Annual Conference preview and early numbers

New Orleans will be library central in a couple of days. Librarians and staff, library school students, vendors, and their friends will fill the Morial Convention Center, hotels near and far, and the French Quarter. I suspect attendees are doing what I'm doing: frantically packing and planning for meetings, events, and socializing with friends and colleagues.

A few facts and figures from HQ as of June 20, 2011:

• Paid registration is at 10,007, compared to 11,163 for DC (2010) and 11,775 for Chicago (2009). The week-to-week gain in paid registration was 231.
• Total registration as of this morning is 11,273, compared to 12,967 for DC (2010) and 12,966 for Chicago (2009).
• There are 845 non-members registered, plus a couple of one-day registrations.
• There are 328 international registrants, including all categories (e.g. students, members, non-members.)

 Want to really dig into what's happening? Check out this fantastic document put together by Mary Ghikas.