[Sigia-l] 3 things IA Summit attendees should know

[Lorelei Brown]

Hey Folks - 

It looks like this year's IA
Summit(http://iasummit.org ) will break last year's
record turnout, and about 55% of attendees are first
timers. That's why the Summit Program Committee is
trying a few new ideas to help 
connect all attendees, newbie or not.

For those of you coming to Vancouver, we wanted to
give you a sneak preview of some of our social
engineering efforts.  Each will be explained in
greater detail in a flier included in the registration
materials:

1)  IA Summit Folksonomy:  This year's name badges
will be large  enough that attendees can tag
themselves.  If nothing else, this could make for a
decent form of ice-breaking.

2)  Nuts-and-Bolts:  Repeat attendees will have bolts
(real ones) stuffed in their badges.  First-timers
will have matching nuts in theirs.  When an old-timer
befriends, helps, or does some other nice thing for a 
first-timer, they'll receive a nut for their bolt. 
The top three nut gatherers willreceive fabulous
prizes.

3)  Never Dine Alone:  Each lunch will feature tables
set aside for first-timers.  Each table will be
staffed by repeat attendees who are there to answer
questions, make introductions, and lubricate
conversations.

Some of these plans may sound awkward, but perhaps
controlled awkwardness trumps the regular variety that
often plagues first-time conference attendees.  

We hope this helps!

--Lorelei Brown & Lou Rosenfeld

Lorelei Brown
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