Hi!
From 35,000 feet the sun is slipping below the horizon outside the airplane window, but my outlook couldn’t be sunnier. In just two days the UXPA 2015 conference begins and the Coronado Hotel will be filled to the rafters with attendees, presenters, volunteers, the roiling hubbub of conversations, and best of all friends and colleagues that have become family by meeting at this conference year after year. First timers will experience the presenters’ unique thought leadership and meet the people they’ll be happy to see again next year.
Before that, of course, there’s a lot of last-minute work to be done. In keeping with the tireless work they’ve done throughout the last year (and longer) to get ready, your conference chairs and their legion of volunteers will be in continuous motion: putting together swag bags, helping sponsors find their booths, helping last-minute registrants, and dealing with any manner of pre-conference tasks that keep them on the run. While that is going on, the UXPA Board of Directors will have it’s bi-annual face-to-face meeting, which is two days packed full of the business of keeping UXPA in motion and planning for the future. The meetings can be exhausting, sometimes intense, as board members come together from all corners of the world to support key planning initiatives on behalf of you and UXPA membership.
Without a doubt, we’ll be thinking about you. If you’re attending the conference, we’re thinking of all the last minute details that need to be taken care of to ensure that you’re comfortable, engaged, and have a phenomenal conference experience.
If you aren’t attending, then we’ll be thinking of you during our planning meeting, during the presentations, the hallway discussions, and of course, missing you during the inevitable late-night beach run. (The Coronado is a spa hotel steps from one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. Fun will be had.) We’ll be thinking about how to entice you to attend next year, what adjustments might be made to the presentation roster, the conference format, the amenities, to help you join the family. If you aren’t able to attend this year, drop us a line to let us know why. There’s no better time and we’d love to be able to consider your ideas.
If you are attending (and with the hotel sold out and the conference itself nearly sold out) we are grateful and inspired. It’s going to be a heck of a week! We hope you make the most of it- introduce yourself, flag down a board member or volunteers to share a hello, a question, a suggestion, a drink. We’d love to hear what inspires you and what we could do better.
Most of all- be active! Attend sessions, engage in hallway discussions, don’t be afraid to sit down at a lunch table and introduce yourself. One of the hallmarks of the UXPA experience is a friendly and welcoming membership that is happy to make introductions, share job possibilities and network connections, or just direct you to the room you’re looking for. If all goes well, and it usually does, you’ll be inspired to see these new friends at next year’s conference!
I can’t wait to see you all!
-Chris
chris.hass@uxpa.org