A LUM N I C O R N E R
BY MARCUS WYCH E, T HIR D V IC E P R ES I D E N T/A LU MN I A DV I S O R D E LTA D E LTA , WAS H I N GTO N DC ALUMNI A LUM NI A DV I S O R @ MU P H I E P S I LO N .O R G
CONVENTION PLUS re you excited for convention? In these changing times, Mu Phi Epsilon is doing something unprecedented — facilitating an all-virtual international convention. The preparations are well underway. If you have not decided on convention, I encourage you to register and attend. Our Mu Phi “family reunion” is inexpensive and requires no travel. True, in-person interaction deepens fellowship and fraternal bonds in a unique way. But with the right balance of technology, acclimation, and imagination, I believe a virtual convention experience is a singular (and fun!) opportunity for more members to engage and connect with Mu Phi as we conduct business and facilitate convention programs. The pandemic has forced our society and Fraternity to approach our 21st-century world differently and adapt. To think outside the box. To innovate. After the pandemic, a higher percentage of our labor force will telework; our schools and colleges are bound to increase remote instruction; artists will continue to find savvy ways to perform and display their work to far away audiences; social movements and political campaigns will blend old-school organizing with lightning-fast dissemination of information and calls to action. I imagine future conventions and Mu Phi gatherings looking different. Online elements — live-streaming, virtual chats and workshops, et cetera — will likely become regular features of our conventions and district conferences. Members will regularly, even casually, videoconference across districts and provinces. Chapters will shift recruiting to prospective members with skill sets in computer science, online sound design, and social media. The horses have left the barn. The game has changed and will continue in ways we cannot predict. Will all this happen overnight? No. Is all of it inevitable? Probably. Do we have to embrace every change? No. But, looking beyond the pandemic’s “great pause” in our world, there will be tools and methods we can use to complement and enhance our in-person music and service, so as to keep pace with the practical needs and realities necessary to keep our Fraternity relevant and thriving. Change, like human interaction, can be uneasy, with outcomes for good or ill. But with change and a modified 4
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normalcy comes opportunity. The all-virtual convention will have our Fraternity’s signature trappings of workshops, music performances, and official business. It’s likely we’ll have an almost entirely new International Executive Board, but I don’t expect any controversial issues or earth-shattering changes in policy. Rather, I estimate the focus will be on resetting our fraternal GPS. All the same, I imagine this convention will signal the beginning of new directions in how Mu Phi goes about what it does. Departures over time in how we’ve traditionally done things may, for us, be the most radical outcome of all in this age of change. As a closing thought, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the International Executive Board for its dedication, expertise, and collective wit and wisdom; the Alumni chapters and District Directors for your patience, support, and work at the local levels; and you, the members, for your loyalty to Mu Phi Epsilon and embodying the ideals of Music, Friendship, and Harmony. Looking forward to “seeing” you at the convention!
