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2023 Conference: Bienvendios a Nuevo México!
- Oct 26, 2022
- 3 min read
Conference prep is underway! Black Diamonds, The Curse NM, and Galactic Ambassadors, along with ISC are beyond excited to host you the weekend of January 19-21, 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We're especially happy to note that these groups are the first USL groups to host our annual conference independently (without a MLS or NWSL SG cohost). We're thankful for their warm welcome to the Land of Enchantment. (Their bid video is absolutely worth watching.)
To help plan for this years events, we ask that supporter group representatives please fill out the RSVP form that can be found via our internal newsletter or Slack. We understand that some groups may not have secured their exact number of attendees yet (if any) but we ask you provide an optimistic number of attendees that will allow us to better coordinate event planning.
If you're still undecided on making the trip, supporters share their personal conference experiences and encourage you to join us in Albuquerque:
"It’s important for SGs from all leagues and posts of the country to come together, learn from each other and empower one another because we all know we’re stronger together. This “work” can be exhausting and thankless ~ the annual conference is a way to reflect and energize."
"Leaders helping leaders and making connections."
"After 2022 conference, I could not wait to put into action and practice what I learned, and I also cannot wait to get back for next year's event! It was so humbling to see all the SGs and the differences they make in their respective communities. It provides hope."
- David Sherman, Die Innenstadt
"We all deal with similar issues within our groups. By making connections at conference, you have people to reach out to when you need help or advice."
"Extremely helpful for newly created SG to learn the ropes, or even new board members to seasoned SGs. You may discover an easier way to do something you have been doing for years. Or learn about new tifo materials to use, rigging systems, sites for ticket sales, etc.
You may also discover some of your favorite people root for your rival team. Friendships with other SG is so important for travel days. You don't how valuable this can be until you need it."
- Jessica Gusler, Sons of Ben
"Learn best practices, tifo, community outreach, independence from MLS, FO etc. from new and experienced SGs. Network for away travel and camaraderie with fans of soccer outside of MLS clubs."
"My experience at ISC was far more engaging because I was willing to be vulnerable and share the struggles I’ve experienced with the other local SG (while they were sitting in the same room). It wasn’t to hurt them, but to help them and honestly, that seed planted a stronger bond between our groups because we’ve sewn together more than apart. To hear them say “we hear you” and actually put action to their words when we got back home really helped me see why going to ISC Conference was a great experience!"
"It is great for networking between SG's, and that helps for away travel meetups."
"ISC Conference, a place where you can discuss problems you thought no other SG has to deal with."
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and thank you for helping us prepare for 2023 Annual ISC Conference. Bienvendios a Nuevo México!
For newer SG board members, I hope there’s also a track on the “people ops” side — keeping volunteers engaged, setting boundaries, and not trying to do everything yourself. Weird comparison, but it’s like getting a simple template to start from and then tweaking it, the way https://stylelooklab.com approaches building a look from a base idea. The conference sounds like the kind of reset a lot of groups need.
Love the mention of learning practical stuff like tifo materials and rigging — those little details are what you can’t really pick up from a doc. Speaking of visuals, I went down a rabbit hole on poster-style art recently and ended up at watercolor anime style, which made me think how cool it’d be to see a session on designing tifo art from sketch to final build. Would be fun to compare what different groups do.
It’d be cool if the schedule made room for more “show your setup” demos — ticketing flow, comms templates, how you onboard new volunteers, that kind of thing. The cross-pollination between SGs feels a lot like browsing a big directory of tools and approaches, the way hrefgo surfaces different options side-by-side. Curious if there’ll be anything focused on avoiding volunteer burnout specifically.
The “you have people to reach out to when you need help” line is real — the value usually shows up months later when a problem hits and you already have a contact. Also, random thought: the whole idea of sharing methods across groups reminds me of swapping “keys” to decode each other’s processes, like CaesarCipher when you’re testing how a system works. Hope there’s a session specifically for brand-new board members.
I like that this frames the conference as a chance to recharge, not just “do admin stuff.” When volunteer work gets thankless, having a few familiar faces (even from rival clubs) can be the difference between burning out and sticking with it — kind of like how a quick reset game helps me, like BlockBlast in between busy stretches. Interested to see what practical sessions you’re planning this year.