Our conferences are seven days long, Sunday afternoon to the following Sunday morning. Every year we select two Chair people who arrange for a theme and theme speaker for the week, Minister of the Week, workshop leaders and youth leaders.
Our children's program is usually held from 9:15 am to 11:45 am and 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm every day. We offer many different age ranges for the children's program, with at least two adults leading each group. In addition, we have a youth coordinator and a floater who help the youth leaders throughout the week. Parents volunteer on an occasional basis, for example, helping to row to the neighboring island and helping out during children's social hour, or the all-important Ice Cream Social.
Mornings begin with brave souls becoming polar bears for a dip into the clear Atlantic Ocean.
Our Minister of the Week leads a morning chapel after breakfast and before the theme talk. The Theme speaker has a presentation each morning for about one hour. After the theme talk, we offer a selection of workshops to choose from that last for about 1 and 1/2 hours. In the afternoon, we again offer a selection of workshops while the children's program is in session.
Around 8:00 pm every evening, there is some type of organized event: talent show, musicale, Pelican (hotel staff) talent show, etc. Every evening around 9:30 or 10:00 pm, we hold a candle-lit chapel service in the stone chapel that is lead by members of the conference. For the night owls, most nights include a Starlight Cafe, which is a coffee house type of gathering that goes until around midnight.
The hotel has a snack bar where you can purchase lobster rolls, frappes, lime rickies along with traditional treats. During the week, there are various activities that lend themselves perfectly to an island environment. One of the all-time favorites is a softball game between the conferees and the staff, with the only known left field that is located in a cemetery and fly balls there are ground rule doubles! See the pictures HERE.
You may attend as much or as little of the planned activities as you wish. Some people try to fit as much in as they possibly can and others prefer to sit in rocking chairs on the hotel porch or on the rocks and just relax.
Our conference is run by chairs who are selected each summer for the following year (or years). We have a coordinating committee that oversees the conference between meetings of past chairs, which is held every fall. We have an elected treasurer and an elected registrar, along with elected provisioner who are responsible for acquiring our supplies for "social hour" which is held every evening before supper.
If you are interesting in learning more, seeing how the leadership works, click HERE for the Leadership Page
Please visit our pages for LOAS I and LOAS II for specific information pertaining to our conferences this summer.