Hello Friends and Colleagues!
As I write, we are about one month away from the annual meeting in San Francisco, January 7-10. I hope to see many of you there.
I have two plugs to make this month, as you make your convention plans. First: please plan to come to the Plenary Session on Friday evening. Now, this request is partly self-serving, since one of the things that will happen at the Plenary is my first, last, and only Presidential Address. I can’t promise you that it will be of interest to everyone in the room, but I can promise you that it will be brief. And after that, we hold events of real importance: we read the names and brief commendations of the winners of our annual prizes: the Goodwin Award, the Teaching Awards, the Cribiore Translation Award, the Gruen Award, the Outreach Award, and the Distinguished Service Award. This is the one moment in the year when we recognize and honor our colleagues for their outstanding work. I hope that there will be a large crowd present to congratulate the recipients.
Immediately after the Plenary Session, we are bringing back the tradition of the Presidential Reception, so you will be able to enjoy a beverage and a light snack before you go off to your Friday night dinner dates. I vividly remember these receptions from my early years in the SCS (then the APA); it was where I met up with friends, was introduced to my scholarly heroes, and enjoyed chance meetings with new colleagues. With hundreds of people in the room it was noisy, crowded, chaotic, and a lot of fun. Please join us in bringing this event back to its former levels of celebration.
In short: Come to the Plenary and Presidential Reception! Our scholarly organization needs a sense of community, and this is one of the events that helps us build that community.
Second: For those of you who are presenting or presiding at the annual meeting, please note that we have published guidelines for making your presentation, handouts, and powerpoints more fully accessible. You can find those guidelines here. I strongly encourage you to read through these guidelines so that you can make the most of them, and make your presentation accessible to all of our members.
The countdown clock is now ticking: I’ll see you in San Francisco on January 7!
-Kirk Ormand
