Hello!

I am excited to announce that the application process to host the upcoming 2025 YDA Convention and 2024 Winter National Committee Meeting is now open! This is a fantastic opportunity for your chapter to showcase your city's unique charm and contribute to the growth and development of Young Democrats nationwide. Hosting the Convention or winter meeting will bring together passionate young leaders and provide a platform to discuss critical issues, share innovative ideas, and strengthen our collective impact. Below is the information on submitting a bid:

I am happy to announce we are introducing asynchronous voting for selecting the 2025 Summer Convention! This means the national committee will have a ballot sent to them with the bidding chapters, and the voting will occur over a week. To place a bid, the bidding charter will submit a 3 to 8-minute video and a Supplemental Bid Packet [SBP] to be distributed to the national committee for review. We have all the information and guidelines in this YDA Convention 2025 Bid Guide One-Pager, but to sum it up, The video is your "presentation" to the national committee. You can make it however you see fit, and the SBP will get all the necessary information, such as the hotel, financials, and meeting locations. Also, we have prepared an example YDA 2025 Supplemental Bid Packet for you to look at and base your SBP on.

We understand a convention is a significant undertaking; we ask you to open your city to about 500-700 attendees! But do not be weary. We are here to help, and you are not alone. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out. We offer three drop-in sessions to discuss your potential bids on June 6th, June 17th, & July 2nd at 8:00 PM EST. If you want to attend, RSVP by emailing me at [email protected], and I will send you an invite.

The deadline to apply to host a convention is Wednesday, July 31st, at 11:59 PM EST. You will submit your video and your filled-out Blank YDA 2025 Supplemental Bid Packet to the YDA Convention 2025 Submission Form.

Parallel to running the convention bid process, we are happy to announce that we are opening the application for the Winter Meeting this year! This event is smaller in scale [About 150 attendees] but just as impactful as we will be bringing our national committee together. If you want to bid for the Winter Meeting, please submit your bids to our YDA 2024 Winter Meeting Application. We have prepared this document with all the questions to help you with your bid. Just so you know, filling out the application is your official bid, so be sure to fill it out completely in its entirety with the quotes attached.

For both the 2025 Convention and 2024 Winter Meeting, we have prepared some tips & tricks for a successful bid:

• Medium- to large-size cities are best for travel and are affordable. Emphasizing affordable locations of note for meals and entertainment, alongside the walkability of the bid site, is a plus;
• Ensure there are unionized hotels in the city; if there are none, that is not a deal breaker; however, it does make a more substantial bid;
• Propose hotels for your bid that are affordable for all members of our organization;
• Please be aware that typical National Committee meetings include 150 to 250 people & for the Convention, around 500 to 700 people. Please assume roughly half as many rooms will be required for the attendees. Addressing the number of meeting rooms in your bid is also a strength. We request around five breakout-style rooms and one large reception room;
• You'll need to make a strong bid in advance. Be sure to include A/V costs in your quotes;
• Even if you have yet to receive the recommendation of the Site Selection Committee, your bid still needs to succeed. The Convention is selected by the national committee that does not need to vote for the recommendation, and the Winter meeting is chosen by the executive board, which also does not have to agree with the bid;
• Finally, we encourage you to place a bid for both the Convention and the Winter Meeting, if you can, to better your chances of us seeing your amazing city.

Best Regards,

Austin Christoffersen

Site Selection Committee Chair