by Janet Dickelman
The winner of the 2021 conference and convention theme contest is Jenine Stanley. Her submission of “ACB – Better Together Wherever We Are” really exemplifies the spirit and commitment of our convention attendees and those of us working to make our 2021 virtual conference and convention exciting and inclusive for everyone attending virtually from wherever they are. We may not be together physically, but we certainly are together in our mission and in our hearts. Jenine will be receiving a $25 Amazon gift certificate for her theme submission.
The second very exciting piece of news is about our banquet speaker! ACB is extremely excited to welcome Peter Sagal as our banquet speaker. He is best known as the host of the Peabody Award-winning NPR news quiz “Wait, Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!,” one of the most popular shows on public radio. In addition, he is, has been, and perhaps someday will be again, a husband, father, playwright, screenwriter, author, journalist, columnist, marathoner, Jeopardy contestant, dramaturg, podcast host, documentary host, foreign correspondent, wedding officiant, and magician’s assistant. He is the author of “The Book of Vice” and “The Incomplete Book of Running,” a memoir about the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing and other adventures while running long distances.
During the infamous Boston Marathon bombing incident, Peter was guiding a blind runner through his first Boston. They finished just five minutes before the bombing occurred. The difference between running the last mile, or taking a walking break, was a literal life-or-death situation for the duo.
In 1997, Peter got a call from a friend telling him about a new show at NPR, which was looking for “funny people who read a lot of newspapers.” He auditioned and appeared as a panelist on the first broadcast of “Wait, Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” in January of 1998, and moved with his family to Chicago to become the host in May, alongside the original judge and scorekeeper, Carl Kasell. In the two decades since, he has traveled the country with the show.
He's interviewed two presidents; a number of Nobel Prize winners; astronauts and rocket scientists; musicians Elvis Costello, Yo Yo Ma, and Ice Cube; actors Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson; and many, many others. “Wait, Wait” has grown from 50,000 weekly listeners on nine stations at its launch to over 5 million listeners on more than 700 stations, making it the most-listened-to hour in public radio. Peter lives in the Chicago area with his wife Mara, son Elliott, and two dogs, DeeDee and Dutchie.
You won’t want to miss Peter and his engaging and humorous banquet speech!
Convention dates are Friday, July 16th through Friday, July 23rd. Opening general session will be on Sunday evening, July 18th, with daily sessions Monday through Friday. We will be holding our banquet on Thursday the 22nd in order to leave Friday the 23rd open for our Olympic opening ceremony extravaganza.
To enable you to listen to all the exciting programming in addition to our audio-described tour channel and our exhibits channel, there will be 5 concurrent ACB Radio streams available for special-interest affiliates, committees and our business partners to stream their events.
Staying in Touch
The conference and convention announce list will be filled with information. To subscribe to the list, send a blank e-mail to [email protected]. If you received updates for the 2020 convention, you do not need to subscribe to the list.
Convention Contacts
2021 exhibit information: Michael Smitherman, (601) 331-7740, [email protected]
2021 advertising and sponsorships: Anthony Stephens, (202) 559-2045, [email protected]
For any other convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, (651) 428-5059 or via e-mail, [email protected].