For the last couple of years, we have been told "lose the bag," "forget the bag," "I don't want the bag," "I like to use my own bag," or "Can you recycle this?"  So we have eliminated the convention bag.  You will not see an official ISMRM bag at the ISMRM 20th Annual Meeting & Exhibition.  Non più.  Pas plus.  No más.  No more. 

But sometimes it's hard to let go of a tradition, and with it being the ISMRM 20th annual meeting. . . we want you to Bring Your Own Bag!  But we want to make this, well, a bit fun.  So we are pleased to announce the ISMRM BYOB Contest!

The idea is we want to see who is the pack rat, who is creative, who is resourceful, who is conservative, who is liberal. . .well, you'll see what we mean. 

As I am sure you all know, the ISMRM 21st Annual Meeting & Exhibition will be held in Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah, USA, in 2013.  The City of Salt Lake is a "green" city, appropriately so as they are placed at the heart of four beautiful U.S. National Parks, with three more within range.  Their SLC team was so happy to hear that we planned to eliminate the convention bag this year that they offered to collaborate with us on our BYOB Contest! 

So do you want to earn a chance at some valuable gifts to help subsidize your trip to Salt Lake City in 2013?  Five nights of hotel?  A pre- or post-trip in beautiful Utah?  Free dinners?  All you have to do is bring your bag to the Salt Lake City booth in the exhibition hall in Melbourne, give them your business card, and let them photograph your bag.  That's it.  You'll be entered into the contest. 

Well, that's not quite all there is to it. . .we want to see the resourcefulness and creativity we know you all exude, so look at the following categories, pick one, and BYOB to Melbourne!

1)  The 1994-2011 ISMRM Bag - look in your closets, your garage, or wherever you store "stuff" and see how far back you can go.  We'll enter you if you bring any ol' ISMRM bag, BUT if you can go back to the first meeting of the merged societies, back to 1994 - hey, that's 20 meetings ago! - well, we'll enter you twice!!  (Hint:  We were called SMR, and the first meeting was in Dallas, Texas, USA, with a second one later that year in San Francisco, CA, USA.  Dallas is the first, though! See all the bags on this page?  Pick one and bring it!  Do you have it?)

2)  The ISMRM 20th Anniversary Bag - be creative.  Below each of the bags you see on this page, you will see what city we were in that year. Decorate your bag commemorating all 20 years of the ISMRM in a creative way and bring it to the Salt Lake Booth and enter the contest! (You might want to ask a creative child for help here.)

3)  The Ugly Duckling Bag - Do you own the ugliest bag on earth?  Is it frayed?  Does it remind you of when you were in high school?  Did you actually use it in high school?  Do you remember?  Bring it to the Salt Lake City booth!

4)  The Glamour Bag - Do you own the prettiest bag on earth?  Requires bling, lots of it, and if you don't know what that is, we suggest you try one of the other categories.

5)  The Green Bag - Do you own a bag that is so environmentally friendly, so sustainable, it's so green that you could eat it?  Bring it to the Salt Lake booth.

6)  The Ol' Timers Bag - Did you join the Society more than 20 years ago?  Were you a member of one of the predecessor societies - SMRM or SMRI?  Are you old?  Can you admit it or better yet prove it?  Hey, if you have one of those old SMRM or SMRI bags (or whatever's left of it) you will be entered for a special award.  This may require, again, digging through some trunks in the attic, but for this special category, we will accept the remains of the bag - I mean nothing lasts forever.  Just pin it to whatever bag you're using now or bring it in a paper bag.  If we can, through simple forensics, identify whether it was an SMRM or SMRI bag, you'll be entered into the contest for a special award.  (A couple of samples are provided below!)

And just so we're clear, we don't want to see grocery bags, purses, or anything so small it wouldn't hold a program book, some booth "swag" and your laptop!  And we want to see it on your back or your shoulder during the meeting.  And finally do not bring bags you have gotten from non-ISMRM meetings. This time it's all about the ISMRM!  Prizes will be announced and awarded at the closing party!