Editor's Message - William McDevitt

I have been attending NJMEA Conferences for almost 40 years. I know what some of you are thinking and NO - I didn't go as a toddler!

For a little bit of historical perspective . . .

Years ago, when the conference was nowhere near the size that it is today, it used to travel between the three Regions of the State. Each Region would have the opportunity to host the Conference and All-State Bands every three years. A large hotel/conference center would be chosen and then the majority of the staff would be chosen based on the location.

A few decades ago, for a number of reasons, a decision was made to keep the conference in one location. East Brunswick was determined to be the perfect spot. It was easily accessible from the NJ Turnpike. The Hilton had a large number of rooms. Rutgers was close by and was willing to assist in hosting All-State Bands. There were plenty of meeting rooms to accommodate our needs at the time. There was plenty of parking. The cost was reasonable. Conference and All-State staff no longer needed to rotate through the Regions.

Then an awful thing happened - it started to become hugely successful! It grew to the point that The Hilton could no longer accommodate our needs. We came up with a solution. We partnered with the Ramada Inn down the street. It had a good number of meeting rooms that allowed us to expand our number of offerings. It did have its drawbacks - mainly transportation. We ran shuttles all day, back and forth. Some people drove over there, but when they returned to the Hilton there were no parking spaces left.

As we were looking for new sites, an opportunity presented itself. The Hilton began a partnership with the Towers. Each year after that, we rented empty floors of the Towers for four days and adapted them to our needs. We were, however, at the mercy of the Towers. If they sold an empty floor, we were out - with no options. It wasn't ideal, but it worked. Of course the elevators were always a problem. The conference continued to grow and so did the number of attendees. The result became a lack of available parking spaces. We purchased spaces to keep them open and it still didn't work. For all of the years that I helped at the Registration Desk, the number one complaint was parking. The second was a lack of reasonably priced dining options that were onsite or close enough to not lose the coveted parking space.

We did an assessment of the situation and decided that it was truly unfair to our membership to continue what we were doing. Between the elevators, the parking, the lack of food, the cramped exhibit area, the inability to have a keynote or general session, and the rising cost of the hotel rooms and meeting spaces we decided it was time to clear up all of the problems as much as possible.

Another opportunity presented itself and we made the move to Atlantic City. It was nice to not have to worry about parking, crowded spaces, lack of dining establishments, etc.

I can't wait for the time that we return to inperson conferences. It is such a joy to see some people that I only see once a year. It is such a joy to hear live music presented by students from our own state. It is such a joy see colleagues invigorated by the professional development opportunities that would never be available within their own district.

While I know that everyone is tired of Zoom meetings and online classrooms, I believe that this year's Conference presents an amazing opportunity for online Professional Development. If you can't attend the sessions when they are being presented live, you will have the opportunity to view them later - at your leisure. But you have to register!!! Follow the instructions in the TEMPO Express and at https://njmea.org/conferences to register. Browse through the sessions that are listed in this edition. There is definitely something for everyone.

Music teachers are resilient. We have always adapted to whatever has been thrown at us and made it a success. We will gather together again shortly!