Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| ahmer |
| 08/13/01 at 07:13:31 |
| Assalam Alaikum We here in NJ are planning insha'Allah to organize a state wide MSAs conference to coordinate efforts between MSAs here. I have gone through some of the stuff , but has anyone got ay ideas or suggestions or any experience like this.? Please help us jazaka'Allah khair salam alaikum ahmer |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| jannah |
| 08/13/01 at 12:03:11 |
| wlm, lots of it.. it would take forever to write it all down :) what have you guys done so far? |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| se7en |
| 08/13/01 at 22:56:08 |
wa alaykum as salaam wa rahmatAllah, are you familiar with the MSA North East conferences that have been done in the past? check out [url]http://www.jannah.org/msa[/url] |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| SomairaAltaf |
| 08/26/01 at 03:14:29 |
| Assalamualaikum @ MIT..Oct 6th I believe there will be a MSA north east conf..everyone is encouraged to come!! Also, on the same day, at UMass-Dartmouth, there will be an ICNE conference. inshaAllah i hope everyone's well.. do let us know if you get the conf in NJ planned and set ia take care ws Somaira |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| zeyn |
| 08/25/01 at 10:30:21 |
| salam all i know long time no post..but just minor correction on somairas post (i knew being in dc would mess with her memory..) but in oct the boston conference is the north east region conference not the east zone conference..also perhaps the msa's in ney jersey could contact the east zone rep for msa national bro osman sofi for assistance he can be reached at ezrep-usa@msa-natl.org Zeyn |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| jannah |
| 08/26/01 at 03:27:21 |
| slm, good catch zeyn!! i didn't even notice that br ahmer here's some stuff i wrote to the northeast ppl.. it might be useful to u.. there's also a document called the MSA_ConfPlanningManual.doc on the http://www.msa-natl.org website that's really good. it has some great advice... Bismillah... PLANNING THE MSA NE REGIONAL CONFERENCE I. Reserving a Date - The conference has traditionally been the second weekend in November. This date has always worked well, it avoids thanksgiving, midterms and usually gives enough time for advertising to msa's in the northeast who have started school mid september. The next best choice would probably be late october. Decisions need to be made on whether or not this will be a 1 day conference or multiple, factoring in how to organize accommodations etc. II. Reserving the Univ. Rooms - This needs to be done ASAP after deciding on the best university facility/accommodations. Most student organizations plan out their events a semester ahead of time and therefore reserve everything a semester ahead of time. Latecomers will get slim pickings.. III. Forming the committees - Yes committees are bureaucratic but we've found they are the best way to organize and put together a conference. The best way to divide things up is to have these: Onsite Committee = takes care of all the onsite legalities, accommodations, organizations and planning. reserves the rooms, figures out all the details of logistics, food, prayer, flow of ppl, separation of bro/sis, parking, signs, conf rules, etc. (These are like the ansar at isna.) Program Committee - works on all details of the program: the theme of the conference, the goals, lecture topics, workshops, speakers, conf evaluations. Publicity Committee - goal is to have every MSA in the entire northeast come to this conference. should use every media available to broadcast the information and invite them -- mass snail mailing, email blasts, fliers, personalized emails to msa execs, phone, isna, icna, local events etc. also to motivate ppl coming to the conference towards the goals Transportation Committee - an important one many ppl forget. you can invite the entire northeast, but the only way they can come is if they have transportation. the transportation committee can be small but they must liason with other major communities to help them organize transportation - buses, caravans, etc. Registration Committee - takes care of all the details of pre-registering everyone, on-site registering, sending information about transportation to them. ***each committee MUST have a chair, someone who is responsible for all aspects of that committee and works with the rest of the committee members. IV. Deciding on a Chair - There should be one sister or brother in charge of everything. This person liasons with every committee to make ure everything is going along well and on the main timeline. He/she also makes the major decisions with the advisor -- like whether or not to have a bazaar, financial issues, minute details too. They must keep an itemized list of costs as well as the money coming in from different donors, msa's and registrants. The chair is the link from the conference organizers to the outside world. They do the negotiating and work with other northeast msa's, msa-natl, ne council etc. V. Deciding on an Advisor - You should have one very experienced MSA worker helping you answer questions, guiding you, checking your progress. You may also want to have a Fiqh advisor --ie an Imam in your community that you may need to decide about Islamic issues that have to do with the conferece. **everyone on the committees, committee chairs, conference chair, advisor will be working with each other and sharing information as much as possible, but the responsibilities need to be divided up into working parts to make it easier for everyone and organizing. At the first planning meeting ALL of the above MUST be decided on, or believe me you'll spend the next 6 months doing nothing but fighting on everything. Invite everyone in the community who is interested in helping with the conference. Explain about the structure and then decide on date/time, place, chair of the conference, committee chairs and assign everyone else to each committee. remind ppl being committee chair means you have more of a burden over you and the same as being conference chair- it's a huge responsibility. Second ask ppl to start recruiting for their committees and thinking of ideas. Decide on a date for the next meeting. At the second meeting ask each committee to list tasks which need to be done or the chair can do this. Then decide on a good timeline. Deadlines are really your friend, if you don't have this you won't have a super organized conference. SOME ISSUES TO KEEP IN MIND: *When conflict arises it must be put to a vote-plain and simple. EVERYONE working on the conference can vote and the majority wins. The chair of the conference can vote as well, but they are really just a moderator letting ppl speak their opnions and why they want to go one way and then helping everyone to come to a decision. *Since Boston MSA's seem spread apart and aren't really integrated with each other like a smaller community, you may want to have each msa take over being one committee. *This isn't a Boston conference it's a northeast conference. Once you've decided on committee chairs make sure you recruit ppl from all over the northeast and I'd even suggest that some of those chairs be people NOT from Boston. This will ensure that the entire northeast participates and attends. Keep in contact with ppl all over the northeast to get ideas and feedback. *A note about costs. It's important that once the committees are formed you work up some kind of budget and then figure out how to raise/get the money. Remember that if you take money from any organization (local mosque, the msa's, msa-natl) or person they now have a say in your conference and will expect to control some aspects of the conference later in return for it. |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| ahmer |
| 08/30/01 at 11:47:11 |
| [slm] Jazaka'Allah for all those who have helped. I am really busy with the Muslim Youth Day we are having here insha'Allah in a week's time. So sorry about not getting time before. Insha'Allah as part of MSA @ NJIT we are having a one day conference on 29th September jointly organized by ISA @ NJIT & ISA @ Rutgers, Newark. This is just a prelude to the conference we are planning here,i.e a state wide convention of MSAs in New Jersey. This conference will be insha'Allah in the first week of November. lemme clear a few things, by "we" i mean the local MSAs with support of ICNA NJ chapter, WhyIslam Dawah Project and local Muslim community of Central Jersey. The whole purpose is to coordinate work among NJ MSAs. Insha'Allah this will propel some steam into somewhat dormant orgz here. I read the MSA document on org conferences and we will insha'Allah take some help from that. But should we expand it to a sort of East Zone conf? cuz we just want to focus on the NJ region which has a great potential but still untapped. Any suggestions or help from Albany people welcome!! and insha'Allah in an another email, i will post you the information about the WhyIslam dawah project, a unique one that has worked wonders here alhumdolillah! so we are establishing a WhyIslam MSA outreach program insha'Allah. So far we have contacts establised in NJ, Iowa MSA and RPI, Troy. But about this some other time, cuz i have to sell MYD tickets now.! :D jazaka'Allah, [wlm] husain or ahmer :O |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| jannah |
| 08/30/01 at 12:37:58 |
| wlm, ahmer i think u all should work on nj first and get them to be a very close working unit..and then attend the ne oct conference in boston which includes the entire northeast msa's and then attend the East zone conference in the spring wherever it is held. this way ur not taking on too much too soon and not replicating the efforts of others. |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| ahmer |
| 09/02/01 at 10:38:56 |
| [slm] absolutely! I agree with you. but i need help with arranging one more speaker. Any speakers from Albany? It's on Saturday 29th September and insha'Allah we expect a big crowd. We need one more speaker! Will try to have Br Altaf Hussain confirmed during the Muslim Youth Day here. Have you guys heard Ibrahim Nejm? [wlm] ahmer |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| ahmer |
| 09/06/01 at 00:39:58 |
[slm] i guess i called for some help with the conference we are planning insha'Allah. i have put through most of the stuff but speakers. hard to find!!! [wlm] ahmer |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| jannah |
| 09/06/01 at 00:50:10 |
| [wlm] what is your theme brother? we have some speakers here..locally that may be able to help if you really need someone quick... if it's msa related stuff.. why not some experienced msa grad students like sr mona hassan or sameera ahmed and nadeem siddiqi i think they're in NJ. they were all excellent speakers in conference workshops in the past... |
| Re: MSAs conference in NJ ? |
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| ahmer |
| 09/06/01 at 07:35:55 |
| [slm] as for workshops we have alhumdolillah all the local speakers from New Jersey. for main session speakers we have Shaikh Yusuf Estes as confirmed, and we need two more. Maybe Altaf Husain (tentative) (will talk to him during the Muslim Youth Day) and Sh. Ibrahim Negm (tentative). I asked earlier about Ibrahim Negm, How is he? the theme is "Muslims: Past, Present & Future". i will list the topics for the main session and workshops. this whole conference has hit some snags due to bad organization by some ppl. But insha'Allah i won't let this chance go. I have drawn full sponsorship from ICNA-NJ ppl here alhumdolillah. cuz they had no money but alhumdolillah everything seems to go in the right direction. Insha'Allah if Allah plans it will go ahead. This will insha'allah spur some life in the dormant student More details later :-) [wlm] ahmer |
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