I attended the Animal Rights Conference in Los Angeles this year, held from July 10 through the 13th, with my daughter. We arrived Thursday night and left Saturday night, so we did not attend the dinner or any of the events Sunday or Monday.
Lobby of Westin
The most noticeable aspect of this conference was how large it’s become:
* More organizations sponsored the conference this year, including four at the “Gold” level, and nine at “Silver”. Farm Animal Rights Movement is the primary organizer.
* It was the largest to date, and a huge percentage (perhaps half?) of attendees had never attended this conference before.
* The sessions went on all day into the night, including lunch and dinner discussions, so there was always something you could be attending. As with other conferences, late night screenings were popular.
* The sessions were very well-attended. Frequently we had to scramble to find seats at the back of the ballroom for the “plenary” sessions, and many people sat on the floor. Many of the sessions in the smaller rooms were similarly crowded.
Another aspect of the conference was in the timing: almost everything started late and plenary sessions tended to end late as well. We noticed this at the last conference held in Los Angeles too. Frequently the tech equipment was not working correctly, which it seems should have been worked out before. One of the difficulties, however, was that people brought their own laptops and other devices so the tech people had to figure out how to plug in and get the info on the projector quickly. I am sure that there were guidelines for the presenters to help minimize complications, but maybe not? Other reasons sessions started late were unclear to me, but it was clear that some moderators paid little attention to the need to stay within time limits.
Many dogs attended.
I attended a range of sessions, trying to get well-rounded. Some speakers were outstanding, others mediocre, some pretty bad. Given that most of the speakers were there for what they had done and were doing, and not for their speaking ability, this is understandable. I usually enjoy hearing the “rock stars” of animal rights: Nathan Runkle, Gene Baur, Erica Meier, Bruce Friedrich, among others. They are dedicated, driven, fearless leaders, yet genuinely modest. I think those who care deeply, passionately, about animals tend to have this type personality.
Nathan Runkle of Mercy For Animals
The sessions were divided into four “tracks”: Issues, Organizing, Tactics, and Rap. In addition, there were films, exhibits, and plenary sessions. For food, the hotel again provided vegan meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (not included in conference price). Several exhibitors also offered free samples of their products, which were available during the two snack times each day. Each day at noon there were two food stands outside in the patio, offering vegan “fast food”. Because of the numbers, however, the food was not particularly fast to obtain.
Among the more interesting sessions that I attended was “New Directions for Animal Advocacy”, starring Nick Cooney of Mercy For Animals and Wayne Hsiung, founding organizer of Direct Action Everywhere. Both speakers offered tips based on various research in the social sciences. Both pointed to new ways to reach a wider audience. Yet their advice was at times contradictory: they did not advocate the same kinds of actions. As others did throughout the conference, the two did agree that different approaches reach different types of people.
Another session of interest was “Raising a Vegan Generation”. Speakers were Barbara Cole Gates, founder of Lean and Green Kids, Andy Mars, director of Kids Make A Difference Foundation, and Ruby Roth, author of “Why We Don’t Eat Animals” and other children’s books. It is, after all, the next generation that we most want to reach. These presenters were well prepared and had good stories and advice for helping vegan children thrive in a non-vegan world, and for reaching children whose families do not fully embrace animal rights.
Andy Mars
There was much to offer anyone interested in animal rights and veganism. The new films Speciesism and Cowspiracy were screened. Ingrid Newkirk of PETA spoke. And people got together and chatted into the wee hours. This is another aspect of this particular conference that does not match the usual conference format: sessions started later than the usual 8:00 am, and lasted well into the night, with informal chat and networking encouraged.
Recommendations for the future: Because of the increased numbers of people and the Westin’s uninspired vegan offerings, we suggest that the conference move to another venue next time. The venue should offer larger meeting rooms and chefs that embrace the plant-based model with imagination. We also suggest that the moderators of the plenary sessions be told of the need to adhere to the time limits. Start on time, end on time. Many moderators of the regular sessions managed their sessions admirably. There is no reason to exempt the plenary session moderators. We noticed some difficulties with registration lines as well. As these are usually populated with volunteers who arrive with little information, more upfront work needs to be done to assure that everything is working well and that there is somebody there to answer questions and solve problems.
Every conference has glitches. The difficulties we noticed will not keep us away from attending. We are grateful to FARM for undertaking such a monumental task every year, and expect to see even bigger and better conferences in the future.
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