by Gopa Patnaik
December 1997
Revision: 2/98, 6/98, 7/98
In the Board of Governors meeting in Monterey, California on 7/2/98, the board accepted the following guidelines for future OSA convention sites and instructed the President to make this as part of the agreement with local OSA Chapter hosting the annual OSA convention.
Cultural:
Host chapter is in complete charge of choosing, arranging, and presenting cultural programs without interference from the national office of OSA. However the chapter should generally go by the following guidelines.
1) OSA by definition is a socio-cultural organization. Cultural programs should be reflective of Oriya culture as much as possible.
2) The host chapter should take advantage of local talents, talents from USA/Canada as well as artists visiting from Orissa. For the later consult the sponsoring organization such as JSA, to minimize expenses.
3) Children’s programs should be separated from adults and awards should be presented at a reasonable time within the same program.
4) Classical, folk and contemporary items should be distinctly categorized. Local committees should do proper screening. Punctuality and adhering to time limits should be maintained as much as possible.
Financial:
OSA will loan up to US$2000 to host chapter convention committee. It should be returned immediately after the convention. The convention committee should not wait till convention accounts are finalized.
1) Accounts should be finalized within sixty days after the convention with complete auditing. The committee on their own will appoint an independent audit committee. Report should be sent to current President and Secretary / Treasurer.
2) If a profit is made, the report should be accompanied by a check equal to half the profit. In case of loss, OSA will send a check equal to half the loss after accepting the audited report.
3) For the purpose of accountability, the local financial committee should carry out all transactions by means of checks with a bank account opened specially in the name of OSA convention. Only convention related expenses should go through this account.
4) OSA convention is a gathering of its members (per rules of business motion by Board of Governors on 7/2/98). So membership should be collected from all participants who are not members. The convention committee should be discrete in giving guest status to some of the participants. The convention committee should promptly forward all membership dues collected along with membership details to OSA Secretary / Treasure. They should not wait till convention accounts are finalized.
5) The convention committee will collect US$15 per registrant as OSA Fund Raising Fee and forward it to OSA promptly at the end of the convention (per general body resolution of 7/5/97 in Houston). The committee should include this amount in the General Registration Fee. In addition, any donation collected in the name of OSA should also be sent to OSA Secretary/ Treasurer promptly.
6) Registration should be considered incomplete without full registration fee and membership dues from non-members.
7) The committee should provide room and board to OSA guests. OSA will arrange funds for their travel, if necessary.
Programming:
1) OSA should be consulted for the overall programming of the convention. In particular, inaugural function, board of governors meeting and general body meeting are OSA's responsibility. In addition, committee should provide slots for OSA sponsored guests (if any), slots for OSA award presentation (during cultural etc), slots for closing ceremony. Host chapter is encouraged to add a local guest to the inaugural function (e.g. a mayor or a local congressman)
2) Designated social hours should be provided.
3) Meetings, forums etc should be worked together between OSA and host committee. Parallel sessions should be encouraged.
4) Student and Youth representatives from OSA should be given key roles in the convention.
5) The OSA President at his/her discretion assigns certain OSA funds for youth activities in the convention. The youth committee chair of the convention should get in touch with the President with definite proposals well ahead of time for the funds.
Awards:
The announcement for nominations, appointment of screening committees/judges, award announcement, preparation of certificate/plaques/checks are the responsibilities of OSA for the following awards:
Kalashree Award
Distinguished Oriya Award (Utkaliya)
Outstanding Youth Award (per General Body resolution 7/4/98)
Subrina Biswal Memorial Award
Pramod Patnaik Inter-Chapter Cultural Competition
OSA will consult with the convention committee for suitable venues to present these awards.
In addition, there is Subrina Biswal Performing Arts Award, which is administered by IAFF (Dr. Subash Mohapatra). IAFF consults with the convention committee directly on the rules and procedures for this award. OSA is not involved in this award.
Publications:
1) The convention committee may negotiate with OSA and take complete charge of publishing the souvenir issue. In this case, the committee may choose to take all advertisement revenue and bear all costs of publishing souvenir and OSA directory. On the other hand the committee may share the advertisement revenue and publication costs with OSA equally.
2) OSA Secretary / Treasurer will provide the address data base for publication in the directory. No changes should be made without direct approval of the Secretary / Treasurer. The committee is encouraged to gather change and addition of new addresses and pass them to the Secretary/Treasurer.
General:
1) The OSA president will seek proposals from local chapters for hosting convention well in advance. If more than one proposal are received, the president at his/her discretion will appoint a committee to evaluate the merits of the proposals. It will be the Board of Governors’ decision to make the site selection final.
2) Once the site selection is made and communicated to the president of the local chapter, they are encouraged to choose a convenor and/or co-convenor democratically. If the convener is someone other than the chapter president, the chapter president should be part of the convention committee. The committee will be the points of contact for the OSA officers.
3) The convention committee should work closely with OSA President or his/her nominee. He/she should be kept informed on relevant details. Any package or brochure that goes to the OSA members should be reviewed by OSA officers first.
4) Per Board resolution on 7/2/98, the President will appoint a committee to resolve differences, if any, that arises between OSA and host committee. The committee's decision will be binding.