the meeting planner

Arlinda John
Land, Water, Power and Quality of Life
Summer 2010

Arlinda John is the Program and Projects Specialist for the Navajo Land Department, Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Section, Division of Natural Resources.

Yá’át’ééh!  Welcome.

Headquartered at the beautiful Window Rock in northeast Arizona, the Navajo Nation extends into the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, covering over 27,000 square miles of unparalleled beauty.  Diné Bikéyah, or Navajoland, is larger than 10 of the 50 states in America and the Navajo population exceeds 250,000 people.

MPG* recently toured northern New Mexico and visited hotels and resorts including several on Native American pueblos including Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and the Hilton Santa Fe at Buffalo Thunder.  The Navajo Nation’s Division of Natural Resources Conference and Expo was being held at Buffalo Thunder.  The hotel’s assistant director of sales, Ravi Balan, was so impressed with the work of the conference’s chairman, Arlinda John, that MPG* requested and was granted an interview. 

MPG:  Tell us about the conference that you recently held in Buffalo Thunder.  We heard that you set an attendance record this year.

Arlinda:  We started preparing for our first Division of Natural Resources Conference and Expo in 2006.  Our theme is “Land, Water, Power and Quality of Life.”  That’s the vision statement for our division. 

Our first conference was held in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2007 where we had an attendance of about 700 people.  The next year we held it in Flagstaff again and our attendance went to 978.  We outgrew the Flagstaff facility, so we moved to Buffalo Thunder in 2009.  At that time we had a registered attendance of 1,117.  We held the meeting again this past April where we had over 1,200 people.  Those were the actual participants.  We also provided a family pass - with access to the expo and all the lunches and banquet – which encouraged the attendees to bring their families.

What was your role in putting on the conference? 

I served as the chairperson of the planning committee.

Was 2010 the last year that this conference will be held?

Right now the Navajo Nation government is going into an election year.  We’ll be electing a new president which means a new administration and probably a new division director.  We decided not to hold the conference for one year.  If the new division director wants to have it, our next conference will be in 2012. 

Over the past few years, many organizations have experienced declining attendance at their meetings.  Your conference has bucked this trend and has been growing.  Is this due to its content, or your promotion of the meeting, or some other factor? 

I believe that the content fits our attendees. A majority of the Navajo Nation still graze livestock, primarily sheep, and several of our sessions were about grazing management.

We also had several organizations present information about the history of the Navajo people and the growth of the Navajo Nation.  In 1868 when the Navajo people returned from “the long walk” to Fort Sumner (see footnote), they were given a tract of land in New Mexico.  Part of it extended into Arizona.  It was added onto with an executive order and the Navajo Nation also bought additional land.  Right now our land base is in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.  Lots of our own people didn’t know how the Navajo Nation got this big. 

We also had classes in community land use planning and water rights.  The Nation recently won a water rights case where they will bring water from Farmington, NM down to Gallup, NM.  We offered management classes on mining, the national parks on the reservation, as well as vegetation and archeology.  The content of this conference was all related to the everyday life of the Navajo people. 

In addition to its content, your attendance success may have been through effective marketing and promotion.  How did you spread the word?

We sent out newsletters, we made posters and we got on the radio and billboards.  We sent letters to all of the 110 communities on the Navajo Nation. We have 12 divisions under the Navajo Nation government and sent letters to them.  We also got a Division of Natural Resources website and put the information out there.  And, of course, everywhere we went we told people about it.

Did you use “social media” like Facebook or Twitter to promote the meeting? 

No.

Were any “sustainability” or “green” issues important in your selection of your conference venue?

Not really.  It (Buffalo Thunder) was large enough to accommodate all of our needs.

Do you feel that your attendees were pleased with the conference?

I think so.  They all wanted to know the dates for next year.

At the closing session of the four-day conference, most of the attendees were still there because we provided some great door prizes, and you had to be present to win.  All the topics were asked for by the 12 divisions and the popular ones from the previous year.  We also had some Navajo youth entertainment that was quite popular.

What advice do you have for other meeting planners, particularly volunteer planners?

They need to get someone dependable and responsible that can take on the project without any hesitation.  Sometimes, volunteers cannot fulfill their assignments and you need to know that.  And, of course, be friendly!

Footnote: ( excerpt from “The History of Cowboys & Indians” found at www.discovernavajo.com)  The plan was to remove all Navajos from their homeland.  Kit Carson destroyed crops, killed livestock, and polluted water.  Eventually, Carson rounded them up at Canyon de Chelly and sent them on a “long walk” to Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico. It was during this time that the federal government decided the tribes needed to be separated from each other and reservations were established.  The Navajos endured four years of hardship in an internment camp until the Treaty of 1868, when they were allowed to return to their beloved country. 

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