[TheForge] "Official" news from ABANA

[Dave Mudge]

Hochewa,
Thanks for your very supportive comments, they are greatly appreciated.
the only exception that I will note is that the Conference Chair job
for an ABANA conference is a one to two year almost full time
commitment. Dave Koneg said that the job requires "time, talent and
treasury" of the person holding it. I personally do not have any of
those things. I don't think that any of the board members have all
three in excess. Perhaps someone in the membership will volunteer.
dave m

On 2/18/07, Hochewa at aol.com <Hochewa at aol.com> wrote:
> 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
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