ISNA convention

When it comes to the masses, the ISNA convention is perceived to be the only thing ISNA does. So it's important to address a problem when it is brought to light.

...There are many aspects of the ISNA convention experience; some are directly under the control of the convention organizers. The two most obvious are the logistics of the bazaar and the logistics of the sessions.

...There is a problem with the logistics of the sessions. It is a problem that has been repeated over and over for the past several years. I will state it in the form of the question of convention attendees:

“Why was this session not in the Main Hall?”

- It is asked when they are turned away from a session with a popular speaker being held in secondary hall, and find that the main hall is close to empty. It is asked when they think about how much money they spent to attend this convention and are denied the benefits unnecessarily.

...Regardless of what sessions ISNA may WANT the people to attend, to achieve its program objective, however noble that objective may be. The fact is that the vast majority of the attendees (non-activist adults and youth) leave with a raised level of awareness, knowledge, understanding, or devotion to Islam and/or the American Muslim community after listening to the dynamic popular speakers.

...SO WHY CREATE A SITUATION WHERE THEY ARE TURNED AWAY?

...I offer some constructive advise:

After the program is created, and rooms are assigned to each separate program, there must be a “reality check” The checker must look at every session in the Main Hall and ask him/herself:

“Is there any other session at this convention, at this time, that may need this main hall?”

...A simple swap would solve the problem most of the time. Really, we are only looking at three sessions a day. And the answer is obvious when you look at the list of speakers for a session.

...Compromise: Is it really a problem for ISNA to give the rights of any recording of that session to the organizers of that specific program? It only seems fair. ISNA should do it for the great good that comes from more people attending that session. MSA should give ISNA the right to broadcast that session on its web-cast. Everyone wins, especially the attendees.
I hope this problem is not symptomatic of a larger problem within ISNA of being more interested in what is good for itself rather than what is good for the Muslim community.