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Hello, it’s Kerry Jo again.  As you might guess, planning for BbWorld ’08 in Las Vegas is ramping up rapidly.  We’re all busy bees here at Blackboard – brainstorming, putting together project plans and forming committees.

But I like to remind myself that this is a user event. We need you to make it happen!

With that thought in mind, I’d like to invite you to participate in making BbWorld ’08 an event to remember.  We’re looking for a large and varied group of volunteers to help us with the following:

1. Help us develop themes and areas of focus for BbWorld ’08.

2. Actively recruit speakers for the Call for Proposals: Have you seen a great speaker at a regional user event?  Have you attended a session delivered by a Blackboard client at another education conference?  Do you feel that speaker could inform other Blackboard clients?  Ask them to submit a proposal!

3. Review and rate submitted proposals in your area of expertise to help decide what should be included in the program. Collaborate with others on the committee with similar expertise to help choose the best program content.

4. Be a sounding board and an active participant for ideas ranging from post-conference networking to live conference blogging.

While there has always been a client program committee, we’d like to get even more of you involved this year!  I hope to have at least 30 participants, and could see having up to 50 committee members in total!  Our goal is to bring new clients into the process and improve the program with more client input.

Additionally, I hope that by including more clients in the process there will be less strain on any particular program committee member’s time.  I don’t anticipate participation to take more than a few hours of your time over the next few months.  You and your program committee colleagues will be featured prominently in the program and at the event as leaders in the user community.  And I hope it will be an opportunity for you to meet your professional development goals by taking a leadership role in this event.

Does this sound interesting to you?  Feel like participating?  Please e-mail me at BbWorld@blackboard.com.

And don’t forget that the Call for Proposals is open now for both BbWorld and the Developers Conference!  I encourage everyone (regardless of your interest in the Program Committee) to submit a proposal for BbWorld!  Get your session in before March 7, 2008.

See you in Vegas!