AML Conference 2016: Hawaii

[Hello folks. I’ve got the first Monday of the month slot, and I totally bailed in January. But February will not get away.]

I wanted to post an update on the conference plans for 2016: while a formal invitation/announcement is still forthcoming (soon, hopefully) I proclaim that the wheels are in motion. 

• We are looking at the first weekend in March, 2016. March 4-5 to be exact. If all goes as planned there will be an LDS Writers Workshop running that week as well, February 29-March 4, overlapping with AML for one day.
• The powers that be at BYU-Hawaii have granted us access to campus. Sessions will most likely take place in the ballroom, McKay little theater, and/or some larger classrooms.
• A brand new Marriott Courtyard hotel is set to open this June 2015 in Laie, a block from campus, making it the first major hotel built on this side of the island in, like . . . forever. I have been in touch with some people at Marriott, but they have yet to work out the pricing on a group rate for rooms. I think we’ll be able to settle on something that works, based on the season and on BYU’s arrangements with other hotels. Other accommodations in the area include Turtle Bay Resort (lovely, and $$$$), vacation rental properties (could work out well for a group who wants to split a larger place), Airbnb stuff, begging BYU faculty members to take you in, and camping on the beach (always an option, seriously).
• This time of year is also a decent time to find affordable airfare to the Aloha State, as it is post-holiday/heavy winter and pre-spring break.
• The Hawaii state motto is Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono: The strength of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. Doesn’t that just feel right?

I hope that this conference, and the spirit of David O. McKay (BYU-Hawaii’s founder and that most bookish of prophets), will be able to draw some of us together in 2016. It could be a most memorable and novel occasion.

Hope to have more information soon. In the meantime, I welcome any feedback or input on the conference, as well as ideas for panels or dedicated sessions, etc. Get those proposals ready.

Mahalo.