The 2010 Diocesan Convention will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, Saturday, November 6, 2010. Registration will begin 7:30 a.m., Eucharist will be 8:30, and Convention business will begin 9:45. If you have not pre-registered online, you may register the morning of Convention beginning 7:30; registration will close at 11:00 a.m.

For the most up-to-date information about Diocesan Convention, please take the time to visit the Convention section, which includes:

  • Resolutions
  • Reports
  • Budgets
  • Nominees and Biographical Information
  • Standing Rules of Order

Parking

We encourage you to consider using public transportation, especially Regional Rail, which stops at Market Street East (right below the Convention Center). Parking lots surround the Convention Center, and we have arranged for discounted parking in the Parkway garage at 12th & Filbert Streets. Tickets entitling the bearer to the discounted parking (called “chasers”) will be handed out on Convention day.

The Convention Center

Please enter the Convention Center at the 12th & Arch West Concourse (noted above the doorway), which is across the street from last year’s location. We are on street level this year. Delegates, alternates, youth delegates, clergy and lay leaders will be asked to sign in so they can receive their Convention packets. Staff will be posted throughout the first floor to assist you. (It will require about as much walking as last year’s location.)

Seating for Delegates

Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis, not by Deanery. To facilitate voting, delegates are encouraged to arrange with other delegates of their parishes to sit together, and the first delegate to arrive from your parish should save seats sufficient for all attendees. When you arrive, look for information on seating designation by colors; ushers will be available for assistance.

Orientation for New Delegates

If you have never been to Convention, please attend the Orientation for New and Youth Delegates at 7:45 a.m. in Room 112AB.

Refreshments are provided for Convention attendees.

Continental Breakfast will be available in the concourse area beginning 7:30, and lunch will be provided at the Convention Center.

Registration volunteers will distribute packets with ballots when you sign in.

Individual resident clergy will receive a ballot and name badge in his/her packet. The first lay delegate from each congregation will receive an envelope containing the parish’s voting ballot and nametags for all delegates, alternates and youth delegates from that parish. Delegates who arrive at a later time will receive a similar envelope without ballot or name badges.

Be sure to visit exhibit tables.

You are invited to visit exhibits of diocesan and national organizations that will be on display in the concourse area and Exhibit Room 111AB. Please follow the signs for directions.

Please do not litter. We ask that you refrain from leaving any brochures or flyers on parish events on chairs. Be sure to place all trash and litter in the proper receptacles so we can leave the Convention Center in the same condition we found it. If you lose an item, check at the registration area Lost and Found the day of Convention, or contact Karen Bach (see below) after Convention to see if the Church House staff retrieved the item.

Please remember that distribution of flyers inside the meeting room is forbidden without the permission of Secretary of Convention.

If you have questions about Convention, please check the website or contact Karen Bach by email at karenb@diopa.org or by phone at (215) 627-6434 x111 before Friday.