*

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs under Yuri Temirkanov at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda with guest artist Vadim Repin, violin.

To get to the Music Center at Strathmore, take the Metro from the Dupont Circle Station to the Strathmore/Grosvenor station, (8 stops on the Red Line towards Shady Grove) and walk to the Music Center through a covered skyway. This trip will take approximately 45 minutes from door to door including a ten minute walk down Connecticut Ave. to the Dupont Circle Station. Round trip tickets may be purchased at the Metro station for $4.50.