Northern Voice wiki-tiki party action, deadlines loom

I have to say that as excited as I am for what will undoubtedly be some serious mind-blowing learning happening at Northern Voice Mark IV (The Brown Album), I am truly fired up about the party. We’ll be throwing it down in my neighborhood in The Republic of East Van this year, in one the city’s truly most wondrous watering holes, Polynesiantown. (Not its real name, but I trust D’Arcy will get the reference.) This place is a cultural treasure that even most self-styled hipster Vancouverites have never visited.

Rumours that we will be roasting a pig cannot be confirmed or denied at this time…

Oh yes, we are also only one week away from the deadline for session submissions. Part of what makes this event so satisfying for me on a personal level is watching the educational community step forward and kick out some serious jams on a wider stage. And it has seemed that with every year more and more people have stepped forward and made things happen. Please, please, please do submit a proposal.

Having been in the room the past few years as the schedule has been made up, allow me to offer a few suggestions… One, it is highly likely we will group people into what we hope will be complementary themes, so don’t feel like your idea has to carry 50 minutes. Two, be concise, but don’t be sloppy — there are a couple people on our committee (I might be one of them) who dislike proposals that read like they were dashed off while the coffee maker was warming up. And third, keep in mind that everyone at this event will be bloggy and be interested in social media, so this is the perfect opportunity to pitch that little crazy nugget of an idea that you never dared propose elsewhere. Original ideas stand out. Finally, keep in mind that though we get plenty of hard-core geeks, one of the things we treasure about Northern Voice is that it is a friendly place for a sizable contingent of newcomers to learn — in fact, we hope to schedule a full track of “101” and “FAQ” sessions on the basic and fundamental concepts of blogging and the attendant forms (feel free to offer to facillitate one of those).

I’m happy to provide whatever help I can with your proposal, feel free to fire me a line. If you need to find me, I’ll be sucking back Mai Tai’s in Polynesiantown (did mention there is free wi-fi there?)… or wishing I was.