For all of you interested in participating in next year's Annual Meeting program, the AUTM program committee has decided to extend the deadline for submission of workshop, educational tracks and special interest group sessions. The deadline, which originally was April 15th, has been extended to April 22nd - so there is still time to contribute to next year's educational program.
Some may wonder why the deadline for a March 2010 meeting is in April 2009. Well, I am glad you asked. Topic submissions must be received, categorized and reviewed by the AUTM staff before the Annual Meeting Program Committee meets to lay out the full program. This is a labor intensive endeavor, taking a score of hours. The Program Committee meets every May in Chicago to plan out the program for the following year's meeting, and has had periodic discussions (via conference call) to tweak and improve the program.
Though it may not seem so, timing is very tight, and we determine the full program, gather speakers and moderators, talk abstracts, and structure the program before the preliminary program mailings begin at the end of summer. So April it is for topic submissions, and all submitters should hear back from us in June regarding their submission.
Do what you can to get your topic submissions in within the next week - we would love to have you as part of the program.
Thanks,
Alan
Alan Bentley
AM Program Committee