So far 16 people have RSVPed yes to Saturday's meetup. Much more than I expected (I figured maybe four or five of us would). So this looks to be even more exciting than I had anticipated. All of yall's help in this area of our Association is greatly appreciated by me, and I am sure by everyone else in the association as well. I know that yall have busy schedules so I am going to try to keep it on point regarding time.

I will arrive at 3pm to secure seating. We will be seated in the back of Caribou.

The meetup is scheduled for 4pm, so that's when I think most folks will begin arriving. We'll give half an hour to allow for latecomers to arrive, a bit of socializing and time to get our refreshments.

At 4:30pm I'll start the official meeting. If everyone that has RSVPed shows up earlier and we want to start sooner than 4:30pm that is fine also.

I'll have handouts consisting of some questionnaires, printouts of our conversations on the email list, and the agenda. We'll review everything in the agenda fairly rapidly, then have a round table. I'd like to be sure that everyone that has something to say gets to do so. So I'm hoping we can keep it fairly organized. To accomplish this it might be useful to call on folks in an order. When someone wants to chime in, they can be added to the queue so to speak. This means that copious note taking will be valuable so we don't forget the point we wanted to make while someone else is talking.

I have a couple of MP3 players that are also voice records, so I will be handing those out so that all areas of the meeting can be recorded as best we can. I will also be picking up a microphone and webcam to try to record as much as possible on my laptop. This time I will bring my digital camera. If anyone else has recorders, or cameras, in particular video cameras or webcams, please bring them if you are able. Of course, bring your laptops as well. Caribou has Wifi. They only ask that if you use it more than an hour, you purchase something to eat or drink. I will scrap up some extension cords and outlet strips, but they wont be anything fancy (read - not surge protectors).

I imagine the meeting will be about 2 hours. I know some of yall may not have that much time and might want to leave earlier. And for those few that might want to stay later than that, I am thinking about heading over to BW3s (or Longhorns..but BWs has WIFI) at between 6pm to 7pm. So if anyone ends up sticking around, we can continue our discussions over there. On the other hand if many of yall end up staying past 6pm and wish to stay at Caribou, I'll remain there with you until the 'caribou crowd' of us has decided to head out, then I'll head over to BWs with anyone that remains. These end times are guestimates on my part, and will really be directed by the group.

I sincerely thank everyone that has contributed not only to this process, and emails, but to the overall group dynamic that has grown since our meetup (and now association) got started. I can fully concur with Nate's and others' statements and say I also feel blessed and lucky to be a part of such a group of folks that are so easy to get along with, and so serious about their profession. I look forward to seeing those of yall that will be there on Saturday and the rest of yall on Tuesday October 9 for our next meetup.

Many kind thanks and best regards,
Joseph James Frantz