Taking the Long View in a Time of Great Uncertainty Making Sausage A View into Creating the Annual Meeting Technical Program

Three years ago I attended the Technical Program Committee (TPC) meeting for the first time. The TPC is usually held the day prior to the March Executive Committee meeting each year to make it easier for those attending both gatherings to participate. The TPC meeting brings together more than fifty experts from the Institutes Technical Divisions to construct the complex agenda for the Annual Meeting. In 2012 the meeting location was Orlando, Florida, USA, and there was a sadness that hung over the paricipants as they reflected upon the perennial leader of the activity, Charlie Pietri, who had passed away just the month before in Feburary.1 Steve Mladineo, pictured here, volunteered that year to lead the effort, as many others chipped in to make sure it was a success, including long-standing participants Paul Ebel and Teressa McKinney, who is now the TPC Chair.