2014 has arrived! It’s a bright, sunny morning here in southern Maine–although bitterly cold. I am always happy when it is sunny on New Year’s Day–I feel like the year is starting off on the right foot.

There was a flurry of activity yesterday as people took advantage of the last day of early bird registration. We have 66 attendees for the conference right now. For planning I have been using two benchmarks for attendance: 132 participants in Asheville, NC in 2005 and 145 participants in San Francisco in 2011. At the Regency we have a maximum attendance of 150. With 66 registrations we are at about 44% of capacity, or 50% with the 132 benchmark number.

I find this interesting because INANE has never had registration open a year in advance of the conference before. There was some skepticism among members of the planning committee about whether this was a good idea. My attitude was “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I thought this could be an experiment and we could evaluate at the end whether it was successful.

And I would say, so far, it seems to be a success! But also, we still have plenty of space available for those who want to attend but have not yet registered. Click here to register online–quickly, easily, and securely.

Abstracts for breakout sessions and poster presentations are still being accepted. The deadline is January 15–presenters will be notified by February 15 and the full conference program will be published on March 1. If you were planning on submitting an abstract but didn’t quite get to it–here’s your chance! The abstracts that have been received are excellent but we are not overloaded. So please, take advantage of this opportunity to share your editing innovations with your colleagues.

I have received a lot of positive feedback on my post about visiting Acadia as well as the Sea Dogs game. It seems that many of you will be using the conference as a jumping off point for vacation, which I think is a splendid idea! Maine is beautiful in August. The weather is usually picture perfect and everything is open. If you have questions or specific destinations in mind, let me know and I’ll share my knowledge. I love my adopted state!

Here’s to a safe, happy, and peaceful New Year for all of us! I look forward to welcoming my INANE colleagues to Portland in August–just seven months from now!

Leslie

Planning Committee: Peggy Chinn, Margaret Freda, Shawn Kennedy Lisa Marshall, Jean Proehl