[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

[Hochewa at aol.com]

To All,
I have been to 7 out of the last 9 conferences.  I missed  LaCrosse as it was 
the little ones graduation week and I missed Seattle because  it was a little 
far (read this as tsunami-phobic).  I have also been to  many regional and 
local events over the past 18 years or so among them Mid-South  (1), BGOP(many), 
MASA (many), PABA (many) and CBA(1).  I was really looking  forward to going 
to the next conference on the East Coast.
No other confrence I have been to comes within an order of magnitude  of an 
ABANA conference.  There are many reasons why this is so.   Just the scale of 
an ABANA conference sets them apart.  Most regional,  state or local events are 
day trips (with exceptions), most have maybe two demos  going on at the same 
time, most have four demonstors over two days, most use an  existing 
infrastructure, almost none have on site accomodations and food service  and few go for 
12 hours a day for 4 days in a row.  I am from Eastern PA  and I get to go to 
many events far from home because I just happen to have  business in the area 
at the same time.
In my line or work, I have been a part of many industry conferences from  
both a participant and sponser standpoint.  Believe me, I do not want to be  a 
conference chair.  It does take a certain personality and the willingness  to 
forgo your normal responsibilities for 1-3 months or more.
Despite all of  the griping, whinning, pissing and moaning that has  gone on 
post-conference over the years, I have never been disappointed in an  ABANA 
conference.  I do understand why there is not a line for the next  chair.
ABANA has been rightly and wrongly dissed over the years for all of its  
faults.  Heaven help us all if an organization does not acquire certain  human 
characteristics as it is ultimately run by humans.
With all this said, I beg the question:  Where would we be now without  ABANA?
 
My $0.02.
 
Regards,
 
Hochewa