Registration information

Hi there,
Spring is on its way – at least I hope so and it is time to talk about attending this year’s
convention. We are going to offer a five day convention registration for $150.00 if
received by May 15th – a savings of $15.00. This price includes four lunches, a
dinner, and our banquet. We are also going to have single day registration for those
that can not stay longer than a day or two. This has been brought up in the past so
we’ve decided to give it a shot. The cost of a single day registration is $50.00 and
includes lunch Monday through Thursday.

Registration can be done on the IGCA web site using Pay Pal. We are hoping that by
doing online registration it will help people commit to coming to the convention earlier
than in the past. Also, for those considering teaching classes we need you to commit
as soon as possible. For those that have taught in the past you know it is one way to
help with some of your convention expenses, a great way to meet new members and
to learn from others while teaching your class. By doing on line workshop registration
teachers will have a firmer idea of how many will be taking their class. We are going
to stop class registration with enough time before the convention to allow the
teachers’ time to prepare for their classes. We learned the hard way last year by not
closing down the registration early enough and we had confusion as we were arriving
at the hotel to begin the convention. There will be no workshop sign ups at the
convention as has been done in the past – all registration will be done via the
website. If you don’t register in time you will be at the mercy of the teacher at the
convention to either observe the class or if she or he has brought additional supplies
to participate but no guarantee there will be room in those classes.

Here is the way online registration is going to work and please remember we need
you to register online no later than May 15th for the $15.00 savings. If you go to the
IGCA website: www.IGCA.net there will be a box that you will click on that will take you
automatically to our registration form. Once you complete the form and insert your
payment information you will hit “submit” to send this information on. Basically what
happens at that point is we will get the full registration form directly and Pay Pal will
get an abbreviated form with your name and address along with payment information.
PayPal in turn will contact me with your payment information over the next couple of
days. Once we get that information I will send out an email confirming the receipt of
your registration and also instructions that will allow you to register for workshops
online in June. Also, remember we will need your email address on your registration
form to get those instructions to you.

You can still register by mail and as long as we have the paperwork in time we will
contact you with the instructions for workshop registration. If you don’t have a
computer you can register online at work, use someone else’s computer, the library,
etc.

The way the workshop registration will work is a little different than the online
registration. We will start listing all the workshops available along with their
information and pictures as teachers sign up for them. The workshop listings will be
updated on a regular basis. You will be able to go out to the IGCA website and click
on the workshop link to see what classes are being offered as often as you want. We
suggest you go out there regularly as you never know when that special class or
classes will show up and you want to be registered so that you can sign up for the
class timely. With your online registration confirmation that we will email you we will
also send you a password to use for online workshop registration. We will update the
website with class registration information as it becomes available.

The system will also be set up to charge a small administrative fee for the
workshops. Online workshop registration will allow people to know what classes they
are going to take in advance, not have to worry about carrying a lot of small bills with
them for registration, possibly to arrive later on Sunday without worrying about class
registration, allow you to pay with a credit card and have your receipt right there on
what you have signed up for, etc. so hopefully for all the good stuff the small fee won’t
seem like that big of a bother.

Another note is that IGCA will not be responsible for refunding back workshop
costs if you find at the last minute that you can not attend the convention. We will,
however, allow you to sell your workshop classes on the bulletin board at the IGCA
website. We do ask that if you do have to resort to selling classes this way that you
then contact Marie Kauffman and give her the information on class changes. Another
benefit of online workshop registration is that all your class paperwork will be in your
registration packet and you do not have to stand in lines waiting to register for
classes.

If you have any questions regarding convention registration or workshop online
registration feel free to email me at: workshopkathy@hotmail.com.

Kathy Szappanos
Convention Host