The Fall 2018 TACL National Convention was hosted over Labor Day weekend (August 31 – September 3) in Washington, D.C. Our bi-annual convention brings together leaders from TACL programs and other Taiwanese American organizations for a weekend of resource sharing, inspiration, bonding, and more! The “I Have a Dream” convention was hosted by TAP-DC and had over 80 attendees. Those who arrived early to DC on Friday had a chance to attend the White House tour. Then later in the day, convention officially kicked off with a TAPpy Hour in downtown DC at Sudhouse.

Convention sessions started on Saturday morning with a warm welcome from Congressman Ted Lieu, TAP-DC President Tom Chen, and TACL President Pamela Hung. The overarching activity of the convention was a mock election to select the imaginary role of first Ambassador to Taiwanese America, responsible for addressing and solving issues in the Taiwanese American community. There were various activities to encourage mock candidates and their teams to dream big ideas for the Taiwanese American community, from brainstorming ways to encourage Taiwanese Americans to write in “Taiwanese” on the 2020 Census to developing programs to enhance the lives of Taiwanese Americans using (an imaginary) $500,000 donation to TACL. Each team/candidate also had 3 minutes to present a “campaign ad” to everyone. There was an assortment of different types of campaign ads – some candidates gave speeches while others performed skits.

Teams were also provided supplies to make posters and fliers on their stance/policies. and were also encouraged to campaign for their candidate throughout convention.

Also on Saturday, Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur and author running for President in 2020, came to speak to attendees. His keynote speech aimed to encourage Taiwanese Americans to get more involved and believe that running for President is a “Taiwanese” thing to do.

Following the keynote, attendees ate delicious Taiwanese box lunches. Then sessions continued in the afternoon with a competitive Taiwan/TA Trivia session. Saturday sessions ended with a GOTV (get out the vote) presentation about the untapped potential of the Asian American voting block by Christine Chen from APIA Vote.

The Saturday night convention banquet was hosted at local restaurant, Tony Cheng. Banquet consisted of a multi-course meal, photo booth, and a game where a representative from each table competed on guessing Taiwanese songs. There were also two major announcements: TAP-LA was announced as the 2018 TACL Program of the Year and Wellington Tzou was announced as the TACL President starting in 2019.

Sunday sessions were split up into three different tracks: TAP, Camps, and Alumni. The TAP chapters started off the day by splitting up into groups based on role to get to know one another better and also to resource share. Camps began their day with a show and tell of camp videos and then sharing the unique traditions and culture of each camp. Alumni spent the day networking and enjoying time together at a nearby golf course in DC. The TAP chapters and Camps regrouped for lunch where they were also were able to vote for the mock election. Following lunch, attendees split off into their individual programs for a marketing strategy brainstorm session.

During the afternoon, the TAP chapters had a personal reflections session and a “Fun Museum” session where each chapter shared how they have fun and care for each other as a board on a large post-it. The post-its were hung up on the wall and everyone walked around to get inspiration for ways to have fun as a board. Camps spent the afternoon sharing and discussing the summer camper experience and how it benefits both campers and counselors.

Sunday sessions wrapped up with the announcement of the candidate who was voted as the first Ambassador to Taiwanese America – Erica Brozovksy from TAP-ATX!

Monday was the Presidents’ Roundtable, where Presidents from all the chapters and programs gathered together to discuss goals, concerns, and best practices. Meanwhile, the rest of attendees either flew back home, explored DC, or attended one of the Monday activities organized by TAP-DC.

Thank you to TAP-DC for hosting this convention! We hope everyone who attended had an amazing and memorable time, and we hope to see you all at the next convention in Las Vegas.