GLRF in Chicago for annual meeting of the Federation of Gay Games

The annual meeting of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) was held 12 Nov – 18 Nov 2005 in Chicago. GLRF is an organizational director on the board of the FGG and participated in the meeting as a voting delegate. It was a non-stop marathon of general, committee, and sub-committee meetings.

The first two days of the meeting were devoted to the site selection process for the 2010 Gay Games. Three cities submitted bids to host the event: Paris, Köln, and Johannesburg. One winner was selected with only one ballot: Köln. See related story.

The remaining five days of the meeting focused on the general business of the FGG. The Chicago Games Inc. presented an update report on the progress of the planning and organization for the 2006 Chicago Gay Games. Currently, 4100 athletes and cultural participants have registered and more are anticipated in the coming months. New marketing campaigns were unveiled that will target key cities and leverage the use of the partners program. What about rowing? No changes or updates were provided since the visit to Chicago by members of the GLRF Regatta Advisory Group on 25 August 2005.

The FGG continues to pursue corporate sponsorships, submit grant applications, and develop fundraising events to raise monies for various general and specific funds. A contract to develop sponsorship materials with pr firm Maloney & Fox was completed.

The pr firm of Witeck-Combs Communications was retained for the media and publicity requirements surrounding the 2010 Gay Games site selection and the 2006 Chicago Gay Games event.

An initiative to revamp the organizational structure of the FGG was approved by a majority of the directors. The outside consulting firm of StrategicSolutions Consulting outlined various options and approaches to a new organizational structure. The new design calls for a smaller board of directors, and a larger, general assembly. A steering committee will now begin the process of drafting a plan to implement the new organizational plan and hopes to formally submit the plan to the board for final approval and adoption at the 2006 annual meeting.

Several organizational directors and two independent directors were reelected to the board. No new organizational directors submitted applications for membership. One new position was created for the Executive Committee: Senior Vice President – Female, which expands the current executive committee to 8 members.

The board approved a bid to host the 2006 annual meeting in Lyon, France on 27 Nov – 01 Dec 2006.

There were two big rowing events for the week. The first was a GLRF-organized, community focused rowing social, Drinks With Rowers. The idea was to promote rowing in the Chicago gay and lesbian community, and to provide a chance for all local rowing clubs and organizations to network and promote their programs and regattas for the 2006 season. The event was a big success and we were honored to have an official representative from USRowing attend! Thanks Kelly!

The second big event was an early morning, lakeside meeting with a representative from the Crystal Lake Rowing Club on Friday, 18 November 2005. The objective was to explore the idea of hosting the 2006 Gay Games rowing regatta on Crystal Lake. You couldn’t ask for a better location and set of facilities. Wow. See a review of the location in the GLRF Regatta Advisory Group findings and recommendations cgi_mtg_findings_august2005.pdf to Chicago Games Inc.