Why attend the annual conference

Editorial

By Noel Altman

Going to my first annual T’ai Chi Chih Teachers’ Conference was not something I necessarily decided; Ed had been accredited six months before I had and attended his first conference a few months later (Summer, 1988). We were newly married and pretty much broke, but Ed insisted he had to go, so we paid for it somehow. He came home so lit up about it, there really wasn’t a discussion about whether we’d go the next year. That year, as we co-taught classes, the money accumulated in a T’ai Chi Chih bank account which we didn’t use except for T’ai Chi Chih supplies and attending T’ai Chi Chih events (like our Seijaku Accreditation course, or auditing two T’ai Chi Chih Teacher Training courses.) By summer, we had enough to pay for both of us to fly from California and attend in Albuquerque (Summer, 1989).

Meeting all the different teachers was so interesting — the senior teachers who I had heard about, the teachers from little towns I’d never heard of, the teachers who teach out of the U.S., the teachers teaching in new and different settings — at corporations, in schools, at health spas and teaching to different groups of people, including those in wheelchairs, and children. I saw that the possibilities were endless of where to teach, and how to teach.

Decisions affecting the future of T’ai Chi Chih were made at the annual conference, but you had to attend to have your vote count!

I especially enjoyed working on refining the movements with Justin Stone and Steve Ridley, (then the Appointed Spiritual Head of T’ai Chi Chih), and hearing Justin’s Saturday morning talk. People were so high (naturally) because the amount of Chi flowing over that long weekend was incredible!

After that conference, we repeated the same pattern; our year’s teaching income would pay for Ed and I to attend the annual conference, first and foremost, and then, if we earned more, it could be used to fund attendance at other T’ai Chi Chih events.

Of course excuses would arise — good reasons why we might want to spend that money on something else, but one or the other of us would talk the other one into going. Only one year did we actually not have the money to go because we had stopped teaching for about six months as we prepared for and executed an out-of-state move and a temporary downshifting from two salaries to one. The conference was in Minnesota that year and we lived in Washington State. We were in debt and it was just too expensive for us to go. (It would have been nice if the scholarship idea existed then).

Why would any teacher who wants to improve his or her practice and teaching of T’ai Chi Chih miss the annual teachers’ conference? Of course, the list of excuses is endless. Too often I hear the excuse that it’s “just too expensive”. Really, though, the cost of the conference is generally nominal — it’s not intended to be a money-making event. It’s the airfare that can be expensive, depending on where you live, but even these costs can be greatly reduced if you shop airfares early and during off-seasons (mid-Fall, mid-Winter, early Spring).

The bottom line is: you will go if you intend to go. Give something special to yourself — commit to going to the Annual Teachers’ Conference not only this year, but EVERY year!