As a long time proponent of increased international participation at Global Forum, I am glad to see action on the part to the Executive Board in trying bring more non-North American users into our community. I also hope this will not not be a one-time change, since this change will not increase international speakers for 2017 (acceptance notices have already been sent) , although it will make attendance less of a financial burden for those with an accepted paper. At the 2017 conference I hope to see more announcements that will help attract submissions for the 2018 confernece from users around the world