Special Convention 2018

[Hope]

8 hours ago, Brandon said:

@Old I just copied the list from http://jw2017.org/

 

I think that Italy snuck onto your 2018 list and bumped Norway..

 

Oregon is invited! I will see if I'm allowed to go...  

[blueyellow]

On 10.09.2017 at 7:34 PM, Adelin said:

So when are we going to know if we are invited?

 

When Bethel lets us know which congregations from our country are invited.

5 hours ago, Hope said:

 

I will see if I'm allowed to go...  

 

Why are you asking, Uani?

Don't you meet the criteria listed on the website?

[blueyellow]

23 hours ago, ChrisTheConfused said:

I wonder why other websites are used instead of a sub-domain of jw.org? I’m not searching to see how many years ahead they have reserved!

 

Maybe there are technical issues. Jw.org already has a lot of daily visitors, it's supported in 900 languages, moreover they'll need jw2018.org for only one year.

You don't have to search ahead, we just need to wait until the midweek meeting for the letter to be read.

[Hope]

6 minutes ago, blueyellow said:

 

When Bethel lets us know which congregations from our country are invited.

 

Why are you asking, Uani?

Don't you meet the criteria listed on the website?

 

It's not for me to decide if I meet criteria or not.  Not unlike being allowed to regular pioneer, those decisions rest with the Service Committee of the congregation.   I just put it out there and if it comes back positive, I'll be delighted to work on finding the money!

[Sylv]

12 minutes ago, Hope said:

 

It's not for me to decide if I meet criteria or not.  Not unlike being allowed to regular pioneer, those decisions rest with the Service Committee of the congregation.   I just put it out there and if it comes back positive, I'll be delighted to work on finding the money!

My niece and her husband applied for the Toronto convention this year and where not invited. She has been a regular pioneer for years, and he is an elder and pioneer. Friends of theirs did get invited. They were disappointed, but happily attended their assigned convention.

[jwhess]

Only certain specific areas (states or provinces) get permission to apply (in any single year).  Then only a portion of the applicants get approval.  There is very limited space or openings for foreign delegates.

[Tortuga]

2 hours ago, Hope said:

I just put it out there and if it comes back positive, I'll be delighted to work on finding the money!

 

If you get invited and do a gofundme, I'd be happy to contribute. 

[Brandon]

15 hours ago, Hope said:

 

I think that Italy snuck onto your 2018 list and bumped Norway..

 

Oh @Old meant for 2018. Okay I fixed the spreadsheet, if you follow the link I posted earlier.  (I can't edit the image file which is embedded in this forum now).

[Margaret]

It says you must meet at least one of the criteria not all, can this truely be correct?

[Stavro]

2 minutes ago, Margaret said:

It says you must meet at least one of the criteria not all, can this truely be correct?

 

If all criteria had to be met, only those serving in an appointed capacity and 20+ years baptized would be eligible. The elder baptized 15 years ago would be ineligible, as would the 40+ year regular pioneer who recently came off the list.

[Margaret]

Why wasn't the web address to the special conventions mentioned?

[Hope]

2 hours ago, Margaret said:

Why wasn't the web address to the special conventions mentioned?

 

They mentioned it at my Hall..

[Margaret]

Thank you my Sister

[Hope]

Does anyone have a "ballpark" as to how much one of these trips tend to cost?  I've heard rumours of $10k... 

[jwhess]

2 hours ago, Hope said:

Does anyone have a "ballpark" as to how much one of these trips tend to cost?  I've heard rumours of $10k... 

It will depend on where in the world the convention is located and at what time of the year.  I have friends that have attended three such conventions in the last several years.  I do not have an actual cost but in discussing it with them, it was in the "thousands" of dollars.

[Old]

My wife and I attended the Vienna "Keep On the Watch" Convention in 2009. We spent around $7000 total which included airfare from Portland, OR and an extra night in Chicago on our return. We booked through "Four Ambassadors" which provided really wonderful tours, meals, and luxury rooms. Four Ambassadors is owned by a brother and he or his SIL was with us all the time. The arrangement was under the watchful eye of our organization. We likely could have gone with a smaller package and saved a little, but we concluded it was a once in a lifetime event for us. Now we are looking at a possible second in a lifetime event.

[Thesauron]

It depends on where the convention is, what living standards you need/want, the type of tickets you chose... I've been to a few, and have never payed more than $3000 per person.


Johan

It depends on where the convention is, what living standards you need/want, the type of tickets you chose... I've been to a few, and have never payed more than $3000 per person.


Johan

[Hope]

Crikey, that's a bucket load of money!   Sorta makes it difficult for those of modest means to ever be able to enjoy such a privilege...  

 

I'll have to start driving for Lyft/Uber again in order to afford this (who needs sleep?? ).  I suppose the bulk of this money is to stay at specific hotels and do packages, right?  Coz I KNOW I can travel pretty much anywhere for much less than $3,000...

 

Prayerful consideration ahead... 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Hope

[blueyellow]

30 minutes ago, Thesauron said:

It depends on what living standards you need/want, the type of tickets you chose... I've been to a few, and have never payed more than $3000 per person.

 

Not really, Bethel requests that delegates choose a hotel from the approved list. For example, when I went to Greece in 2014 I wasn't allowed to find accommodation on my own (such as stay at my friends' home for free).

When I travel abroad, I prefer to book a $5 a night bed in hostels with 20 beds in a room. But I had no choice but book a 4 star hotel, as there weren't any cheaper hotels on the list.

There was one 3 star hotel, but the delegates who found out first about the list where the ones to book the 3 star hotel. Those who found out one day later were stuck with the more expensive choice.

[Guri]

http://jw2018.org/Home/Country

 

I'm so glad there will be the special convention in my home country of Georgia.  I just have been there for 10 days, visited Georgian Betel. I hope I will be able to attend the convention there next year. 

[Thesauron]

 
Not really, Bethel requests that delegates choose a hotel from the approved list. For example, when I went to Greece in 2014 I wasn't allowed to find accommodation on my own (such as stay at my friends' home for free).
When I travel abroad, I prefer to book a $5 a night bed in hostels with 20 beds in a room. But I had no choice but book a 4 star hotel, as there weren't any cheaper hotels on the list.
There was one 3 star hotel, but the delegates who found out first about the list where the ones to book the 3 star hotel. Those who found out one day later were stuck with the more expensive choice.

I know, I've done my trips comparably cheap anyway. Perhaps we were offered cheaper hotels. Could be.


Johan

[Old]

It appears there might be some private room arrangement, though of limited number.

The arrangement for special conventions is not the same as rooming for RCs or assemblies. For the most part, the rooming is handle by a selected travel agency. In the current series of Special Conventions, it is Four Ambassadors Travel out of Miami, for the US. They are our brothers and most likely to respond to questions about selecting a less costly hotel. Ordinarily one wouldn't contact them until approved, but I think they would be able to say whether there is to be any variation in room costs included in their packages. 

At Vienna in 2009, we would run into Americans who were assigned to a different travel agency and they would say that Four Ambassadors was the better of the two, having booked with Four Ambassadors four previous conventions.

Right now Four Ambassadors is incommunicado due to Irma.

I can't express how wonderful their package was for us, it exceeded our highest hopes. I don't know what Four Ambassadors paid for our rooms at the Hotel Kempinski in Budapest, but the posted rate for our room was in excess of $400 a per night. Makes me smile to reminisce. 

[Hope]

It seems to me it would might be helpful to put examples of anticipated costs for these journeys in the application information.  I can't imagine how sad it would be for those without such informed friends to apply, get accepted - then realize they need to come up with many thousands of dollars for themselves or their families (at least I know in advance).  

 

Any thoughts as to why prices are not mentioned in any way? 

 

Also - still curious as to how "travel groups" work.. must they be "anchored" by a married couple?  Same-sex or mixed groups?  If anyone has insights, I'd love to know.. thank you!  

[Stavro]

A travel group only ensures that those in the group are assigned the same hotel and activities, otherwise it can be any grouping of individuals regardless of gender or marital status.

[Friends just call me Ross]

We had a LOT of letters read tonight.

The first one was announcing that our congregation has received an invite to one of the Special Assemblies.

A rare occasion, indeed!