Title: View from the Chair

Author: Bob Schmidt

Date: 01 September 2019 17:04:08 +01:00 or Sun, 01 September 2019 17:04:08 +01:00

Summary: Bob Schmidt, chair@accu.org

Body: 

As I write this at the beginning of August, it’s the dog days of summer and temperatures in Albuquerque have been hovering in the mid to upper 90s [1] to low 100s for over a month (not unusual for summer here). The summer monsoons [2], which help bring temperatures down (but unfortunately raise the humidity), have not been as consistent as they usually are this time of year. I empathize with those of you in Europe suffering through your own unaccustomed heat waves.

For those of you keeping track [5], this is my 20th View from the Chair (View). When the publication deadline approaches, I break out in a (metaphorical) cold sweat, wondering what I’m going to find to write about this time [6]. Fortunately, I get a lot of help.

Most of what I write about originates from our ACCU committee meetings. The committee meets every two months; we try to schedule the meeting so that it falls one or two weeks before the next CVu deadline. Scheduling a meeting can be a challenge. Meeting dates are complicated by the differing national holiday schedules of the committee members. The meeting time is complicated because the committee currently is composed of people from three different time zones – from UTC+2 (Central European Summer Time) to UTC-6 (U.S. Mountain Daylight Time).

(For the last three years, meetings have been held in what is the middle of the afternoon for most of our committee members, so that I don’t have to be awake in the middle of the night. I realize that this is an inconvenience for those whose weekend afternoons get interrupted, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the rest of the committee for accommodating me.)

The process I follow when writing the View can best be described as chaotic [7]. I look back at my meeting notes, write out broad headings, and start filling in details. I bounce from one section of the View to another, trying [8] to organize my thoughts and write something coherent that you, the members, will find informative. I add, delete, move, and otherwise mangle words, sentences, and paragraphs in an attempt to create a coherent narrative.

Once I’m done [9] I send the copy out to the committee for comments, corrections, and criticism [10]. My fellow committee members are an excellent source of all three. Their feedback is invaluable, and I thank them for their assistance.

After one or more rounds of editing, the View goes to the production designer, and I get a couple of months to start thinking about the next one.

ACCU YouTube Channel

Videos from ACCU 2019 have been posted to our YouTube channel [11]. Jim Roper, Creative Director at Digital Medium, and his team have been creating and uploading the conference videos for several years now. They are responsible for the filming at the conference and all post-production and editing. The committee and I thank Jim and his crew for their continued great work on the videos.

ACCU Autumn 2019

This is my last chance to remind you that ACCU’s two-day conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland is scheduled for the 11th and 12th of November [12]. Registration is open here [13].

Call for volunteers

As those of you who read this column regularly know [5], we have several chronically vacant committee positions. As an incentive to fill these positions, the committee is announcing a new policy. Anyone who volunteers for one of the positions the committee deems chronically vacant will qualify for a temporary membership deferral. If already a member, a new volunteer will have their next membership payment deferred for one month for each month of service, up to a year. If not currently a member, a new volunteer will be instated as a member for up to a year, as long as they continue in the role.

The positions the committee has determined are chronically vacant are: publicity, study groups, social media, and web editor. In addition, the position of treasurer will qualify for the incentive, in order to allow Rob Pauer to retire after many years of service to ACCU.

Please contact me if you are interested in one of these positions [14].

The author would like to apologize for the unusual level of snark and sarcasm this month. The heat has blasted away what few remaining impulse-control brain cells he may have had. Better hope that global climate change is indeed a Chinese hoax, or there may be more Views like this [15].

Notes and references

[1] Fahrenheit. This is the U.S. – as a general rule we don’t do Celsius here.

[2] We get most of our moisture during the summer monsoon season [3], which describes a particular weather pattern that brings rain up from the Gulf of Mexico.

[3] Calling it the ‘monsoon’ season is giving it way too much credit. Albuquerque, New Mexico, being high desert, averages around 9.5 inches [4] of rain per year; recently that number has been closer to 6.5 inches. The monsoon season delivers about half of that yearly total.

[4] Yes, inches. We don’t do (centi)metres, either.

[5] And if you’re not, why not?

[6] I am green with envy at Fran Buontempo’s ability to write her wonderful ‘non-’ editorials every two months.

[7] And that’s being generous.

[8] And usually failing.

[9] For a given value of done.

[10] I’m expecting a lot of the latter this time!

[11] ACCU 2019 YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJhay24LTpO1s4bIZxuIqKw

[12] ACCU Autumn 2019 Conference: https://conference.accu.org/

[13] ACCU Autumn 2019 Conference Registration: http://www.cvent.com/events/accu-autumn-conf-2019-wg21/custom-18-8860107a2e864b698109640c823a1855.aspx?dvce=1

[14] Send inquiries to chair@accu.org.

[15] And nobody wants that.

Notes: 

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