Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, June 27 through June 30, 2010
The convention program will begin on Sunday evening with a forum for candidates for the USOF Board of Directors, who will be elected at the Annual General Meeting on Monday afternoon. Additional business matters will be discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon during meetings of the various USOF committees.
Gonzaga University offers technology equipped classrooms for convention workshops and USOF committee meetings, which will be scheduled for all day Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. Already scheduled are an Introduction to Trail Orienteering workshop for Tuesday morning and a workshop on Mapping and Course Design for Trail O on Tuesday afternoon. There is room for more concurrent workshops on the schedule, so I invite anyone who would like to share their expertise on a topic of interest to Orienteers (such as course design, map making, working with Scouts and other youth groups, promoting orienteering, etc.) to contact me at beck@jepson.gonzaga.edu.
The convention is not all serious business meetings and competitive orienteering events. After dinner Monday evening, there will be a presentation by Jack Nisbet, author of Sources of the River: Tracing David Thompson Across Western North America and Mapmaker's Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau. David Thompson was involved in the establishment of fur trading posts of the Canadian Northwest Company (later absorbed by the Hudson's Bay Company) in what is now eastern Washington and British Columbia during the early 1800s. Jack Nisbet will tell us about Thompson's mapmaking and his contributions to the history of the inland northwest.
On Tuesday evening, there will be a fun orienteering event on the Gonzaga campus. The traditional ice cream social on Wednesday evening will provide a final opportunity to socialize and to raise funds to support the U.S. junior orienteering team.
Unfortunately we have had to cancel the junior camp due to insufficient demand. Any questions, please contact beck@jepson.gonzaga.edu for the few who did register, refunds will be made.
Primary housing accommodations on the Gonzaga University campus are suite style residence halls with a shared bathroom per two adjoining rooms. Most rooms are set up for double occupancy, but may also be used to accommodate only one person. Each room has a bed, desk, dresser/wardrobe, desk chair, and bookshelf per occupant, as well as, a telephone per room. All buildings feature community and recreational spaces as well as washer/dryers and small kitchens. Some "overflow" housing is also available in a "traditional" residence hall (common bathrooms down the hall for all the rooms on a wing). Campus housing will be available beginning Sunday, June 27, continuing through the night of Wednesday, June 30, at a cost of $28 per night for a single room or $22 per person for a share room. A limited number of rooms are available and will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis, first to the suite-style residence halls and last to the traditional residence hall rooms, so register early to get a spot.
For those who prefer camping, individual RV sites and a group tent camping site will be available at Riverside State Park, a twenty minute drive from the campus. If you want to bring your own tent and camp in the group camp site, please indicate this with your registration for the convention. Tent camping in the group campsites will be available beginning Sunday, June 27, continuing through the night of Wednesday, June 30, at a cost of $5 per person per night. Space is limited to 100 persons (including the junior training camp) and will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis, so register early to get a spot. The group campsite is for tents only; people with RVs can reserve their own sites on line at https://secure.camis.com/WA/ or by phone, (888) 226 7688.
The dinner buffets on campus will be catered events exclusively for USOF convention participants, on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at a cost of $14 per person for each meal. Breakfasts on campus Monday through Thursday will be in the university cafeteria serving students and participants in other programs as well. Lunch on Tuesday will also be served in the university cafeteria. On Monday and Wednesday, you will get a sack lunch at breakfast to take along to the off-campus events on those days. Cost of the breakfast-lunch combined for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be $17 for each day. Breakfast only is offered on Thursday morning for a cost of $7.
USOF Convention Schedule
Sunday June 27
3:00 - 6:00 p.m. USOF BoD meeting
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. buffet dinner
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. USOF BoD candidate forum
Monday June 28
morning - Sprint Champs at Camp Sekani
1:30 - 4:00 p.m. USOF Annual General Meeting
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. USOF BoD meeting
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. buffet dinner
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. presentation on DAvid Thompson mapping the Columbia Plateau
Tuesday June 29
morning and afternon convention workships & committee meetings
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. buffet dinner
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. a fun event, something like a cross between Poker O and the Price is Right.
Wednesday June 30
morning - Trail O Champs at Riverside State Park
afternoon - convention workships and committee meetings
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. buffet dinner
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. ice cream social