Call for 2012 Presentation Proposals

The planning for the 2012 conference of NW/MET has been underway for some time. The venue has been selected and a few programming choices have been made. It is now time to invite our membership to submit proposals to present. The majority (and certainly the most valuable part) of the program comes from the individual contributions made by our members. We rely upon you to identify the topics, trends and technology that should be discussed. Furthermore, your individual experience and expertise, shared among your colleagues, is how we grow our field. Please consider being an active participant.

There are two forms of presentations available for this conference. First, we will have standard presentations of the 60-minute variety. Expect two to three of these types of sessions to be scheduled concurrently so that members will have options on which presentation to attend. These sessions are typically fairly relaxed where interactive questioning is the norm. A second option, called a Lightning Round, is a fast-paced, 5-minute demonstration or presentation. A set of Lighting Round demonstrations will be scheduled together to form a longer session presented in front of all conference participants. Afterwards, a break will allow participants to talk in small groups. These sessions can be any introduction to a topic; everyone is encouraged to propose a Lighting Round. These presentations can be as simple as a quick overview of the projects that you’ve been involved in over the past year.

I encourage everyone with an interest in attending NW/MET 2012 to submit a proposal to present. Additional opportunities for vendors to display and discuss their offerings will also be added to the program.

Our program will be prepared during the month of January. So, please submit your ideas before January 6, 2012.

The presentation proposal form is located here: http://bit.ly/rvNkQT

The conference will be held at the Best Western Lakeway Inn of Bellingham, Washington from April 22 to 24, 2012. I look forward to seeing you there.Should you have any questions or wish to recommend topics or presenters, please contact me at john (dot) farquhar (at) wwu.edu.