Nearly done reviewing

This is the text of an e-mail being sent to our over 175 volunteer reviewers. We are almost there!

"Subject: OBTC 2008 Reviewing Nearly Done

Today, Tuesday, January 15, 2008 is the final deadline for OBTC 2008 session proposals. Over 150 of them are fully reviewed, or pending a fourth opinion. I am assigning reviewers to the last batch of about 15 that are in or I expect will be in by the end of the 15th. Unless I have a need for a fourth opinion, that will be it. No more calls for reviews cropping up in your mailboxes!

Our goal was to be able to notify all of our colleagues on the outcome of their proposals by the end of January, so that travel plans can be made.

This sets us up to design the bulk of the Program in February. Colleagues will have more time to polish their sessions and submit them to a Proceedings can be handed out at check in.

We had over 175 colleagues volunteer to review. All had at least 3 to review. Some kindly reviewed as many as 6. This gave us extraordinary coverage of each. In that we had many more proposed sessions than space and time would allow, it was indispensible to have such cogent evaluations made in advance of deciding on acceptances.

I will thanking each of you again, but perhaps the thanks you need now is to learn that we are almost done!"