The call for abstracts for the 2017 AGMA Fall Technical Meeting went out months ago. While it seems early to many readers, this schedule has to be adhered to so the authors selected have time to complete their drafts and get them polished for the biggest gear conference of the year (which took place in Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 2 – 4; 23 papers were presented). I have retired from the technical paper business but want to encourage our readers to think about participating. If there are topics you would like to see covered you have to let someone know. If you are in a position to share something you have learned about gears, this is a great opportunity. The task seems daunting when you first think about it; to begin, first you have to come up with an idea, get permission from your supervisors, and get an abstract accepted. Then there is the writing and peer review. Finally you have to face your fear of public speaking. It is very logical to say, No — thank you for thinking of me, but I will sit this one out. Unfortunately lots of great engineers never take on the challenge of presenting a paper before an audience of their peers. That means that many great ideas are not shared; we    don’t know how many times this occurs because no one remembers those who don’t try. My four published FTM papers are not world-changing documents, but they changed things for me personally. There is no possible way I could have gotten into the consulting business without the name recognition gained by being “published.” If you are interested in separating yourself from the nameless and faceless crowd, this is your chance. I offer my services as coach, mentor, editor, and research assistant if that helps sway your decision. You can do this. Keep in mind as well that the majority of technical papers are co-authored, so you might want to give some thought as to who may be available to best partner with. And don’t forget that an AGMA-presented paper is eligible for publication in a future issue of Gear Technology (or possibly Power Transmission Engineering), where it will be immortalized in our online archive. That’s good for the organization/institution under whose name the paper was presented, and even better for you — the author.