The Joys of Indecision: To go or not to go, or thank god registration for "PLL-SIS Summit II: Change as Action, Change as Opportunity" is still open

Is it "just me" or have you also been putting off registering for Philly 2011: Cream Cheese, Cheesesteak or Karaoke? It's not that I care which hotel I stay at because AALL consistency demonstrates that our association doesn't know how to negotiate price discounts like, ah, AALS does, for example. As long as there is a bar and the bed isn't infested with bed bugs I just don't give a damn where I stay. My issue, always decided at the last possible moment, is how many days attending AALL can I put up without warning the hotel management that it better have a straitjacket on hand.

This year I was beginning to get concerned that if I didn't pull the trigger, bite the bullet, damn soon, my most interesting option would be closed. However, the folks who are responsible for that option have published another promo (republished below). It's the PLL-SIS Summit II:  Change as Action, Change as Opportunity. Don't know about you but it is the best meeting on the agenda -- of course, that means it is scheduled before our annual meeting's regular programming. The PLL-SIS Summit looks like the best return on investment for the expense of travel and lodging costs to Philly for "Cream Cheese, Cheesesteak or Karaoke." Of course that means payment of a separate registration fee is required. Like the Summit proceedings could not have been scheduled as a track during the regular programming (due not a summary of the Summit proceedings is scheduled somewhere on the regular meeting agenda).

I can attend the PLL-SIS Summit without fear of needing a straitjacket but only if I leave Philly soon  thereafter. If I stay much longer, very powerful prescription medication will be required to avoid the straitjacket. Got some to spare? But I digress... . Here's the announcement:

PLL-SIS Summit II:  Change as Action, Change as Opportunity
 
Need another reason to attend the AALL PLL Change as Action Summit?  Hear Esther Dyson, Internet legend and technology visionary, sponsored by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business!

Esther Dyson, named by Forbes as one of the most powerful women in American business, is the founder and chairman of EDventure. She is one of the most influential voices in the Internet industry and has been a board member and/or early investor in several companies that helped define tech startup success, among them Flickr, Meetup, del.icio.us, and Technorati.  She also recently finished six months of cosmonaut training in Russia and serves on the NASA Advisory Council. Have your CEO, CIO, COO or managing partner register to hear Esther Dyson speak -- her lively Q-&-A session will explore how to embrace and use change in business and technology.

Registration is now open for the Private Law Libraries Change as Action Summit held in conjunction with the 2011 AALL Annual Meeting on July 23, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.  The $145 registration fee includes all programming. 

Registration is open on the AALL website. Sign up now to take part in this exciting event!

The Podium People, the Great Unwashed Masses and the Theme for This Year's AALL Annual Meeting. You may recall that at last year's business meeting the Podium People demonstrated their collective failure of imagination by announcing that this year's annual meeting had no theme. Actually, I think the explanation went something like "It's Philly! It's Philly! No theme required." I had a Tattoo moment upon hearing this -- "Da Plane! Da Plane!" In fact that was the only new experience I've had in years, meaning whenever I've been so utterly bored I have gone to our business meetings to be in the presence of the Podium People and we the Great Unwashed Masses for the members "forum."

That uncomfortable squirming from the Podium People trying to figure out who will and how will that person use a lot of words to say nothing that somehow produces an acceptable answer (at least in their minds) to questions from the floor during the members forum is so tradition-bound that it isn't "fun" watching the bobblehead reactions from the Podium People after one of them responds to a question from the floor. It certainly isn't worth any active engagement with the Podium People from the floor.

Based on past meeting, it's clear that the Podium People are hoping to quickly exit the members forum for a resort island that fulfills their fantasies. Of course, the rules of engagement for the conduct of the members forum include that the Podium People are not required to answer questions from the masses; we are, after all, just the great unwashed dues paying members. But I digress... .

Granted annual AALL get-together themes are only tag lines but I guess the AALL meeting about "what do we call this 'thing'" produced the sort of results we institutional representatives have come to expect from our association -- nothing. Since advertising, like nature, abhors a vacuum,  "Cream Cheese, Cheesesteak or Karaoke" is a better-than-nothing theme. I'm thinking we will see cream cheese, cheesestake and a lot of official karaoke in Philly.

Hope to see you at this year's  PLL-SIS Summit II:  Change as Action, Change as Opportunity, assuming I finally stop procrastinating. [JH]