2015 annual conference in Los Angeles: opening remarks and stats on attendance

It's a tradition of Lin Oliver's to tell us a few statistics about conference attendance as we kick these events off.

This year is the biggest ever—1,173 attendees:

• 437 of us are published
• 736 are pre-published
• We come from 19 countries including U.S., Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain
• We come from 48 states—this year both North and South Dakota are represented (finally!). West Virginia and New Hampshire didn't send anyone. 

Some of the more unusual occupations in the crowd are bookkeepers, carpool coordinators, waiters, a choreographer, trucker, opera singer, bonsai artist, and dealing in international small arms (doll arms, mostly).

The show is now officially on the road.