We deleted the banquet since it was becoming impossible to provide high quality food that conformed to our (AHA's) chef's artistic goals. In addition, more attendees want to participate in the NHC awards than we had banquet hall seats. So the change to an open entry into the awards session and a closing 'happy hour' after that, should give attendees more bang for their buck and also enable everyone to plan for a night out on the town on Saturday night. I'm really excited that there is the light rail line and venues along its path.
The other good thing is that attendees that don't have an interest in attending the awards session, will have the opportunity to continue attending conference sessions. These late sessions will all be repeats of earlier presentations, so you won't necessarily miss anything.