It’s that time of the year again…and no, I’m not begging for another ABA Quote!

ABA Fever has us in it’s grasp again…after a challenging time, my hotel in Charlotte is reserved (having been a web programmer for 10 years, my heart goes out to the programming staff at ABA and Visit Charlotte!). Since there was a bunch of us who wanted to stay in the Westin together, there were a LOT of emails and phone calls back and forth during the first half-hour of hotel registration!

And I get to do it all over again on Wednesday, when Attraction registration opens up. I’ll be in Hanover, PA at a York CVB Group Meeting, but I’ve already checked that the hotel where we’re meeting has free Wi-Fi, and I’ll take my laptop over there to be sure I get registered as close to the top of the list as I can.

Why? Why all this OCD behavior? Well, I AM OCD, but it’s more than that. With ABA, your order of registration effects your appointment requests. So the earlier you register, the better a chance you have of getting the appointments you ask for. It’s the same for the hotel…since there are 7 hotels on the “official” list, and probably around 3,500 people trying to get in, the earlier you register, the better a chance you have of getting the hotel you want. Since the Westin is right across the street from the Convention Center, we decided it would be the best for quick changes and forgotten materials.

If you’re like me, I have a small gift for you! I use iGoogle, the new customizable version of Google’s home page, where you can add modules of a wide variety (news feeds, weather forecasts, calendars, and more). I created a module that is a countdown to ABA Charlotte, and it’s free for anyone who wants to use it. You can get to it via: [1] http://tinyurl.com/5r924l if you want to add it to your page.

See you in Charlotte (if not before in Chantilly or Toronto or Pittsburgh or…)!