by steve2 19 Replies latest jw friends
Well, the low number of baptisms would speak more to the lack of growth in English congregations, right? Answering your question is hard because we don't know how big the congregations are that are assigned to a convention, so hearing the total attendance figure doesn't really help.
P.S.: My first thought on reading the thread title: "Oh, boy, an Evidence Convention! Sounds like fun, whatever that is!"
The WTS announces attendance at each locatoin, to that location, but I don't know of any source which provides the grand total attendance nationwide or worldwide.
Such a figure would probably be misleading anyway, as there is a certain sub-species of JW who get their jollies from attending multiple conventions.
In my experience, based on DCs in my little corner of the JW world, attendance has been pretty constant over the past 6 or 7 years.
Also consistent is the low Friday attendance, which is typically about 80% of the peak number, usually on Sunday.
In 2013, I know two Convention Centers were half-filled, the brothers were planning on these Conventioned being "packed to capacity", we don't get the numbers locally so the Watchtower would not be quick to share a declining D.C. attendance because this would show they are losing their relevance. Good Post Steve, always enjoy your insights and wisdom!
I think as well that by having larger venues they may exacerbate their problem.
When I did as Lisa Rose says above, and gave the DC's a miss in the years before I finally walked away, I was amazed that nobody actually realised that me and the family had missed the wonderful spiritual feast, sorry, that should read, Incredibly Bum-numbing Borefest.
I also noted that I had apparently missed nothing of note, as I was not lacking any Info, as proven by the Item on the Service Meeting a week or so after, about the Highlights, highlights ? what a joke !
Give it a total miss this year folks, nobody will notice, and you get a really free weekend !
but more and more there are the families that dont play by all the rules and do whatever THEY want or need to do. they are not bothered or pressured into conforming.
That would be us the past couple of years.
No guilt. Just hating not knowing what kind of BS they're telling the R&F. (But I can usually "catch up" on it here.)
Doc
What they did i Sweden anyway, since they sold ”our” assembly hall, was that they booked a complex Hotel center up north in the high mountain region (skiing resort) several weekends, during of season, and told the Hotel owner that they could fill the hotel complex with 800-1000 guest, each one individually paying for their rooms or foods in the restaurant. This for two nights. Guess if the Hotel owner gladly let them have for free all the “conference” facilities. And of course the speakers or those in charge of this conference had their rooms and food free.
This made several hundred cars and busses travel more than 300 km, turn and return. Forcing poor families to spend about $ 100 /night + rest. Food. Of course during the convention the speakers always demand the audience to give their contribute for all the arrangement that the society had provided for??!!
This kept on for a couple of years. But the brothers soon discovered that attendance figures dropped dramatically. And I guess The Hotel owners soon find another way of getting their guests.
Bugbear
I have'nt done a full 3 day DC since 2004. 2 day CA in 2005. Did 1 day of the DC in 2006. Then nothing.
I must be totally honest here, out of all the items presented at these pantomimes, only a handful ever stood out. This was due to the dull presentation/material. Too much of the same thing.
It was a relief to be in the Mother & Baby Room for a good old chinwag!!!!
Thanks for all the very heful replies. Yes, there are complicating factors with grand totals because of the unknown proportion of Witnesses who attend more than one of the same conventions ( and usually trumpet their "spiritual" superiority to all with ears to listen ). And Fridays have always been a low point in attendance (what gives, people? You should be clammering at the doors even before they open!) . And venue proximity and sizes can change dramatically, as they will be at this summer's conventions. Even so, the Watchtower magazine once featured in-depth articles reviewing the latest conventions in the United States and reported total attendances - attendances that invariably outstripped the number of publishers. I don't see those kinds of review articles anymore - at least no mention of totals in attendance ( yes they have the information - just not sure they'd always be keen to announce it).
I had not known about the venue shenanigans in Sweden - I appreciate hearing about it. I would expect that, given the current lifeless calibre of many Witnesses, the requirement from the organisation that many will need to travel extraordinary distances to get to the summer connventions may see something of a decline in attendance.
In this part of the world, the DC's had historically been scheduled during July & August, months when children are normally away from school on summer vacation.
I understand that over the past decade or so, many summer conventions have been scheduled earlier, often in early June when most children are still in school. While parents of younger children may opt to remove their children from school on Friday to attend the DC, teens may not have that luxury as they may need to write final exams at that time.
In this manner, the WT is responsible for the decline in attendees, particularly on Friday.
As far as conditions are concerned, JWs today have far less to endure with a 3 day, 10-5 program, often held in an air conditioned venue.
When I was growing-up, summer conventions were 5, 6 and sometimes 8 days long and would end each night at 9pm except for the final day. As venues were usually baseball or football stadiums or horse race tracks, attendees would remain outdoors in full sun & rain while sitting on hard, uncomfortable wooden slatted seats or benches while dressed in suits and dresses.
As there was usually only one convention designated for a large area, there were few options to split the convention over multiple weekends. Even if another convention was located relatively close-by, attending it would have been considered a rebelious act as anyone doing so would not be attending their assisgned convention.
Thanks incognito. Yes, I agree: Those of us raised in the organization and getting along in years can remember stifling heat and exposure to the elements of conventions that went on for over one week. I was lucky to have had 2 lovely JW parents (I did not realize it at the time) who treated their children well and ensured we had lots of rewards for behaving ourselves - although my mother was always nicely frank about her lovely son's restlessness and endless squirming in the chair, on the ground and in the aisle (the last straw for her but she had divine patience). My siblings and I ended up sunburnt on several occasions - but back then parents did not know any better. There was no awareness of sun exposure and the need to avoid getting sunburnt. I think my mother and father looked forward to taking turns taking their very squirmy son out the back for breaks. They were never angry or irritable but did have a way of geting to me with their disappointed facial expressions from time to time.
