This has been a difficult two weeks. The Web Conference Program Committee received a record number of superb proposals this year. We honestly wish we could have accepted them all!
The Program Committee met and reviewed each proposal, not only on its own merit, but also as its topic compared with the others proposed. Nothing we have done was more difficult than the necessary step of choosing which ones would not make the cut.
We found that we needed to take into consideration the results of the survey we sent, asking past attendees to let us know what topics were of most interest to them. It helped to give us some direction in differentiating between proposed sessions.
We had such an enthusiastic response to our call for proposals, we could have provided another half day of sessions. Unfortunately, this was not an option.
The option of adding more sessions concurrently was also rejected because we received a tremendous amount of feedback last year that having seven sessions to choose from was just too much. It wasn't fair to either our attendees or presenters.
While having so many proposals to choose from seems like a good problem to have, it is also challenging. We have to hope that our reputation doesn't take a hit because we did have to make so many really tough decisions.
My sincerest thanks to all who submitted a proposal. We need you to make the conference a success!
P