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Tuesday found me and other planning committee members settling in to the Sheraton Hotel in a hot sweltering Birmingham, Alabama. The afternoon was spent putting a face with the service provided. We met everyone from the chief bottle washer to the general manager, who co-incidentally managed the Adams Mart in Winston Salem prior to joining the Sheraton team. We began today expecting a slow conference start, after all, our conference actually begins at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday and typically most members come in then. Half day pre-conferences were scheduled for this afternoon as well as tomorrow morning; along with an early evening walking tour and an early morning bus tour. Well, what we got was a whole lot more. We had 29 walk in registrations, bringing our registrant total to 340. We sold most of our extra meal event tickets by 10:30 a.m. We were as you can imagine tickled pink. Other good news came when ALA immediate Past-President, Camila Alire and ALA Executive Director, Keith Michael Fiels emailed to say they would be joining us for the conference. We are now somewhat anxious to see what tomorrow holds. I’ll keep you informed. – Wanda