Providing a beautiful backdrop for a sterling program, Salt Lake City hosted NAGC's 51st Annual Convention in November --- and with 2700+ attendees and 100 exhibitors, the Salt Palace Convention center was a beehive of activity.  The NAGC Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony on Thursday evening kicked off the festivities.  Prominent leaders in the field of gifted education gathered, and many notables, including Julian Stanley, were honored at the ceremony.

Eric Smith of Anne Arundel County receives the Administrator Award

The convention began in earnest on Friday with a general session featuring Richard Paul Evans, a Utah native and author of the best-selling book The Christmas Box. His inspiring words - very in tune with fostering childhood talents --- prompted a spontaneous and prolonged standing ovation.

Attendees chose sessions from over 650 offerings on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, including keynote addresses on important issues in the field.

Members of the Utah Association for Gifted Children, under the leadership of Scott Hunsaker, coordinated events locally, including an opportunity for attendees to visit a rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and glorious performances by local students throughout the meeting.

Note: A full recap of the 51st Annual Convention will be featured in the Special Post Convention edition of Communique', which will reach you in early January.

A CD-ROM of the entire convention (or individual strands) is available at http://www.netsymposium.com/index.php?select=association&data=63.

 Make plans now to join us in Louisville, Kentucky, November 9-13, 2005.

To attendees: we hope that you enjoyed the convention and found the educational content valuable. We are always looking for ways to improve the meeting, so if you haven't sent us your convention evaluation yet, an online version is available at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=U23ACMRMR2KJ

Make plans now to join us in Louisville, Kentucky, November 9-13, 2005.