This past weekend was the SAG-AFTRA National Convention. It was my 3rd time going to convention as a delegate and it was amazing! Because I had been to 2 previous conventions, I had an idea of what it would be like. But this still had some new things for me because it was the first time that I had a bit of a leadership role within my slate. I also feel like this time I was significantly more prepared for all the resolutions and was more informed about what we would be voting on and what would be coming up.
Convention started on Thursday with the welcome reception. I have always gone to the welcome reception because it’s a great time to get to meet the other delegates from different parts of the country. I wish I had taken a bunch of photos because it was a really nice event. This year, all of the convention was happening at the Beverly Hilton (which was nice because it was much closer to my house), so it was a little different from the past 2 conventions. I spent my time at the reception saying hi to my friends that I knew and the delegates that I had last seen 2 years ago. I also got to meet a lot of new delegates and hear about their stories. It’s always interesting to learn about acting careers in other parts of the country, and I got to hear lots of journeys from my fellow delegates.
I didn’t want to stay too late at the reception because I knew the next day would be an early morning and a long day, but I was having too much fun and ended up leaving much later than I planned. But it did give me a chance to see a lot of people and be social since I knew the next few days would be busy and not have a lot of free time.
Friday was the longest day for me. We started early with convention and I started working my day job from my seat. I’ve done this every convention and it’s something I feel grateful I can do. I don’t take customer calls when I’m working from there, but I can do the online chats. Fortunately, work wasn’t too busy so I could pay a lot of attention to what was happening on the stage, but I did have a few moments where I had to turn my focus to my work to make sure that I did my share of the work.
We did our elections for the Executive VP, Geographical VPs, and Category VPs. My slate had a candidate for each of those and it was very exciting when we learned that we won! Everyone who ran for a VP spot was someone that I have gotten to know quite a bit during election season and I knew they would do amazing work as a leader in the union. When almost everyone else was enjoying their lunch outside, I grabbed my food and ate back in the convention room because I was still working. But fortunately, some of my friends did join me inside to eat and it was another great time to be social.
The rest of Friday was working on voting for resolutions. We had a lot and we knew it would take all 3 days. We wrapped up around 5 and then I got ready for the Convention Gala. I’ll write more about the gala tomorrow, but I again had a late night and knew the next day would be an early one.
Saturday was more of the same for me. I did work my job while there, but it was only for the first few hours and then I could just be focused on the convention. We did more voting for resolutions before lunch and after lunch, there were different breakout sessions we could attend. But instead of going to a session, I went to the NextGen Performers meeting. I go to NGP events from time to time, but this meetup was with different NGP committees from around the country. We discussed some of the resolutions that people had coming up so we could brainstorm and give feedback. And we got to learn about the different NGP committees in different parts of the country and see what things we wanted to do for the LA committee. It was a great meetup and I got a lot out of it.
Saturday afternoon was more voting before we concluded for the day. I had been invited to a casual dinner with some of the different NGP people and originally planned on going. But I was tired and knew I needed to get some things done at home, so I had to change my plans and just go straight home. I wish I could have gone, but I really needed to try to get some sleep and I know I made the right choice.
The last day of convention started earlier than the others, but we needed that time to finish the work. We got through voting all the resolutions which was a big accomplishment. There were more resolutions this year than any other year and it’s not easy to get through all of them. We did move quickly, so I was glad I knew a bit about all of them ahead of time so I wasn’t that confused and conflicted about how I wanted to vote. We also got to hear speeches from the Executive VP, Secretary-Treasurer, and President. I have been lucky enough to get to know them each during the election season, but they still continue to inspire me when they speak.
When the convention was done, it was time to take official delegate photos. And then it was all over. It was a very intense long weekend, but just like the past 2 conventions, I left exhausted and encouraged. It was overwhelming, but I loved having all the information presented to the group. I am more motivated than ever to continue with my union service. I want to keep making SAG-AFTRA amazing for those of us who are members now as well as members that will be joining in the future.
I was a bit sad when I looked back at the photos I took and I realized that I didn’t take that many. Most of them were from after the convention was done and I was running around trying to get pictures with my friends. But I have so many memories from the past few days and I don’t need photos to remind me of those. But I am glad that at least I have a few with some of the amazing people that I am lucky enough to get to work with.
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