Thursday night's opening reception at the Portland Art Museum: Mingle with other AAN-types while sipping Widmers, wine or 360 Vodka and munching on light hors d'oeuvres in the museum's outdoor sculpture garden. The big Rembrandt show is just a few steps away.

Friday's rooftop reception at Wieden + Kennedy: One of the world's top ad agencies will entertain conventioneers with Motown music and a transcendant view of the Pearl District, and AAN and Willamette Week will provide the drinks and light hors d'oeuvres.

Saturday’s "Dinner in the Sky" at Oregon Health & Science University's Kohler Pavillion: Take a streetcar to the Portland Aerial Tram, where a private car awaits convention delegates. During the three-minute ride that climbs 500 feet, you'll have birds' eye views of downtown Portland, the Willamette River and Mt. Hood. Up on top, you'll find a salmon dinner, with drinks and dessert.

Even the best-laid plans occasionally need tweaking, which is why AAN is using Twitter to send updates to convention attendees. (Wait, what's Twitter? You can read more about it at web.aan.org/twitter). We'll use it to send short text messages to mobile devices to remind folks about events or last-minute changes.
Just text "Follow Altweeklies" to 40404, and follow the instructions, or check our step-by-step pictorial on our community blog at Portland2007.AAN.org/twitter_help. If you already have a Twitter account, just add your mobile information to your account to receive updates. If you’d prefer to see the updates online only, you can check out our page, Twitter.com/AltWeeklies.