Date:  Wed, 21 Dec 1994 14:36:07 CST

From:  Mike Picone <MPICONE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UA1VM.UA.EDU>

Subject: Re: Where o where?



It does seem to make some sense to meet in a venue where there is the most

overlap of vital interests with another organization, if, that is, one

is going to discard the idea of independent meetings because of the

added expense, time commitment, etc.



This is especially true if the main justification for joint meetings is

to further recruitment of potentially interested individuals. I will give

an example of where this seems to have worked. When LAVIS-II and SECOL

met together, a number of people who were attracted to LAVIS found out

about SECOL, too. Some of these people are my colleagues here at Alabama

working on Southern dialect and discourse, others I know because, like me, they

work on Louisiana French. All had been told about SECOL by me but had made

no previous attempt to connect, despite my proddings. It was the link-up

with LAVIS that was critical for them in the first instance, but a few of

them, I have noticed, now continue to be active members in SECOL and continue

participating and presenting at its meetings. Actually, to take the

example a step further, it was at LAVIS-II that I first seriously considered

membership in ADS after Allan Metcalf's excellent pep talk on that subject.

(My membership inadvertantly lapsed this year due to a foul-up on renewal

notification, but it will shortly be reinstated for the coming year.)



Mike Picone

University of Alabama