Hosting meetings without a hitch—you might say that’s Nancy Arnold’s specialty. The conference events planner for the Lansing-based Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church organizes multiple meetings each year, including the flagship Michigan Annual Conference that attracts between 1,200 and 1,800 attendees for four to six days of activities.
It’s a role she assumed full time in 2017, when the organization’s West Michigan and Detroit conferences merged. “My focus is on hospitality and caring for the individuals who come,” Arnold explains, noting while the church has an aging demographic, the annual conference also attracts younger people and families, whose needs must be met. “It [involves] providing childcare that is safe, fun, and engaging for children, as well as caring for the aging demographic that might need accessible hotel rooms [close by] to get to their meetings,” she says. Addressing attendees’ special dietary needs also is a must for Arnold—and is a responsibility she takes very seriously. “It’s more than just telling the person who is gluten free that they can have the salad,” Arnold says. “Someone who is paying for a full meal should also receive a full meal and not feel uncomfortable because they can’t eat what everyone else can eat.”
Arnold works with an executive team that establishes the conference theme, but she handles a large chunk of the work that follows. “I’m the full-time person who puts together all the logistics and communications,” she says. Arnold handles details such as the venue contract, making travel arrangements, hiring American Sign Language interpreters, coordinating buses, and booking off-site lodging, among others. “I’m grateful for the work of the volunteer team that makes the planned events run so smoothly,” she says.
The annual conference typically has been held at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme near Traverse City because it accommodates large groups. The agenda always includes a philanthropic component—at the most recent conference, this translated to a festival that offered attendees a chance to learn about and choose from 60 nonprofits to support. The Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church also works with Midwest Mission of Pawnee, Illinois, to fund and pack rice meals preconference—this year, 43,000-plus meals—that are distributed to areas in crisis in the U.S. and around the world.
Somehow it all comes together. “The biggest part is to be prepared as much as you can before you walk into it, because you know the unexpected is going to happen,” Arnold says. “This year we lost our keynote speaker six weeks before the conference, as well as another key contractor, so it’s [important] to get as much out of the way as you can [ahead of time], so you can pivot.”
