If you ever worked at Immunex, chances are you got a T-shirt, pen, coffee mug or some other piece of swag with a logo on it. The stuff might have been shipped off to Goodwill a long time ago, but if it’s still sitting there in the closet, I have an idea for what you can do with it.
Dig it out, and bring it to the big Xconomy event on Dec. 1, called “The Immunex Impact.” This event, timed for the 10th anniversary of Amgen’s $10 billion takeover of Seattle’s trailblazing biotech company, is shaping up to be the biggest reunion of Immunoids in years. It will feature a number of prominent alumni, including Steve Gillis, Chris Henney, Doug Williams, Stewart Parker, Steve Graham, Janis Wignall, Dave Urdal, and Patricia Beckmann. I know some of these people have their share of mementos laying around the house, and I’m guessing there’s plenty more where that came from.
We’re going to make sure the speeches are brief, the networking time is long, and the mood is fun. Here’s how it will work: if you have Immunex memorabilia you’d like to display at the event, please send me a note to make an appointment to drop it off at the Xconomy Seattle offices for safe-keeping. This way, we can arrange everything on bulletin boards and tables at the Institute for Systems Biology before everyone starts showing up. I’ll keep things labeled so the rightful owners can retrieve their goods at the event, and take them home at the end of the night.
If you’re interested, just send me an email at [email protected] to set up an appointment to drop it off at our office. Or if one of the Immunex alumni would like to step up as a volunteer to corral all this stuff in advance, I’m cool with that too. Let me know.
One last thing. Even though I never worked at Immunex, amazingly, I still have my own piece of swag laying around my office. It’s a plastic Immunex slinky that I remember getting on my very first trip to the BIO conference in 2001, which was held that year in San Diego. Why it’s still with me after various moves is hard to say. I’m really looking forward to seeing all the various stuff you have to bring, and what memories it conjures up.
