From its earliest days until the early 1970s, the YWCA of the U.S.A. put considerable effort into Conferences as a means of bringing together YWCA people, sharing information, exchanging ideas, and providing for practice in public speaking, group work, legislative action, and parliamentary procedure. A wide variety of Conferences was planned for professional and volunteer staff, and members. The materials filed in this series relate to "general" or "regional" conferences. Material about Conferences for specific types of Associations (City, Town and Country, "Colored" Branches), or "constituent" groups (Industrial, Business and Professional, Teen, Student) is filed with other material related to that work. [See RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, RECORD GROUP 7. STUDENT WORK, and RECORD GROUP 8. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS.]

Regional Conferences (also known as General Conferences, or National Conferences in the Regions) brought together representatives from the general membership within geographic regions. Training focused on effective administration of Community YWCAs as well as the mission of the YWCA. They provided a regular avenue for the National Office to hear issues and concerns from the various geographic regions. Regional Conferences were part of "the cycle of meetings between conventions" which allowed the Association to monitor progress toward resolutions passed at prior Conventions and develop issues for discussion at upcoming Conventions.

Though other kinds of training opportunities (workshops, institutes, seminars, round-tables, etc.) continued, traditional conferences disappeared from the YWCA program by the early 1970s when a general desire for change combined with a dramatic re-organization of the staff structure and severe financial problems made them no longer feasible or desirable.

The YWCA's National Convention was the regular meeting of the national organization and served as its legislative body. Delegates from member associations met with the National Board and national staff to share information and methods; discuss, amend, and/or affirm the purpose of the organization; "consider and adopt prioritized program for the ensuing years;" establish and amend policies and procedures for the national organization; establish standards for membership of community and student associations in the national organization; and elect the National Board to shepherd the work of the organization between Conventions. National Conventions were called by the National Board at least every three years except when prevented by travel restrictions during the two World Wars.

Actions of the Convention were determined by majority vote of the delegates. These were either "voting delegates," who were representatives from member associations, (the number of delegates an association could send to Convention was a function of the size of voting membership of that Association); or "ex-officio voting delegates," who were National Board and national staff members.

Convention "entrusts" the National Board with the management of the Association in the interim between Conventions. The National Board was responsible for hiring and directing the work of the national staff. Each National Board member served a term lasting through two Convention cycles and was eligible to stand for one additional term. One third to one half of the membership was elected at each Convention.

The challenge of "creating . . . a common mind which can deal wisely and adequately with complex problems in the life of the organization" out of a large group of women brought together for a few days every two or three years, lead to ever-evolving experiments with preparatory materials and meetings, small group discussions, and various other techniques to achieve effective and representational participation. Though there were enduring traditions and features, no two conventions were exactly the same.

This form of organization-major organizational decisions made at intervals of two or three years-meant that changes in national YWCA policies and procedures were slow in coming. Often when issues were brought to Convention, the result was a resolution to establish a Commission to study the situation and report to the following Convention. It was not unusual for changes to be studied and discussed through two or three Convention cycles before final decisions were reached.

Due to this deliberative process, often-cited "watershed" Convention Actions, such as the adoption of the Federal Council of Churches' "Social Ideals of the Churches" in 1920, the "Interracial Charter" in 1946, and the "One Imperative: the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary" in 1970, were in fact the result of years of study, discussion, preparation, and incremental action. They were more a manifestation of a continuum of activity than a dramatic change of direction. YWCA Conventions regularly and repeatedly reviewed such issues as the nature of the organization's role in public policy; the diversity of its membership and leadership; religion, or the "C" in YWCA; and the role of men in the Association.

Auxiliary meetings associated with Convention, the Assemblies, were the national meetings of various YWCA Councils-the bottom-up organizations of various constituent groups within the YW: Industrial, Business and Professional, [college and university] Student, and Teen Age. These usually convened a few days before Convention.

The Convention planned for 1918 was postponed for the duration of the U.S. involvement in World War I.

The Convention planned for 1945 was cancelled at request of the federal government that convention travel be curtailed. In its stead, the National Board election was carried out by mail, and simultaneous meetings were held at each association to consider questions of importance to the whole Association and report back to the National Board. These were referred to variously as "little convention meetings" and "nation-wide discussions."

Any meetings or conferences held between Conventions provided more and less formal opportunities for the Association to measure progress toward goals set at Convention and gather ideas and opinions for future program. After World War II, the Association established a more formal "cycle of meetings between conventions" held all around the country. These were known variously as "Neighborhood Meetings," "Interim Leadership Development Meetings," "Convention Cycle Meetings," and "Mid-Triennium Conference."

After World War II, as the national organization scaled back its program activities, Convention discussion centered more on the organization's public policy platform and the internal workings of the YWCA: affiliation of associations, payment of dues, public relations, and finances. In addition, Convention served as a venue to launch such things as a new YWCA logo (1988), the 135th Anniversary exhibit (1994), and the ill-fated Worldwide Web-based "communications platform" YWLink (1998).

A series of long-range and strategic planning initiatives began circa 1988 to attempt to "transform" the YWCA for the 21st Century. These eventuated in the "Change Initiative" (1998-2000). A Special Convention was called in summer 2000 to approve an outline plan "Steps to Absolute Change." At this Special Convention, a Transition Steering Committee was charged with drafting a detailed reorganization plan for approval at a Convention the following year. The final Convention in 2001 approved the "Ten Steps to Absolute Change Transition Plan" for the restructuring of the national organization.

At the national office, Conventions and Conferences staff were in charge of business management and logistical planning of conferences and Conventions, including publicity, budgeting, scheduling, and the production of printed materials. Convention Committees planned program for Convention and any pre-Convention meetings, and solicited and gathered input from associations for resolutions and amendments to be voted on at Convention.