My sources tell me that the registration for this conference is at an all time high (when compared to this time in previous years) - it just broke 5,000 attendees! (Right now there are 5,027 registrants.) The largest NAIS Annual Conference on record was 5,462 in 2003 in New York City, so NAIS is on track to beat that number and then some.

For any of the 5,027 registrants who do not live in New York City, erase all of those nasty images you have conjured up about our fair city. You know what I'm talking about - those urban legends that fascinate, pull you here, and cause you to ask "Are there really subway muggings, corrupt politicians, pickpockets, and rats?" "The city really goes beyond Times Square?"

There are eight million stories, each with its own unbelievable images and adjectives. Well, I'm a suburban-changed-to-urban resident of this exciting and enchanting city; and while, yes, the speed of the city accelerates our lives, you have to live here to feel the excitement and appreciate the constant opportunities. Artists, hedge fund financiers, street vendors, waitresses, ambassadors, students, sanitation workers, and heads of school are the pied pipers that keep the world moving along at a quickened pace to support the demands of world banking, education, entertainment, commerce, and five bustling boroughs. I can't wait for you to come see it.

BTW, my friend pictured here is not real. It is what unions use to picket and intimidate companies who do not use their people.