User:ChristiannaWilliams/BlogEntry: 2007 July 16 22:23:30 EDT

From sasCommunity

July 16, 2007

One hundred eighteen days to go. We ended up getting loads of great abstracts -- more than ever before, in fact. But why is it nearly everyone waits till the bitter end?? More than half of the total number of abstracts came in during the last week – more than one-quarter came in on the last day! This happens every year, but every year the newbie conference chairs (that would be Rick and me this year) are chewing their cuticles for fear that there will be no papers. One of those rites of passage, I guess. We joke that we should just have the Call for Papers open for one week – that we'd get just as many abstracts, but I certainly wouldn't have the nerve to risk that.

And now, we wait for people to register for our conference! The same nerve-wracking, cliffhanging phenomenon happens here – about two-thirds of the registrations last year were during the last week of early registration! (Rick sure doesn't need to be reminded about this – he probably fielded questions from half of those people that week!)

What else is going on? Rick and I are doing fun stuff like choosing what kinds of foods we want to have at the receptions and breaks – and gagging at the costs. That breakfast bagel literally ends up costing NESUG about 6 bucks, and the little 10 oz Diet Coke is around four dollars. The catering prices are staggering to begin with but then a 22% gratuity is added, and sales tax (including on the gratuity) on top of that. We are the proverbial captive customers. Still, it's fun to make the choices – we hope there'll be something everyone likes!

So...register for our conference...you don't have to wait 66 days till the last day of early registration!!