Speakers, Decorating, Hospitality, And Emcee

The conference I participated in was perfect for me. Maybe not for others. I attend weekly ceremony for the water, and I have been doing that since 2012, when I moved up north. The healing ceremony was all about water. The women were using 4 little boy water drums.

The emcee for the ceremony talked about the importance of water. Our first speaker shared about the water in her talk. She is drawn to the water and knew a lot about water teachings. She talked about family addiction and recovery and living in the culture.

She was recommended by the committee as a possible speaker. She has worked for White Bison and is a long-time family program member, that also has facilitated some of the White Bison healing groups around the country.

Another speaker came from Oregon, where the conference just was. She hadn't spoken there but was involved in the planning and referring people to be involved in the conference there. She was going to be the emcee for year four in Oregon, but her job interferred with that.

She did a great job. Lots of trauma, grief and loss. She is raising grandchildren, and her deceased husband's child. She had a good story about family recovery and about her own recovery from alcoholism. She shared how the culture has helped her also.

Another speaker was my cousin. I knew that he was involved in the community of the twin cities and had contacts with both Ojibwe and Dakota/Lakota people. The drummers he brought in were Lakota. They used a drum donated by a man in Oregon to the conference.

Then finally our traditional healer told his story. He was a professor for over 30 years and had an excellent story of recovery. He was a twin and his brother has died. My job was to assist in selecting and work with the speakers to confirm and assist in any way I could.

A part of my job was to purchase gifts for the speakers. They were given Pendelton blankets in a ceremony where everyone greeted the speaker after their presentation with handshakes, but mostly with hugs. Then they were given gift baskets with wild rice, maple syrup, and a few other goodies.

When no one took the job of decorator, I took that on, along with another woman who didn't want to be the lead for this position. We decorated the stage with small cedar trees, and a bright yellow flower string, some jars with twinkle lights and a few other plants.

The tables for the banquet were decorated as well, with something for everyone to take with them. We used painted pint jars, wrapped in rafia with cedar in them. Very simple decorations on decorative placemats. That went over linen tablecloths. We had lights in the jars as well.

Simple decorations and next year we recruited a woman who had a business that included decorating, so it will be better.

When no one signed up for hospitality, except for people interested in helping, I decided to go shopping for the non-perishable items off the list given by Oregon to Minnesota. After I did that it was assumed I would lead that duty as well. I turned that down.

The woman who planned to attend to enjoy the conference from Oregon attended and took over the hospitality suite and did a wonderful job with the help of a few assistants.

Lastly I was the emcee. The chair person usually does this duty, however she had been told that since this was a National Native American event, it should be a Native American person. I had already agreed to co-chair next year when she approached me to emcee.

I was nervous and because I was told I should probably wear skirts or dresses, I took three skirts to the conference. On Friday morning as I was dressing, I told my husband that the skirt was loose and that I hoped it didn't fall down when I was up front as the emcee.

We laughed. Then getting ready before others entered the conference room it happened. Only one man was behind me when I turned and my skirt fell down. I quickly bent down to pull it up and said, "My skirt just fell down!" I started to laugh when he said, "I didn't see anything, really, until you said, my skirt just fell down."

It was good that it happened then rather than on stage. I said to him, "Well, nothing worse can happen right?" And we laughed. No one had safety pins, so I was taped up and clipped up with a large clamp on my skirt. Until his wife brought me several safety pins.

The rest of the conference was a breeze and nothing more happened. I tried on a ribbon skirt that was my favorite and that too was too big, so I wore pants on Sunday. I wasn't taking any chances. I wear skirts once a week at water ceremony for an hour. That's it.

I enjoyed my time at the conference and made sure to tell my co-chair that she will share the emcee duties next year!