Two weeks ago, the Whitney museum in New York cancelled Last Words, a panel discussion focusing on the topic "What does it mean to speak of one's own death?" Place was scheduled to read from a Botched Execution, a poem comprising official statements and witness accounts of the 43-minute execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma in 2014.
In 2008, she found 350 professors or researchers focusing on the topic in more than 35 countries.
I thoroughly enjoyed "Alan Greenspan Fanfic," by Rob Dubbin: Greenspan flipped through the pages of his formidable intellect, focusing on the topic he'd been asked to discuss and marshaling such time-tested phrases as "market exuberance" and "fiscal self-regulation".
The Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA) is running a series of paid for events in September at The Arts Club, London, focusing on the topic of IPTV.
Working groups focusing on the topic date back to at least 1977, when the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists Special Interest Group on Pediatric Pharmacy Practice started working on the issue.
Certainly, on blogs, message boards and social networking sites, some questioned why the minister was focusing on the topic at a time when millions of Britons were struggling to make ends meet - and in the week when a report by the Tax Justice Network suggested the global elite hid at least £13tn ($21tn) in tax havens by the end of 2010.
Take Denver Art Museum's Women of Abstract Expressionism, the first show to focus on the topic, which ran through the summer.
"Sexuality needed addressing," said Jennie Rosenfeld, director of Tzelem, a project housed at the Center for the Jewish Future, at Yeshiva University, that focuses on the topic.
By telling participants in advance about the big picture, you keep the meeting on track toward its stated goals — and keep employees focused on the topic at hand.
