In an effort to increase the opportunities for professional development, WLU will bi-annually review requests for small meeting fund allocations with a maximum total of $2,500 to be awarded in a fiscal year. This is a “seed money” fund that will be replenished from the proceeds of the meetings. A post-meeting evaluation will be filed listing attendance figures, financial results, and programmatic highlights from the meeting. Within three months after the meeting, the original fund allocation will be repaid, plus an additional 20% of the net profit derived from the meeting.
Who is Eligible to Receive Funds?
WLU members who uphold the NCTE and WLU values regarding teacher professional development for teachers of the English language arts and those who do not already hold an annual meeting. For example, TAWL groups may apply to receive funds to host a meeting featuring a prominent speaker.
Meeting Coordinators’ Responsibilities
- Provides the meeting program theme and orchestrates the program
- Formulates a budget
- Checks regional calendars to avoid potential conflicts
- Recruits volunteers to help with registrations and general meeting management
- Distributes news releases, preannouncements, brochures, and other promotional materials
- Negotiates and signs the contract for a hotel/conference facility
- Invites speakers
- Collects registration and fees
- Duplicates conference handouts/materials
- Prints name badges and program schedule
- Manages the meeting on-site
- Obtain photo permissions for postings on the WLU website
- Obtain permissions for Podcasts for the WLU website
- Provides a post meeting evaluation report to WLU detailing final count of attendees, income/expenses report, programmatic highlights, and meeting artifacts (e.g., copy of final program, promotional pieces)
WLU Responsibilities
- WLU Board reviews and makes final funding decisions
- Provides seed money to help finance the program in the amount decided by the subcommittee
- Promotes the meeting electronically through the NCTE INBOX and WLU website
- Lists the meeting on the WLU website on the Cosponsored Small Meetings list
- Lists the meeting in the Council Chronicle, Talking Points, and on the WLU website
- Provides up to 2,000 labels for a mailing list of members within a 200-mile radius
- Provides limited use of the WLU logo according to Council guidelines
- Provides a handbook for managing a meeting, complete with timelines, sample speaker letters, and general meeting management
- Offers guidance on any questions of negotiation and meeting management
- Supplies a sales kit containing journal articles and NCTE publications for display at the meeting
Deadlines
- September 15 for November board meeting notified by December 1
- May 15 for July Board meeting notified by August 1
Criteria
All proposals must include the following:
Name of Organization:
Address:
Phone, Email and/or Website for organization:
Conference or Workshop Title:
Name of Conference Coordinator:
Address:
Phone, Email:
Summary: Please provide a brief description (no more than 500 words) of the proposed small meeting. The summary should include the following: Conference theme or title, date, target audience, professional development goals and how the proposed meeting helps meet these goals and are linked to WLU’s beliefs. Clearly articulate a theoretical rationale for the proposed meeting. Include the keynote speaker as well as a rationale for inviting the speaker. Finally, include the ways in which these professional goals align with NCTE in general and WLU in particular.
Budget: Please provide any information regarding matching funds. Attach a detailed one page budget outlining costs (conference site, speaker fees, food expenses, etc.), and proposed attendance fees. In addition to the budget, please provide a narrative rationale explaining costs and how the group plans to reimburse WLU. It is strongly suggested that members retain budget estimates from meeting locations and speakers in order to more accurately reflect expenditures and revenue. Draft Budget Form 
Timeline: Provide a timeline which details plans for the small group coordinator to complete the coordinator’s responsibilities provided in the previous bulleted list. Please note that these responsibilities may be handled by multiple members of an organization.
Send proposals to:
WLU Small Meetings Fund
1111 W. Kenyon Road
Urbana, IL 61801-1096