Getting Started

Technically, today (Friday) is day zero of the assembly, which doesn't formally convene until Saturday afternoon.  However, the place is very much abuzz; there are pre-assembly events and training sessions, the "riverside conversations" about important issues before the assembly, lots of seeing old friends and some making new friends, too.

Veteran GA observers will note that the quality of the assembly experience can be affected by the quality of the facility, the local arrangements staff, and the assembly support infrastructure.  There are two OGA staff persons who work full-time on Assembly preparations, and they are both seasoned professionals.

That being said, this assembly has shown signs of a sub-par performance, if initial impressions are to be trusted.  The facility is fine:  plenty of space for all the various meetings and events, although if there is an intuitive element to the design, I haven't found it yet.  The Exhibit hall is spacious, so spacious, in fact, that the Cokesbury book center was not visible from the main area.  It was tucked in the far rear corner of the hall.

Registration was a disaster.  First, the signage in the hall is nearly non-existent; major offices are not visibly identifiable.  Second, the registration booths were understaffed.   It appeared that there was a single computer and printer combination for manufacturing name tags and tickets for late registrants.  I was behind a registrant for whom it took ten minutes to obtain a badge (or at least it was already that long when I left, frustrated by the delay).  When I did register, I was informed that the tote bags in which to carry your materials (and the various knickknacks and brochures from the exhibit hall) were "on a train somewhere in Texas" and might be available on MONDAY.

In all fairness, there are scores of people working very hard to try to make this an enjoyable and smooth-running assembly, most of them volunteers.  We may be seeing one result of budget cuts at OGA, declining congregational membership and participation, or some other phenomenon, but it doesn't bode well so far.