One month left for Sage Summit 2015 Early Bird pricing

As I was flipping through Facebook early this morning, I saw a message from a game I occasionally play on my iPad. Since I was in a hurry, I just skimmed the message. It seemed like they were having some technical issues, and asked people to not use certain parts of the game.

It’s hard to announce something serious on April 1 because many people are expecting a joke. (Credit: Michelle Dennis / 2008)

I rolled my eyes. Just last night, my husband showed me an urgent message from another game we play on the computer. It didn’t take long to realize that “urgent message” was an April Fool’s Day joke. (I don’t need a degree in computer programming to know that if you mistype “cats” instead of “cast” in the code that cats aren’t going to appear magically all over the screen.) It was funny, and somewhat expected, because this happens all the time on the first day of April.

But that got me to thinking: I just took the Facebook message from the iPad game as another joke. But what if it was for real? Could you imagine if your company had an emergency happen on the night of March 31, and nobody believed you because it would be announced on April 1? Online April Fool’s jokes are so ubiquitous now, that it’s near impossible to put out a truthful press release on this day.

So I figured I would test the waters and write a serious blog post. (Ok, it may be a bit fun, but it’s not going to be a joke.)

Sage Summit Early Bird registration ends April 30

Yes, it’s true: There’s only one month remaining before Early Bird registration ends for Sage Summit 2015 in New Orleans. And Sage Summit is only a few months away. (Well, if you want to get technical, Sage Summit is 16 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours and 14 minutes away from the moment I’m writing this sentence.)

If you’re interested in attending Sage Summit 2015, prices are currently $500 off the regular price of $799 until the end of business on April 30. This is an excellent price for a four-day conference, especially with all of the information that Sage packs into the event. This is currently your best bet for pricing, as the $99 special for last year’s attendees ended as of yesterday.

As a reminder, if you can, make sure to select your hotel as soon as possible. They do fill up fast, usually in the order of most convenient to the venue to least convenient.

Can I earn educational credits for attending Sage Summit?

Yes! According to the Training schedule on the Sage Summit 2015 website, there are both CPE (continuing professional education) and CEU (continuing education unit) available. All educational conference sessions are eligible for the recommended CPE credit, and up to 18 hours of credits are available to earn for both.

This is a big plus for people who may need to provide proof of ROI to executives who may scoff at the idea of a conference in a “party city.” And with a partial session catalog already published, that can also add to help build a case for attending.

You said ‘party city.’ Sage Summit is a serious conference, right?

Yes, seriously. The folks at Sage do everything they can to make sure Sage Sage Summit is an enjoyable event, but it’s not a false front for an excuse to get out of the office for four days. It just so happens that some of the best cities for entertainment in the country also make for the most accommodating cities for conferences.

There were many raised eyebrows about Sage Summit being in Las Vegas last year. There was just no convincing some people that Sage Summit was going to still be the same ol’ Sage Summit, despite it being in “Sin City.” But I can attest that you could have gone directly from the airport upon arrival directly to Mandalay Bay and never step foot outside of the boundaries of the event. Your only exposure to anything would have been walking around the outside boundary of the casino to get from the hotel to the conference area. (And they do that intentionally, like grocery stores putting the sugar-sweetened cereals on the bottom shelf to tempt children and beg their parents.)

This year’s going to be a little more complicated containment-wise, as none of the hotels are directly connected to the Earnest N. Morial Convention Center. But as Sage Summit isn’t being held during Carnival, New Orleans will have no more distractions than any other major city on an average day. Except maybe the beignets at Cafe du Monde. I understand those little piles of fried dough are a distraction in and of themselves.

Is there anything new to report about Sage Summit 2015?

Sadly, not yet. We’re still waiting to hear what the all-star lineup will be for guest speakers, and there’s been no news about the closing celebration. (Last year, the Neon Trees performed, so it’ll be interesting to see what the plan will be for this year.)

But don’t fear, as soon as I hear something, I’ll post something here on the blog. And that’s no joke.