There are a bunch of online guides to writing an abstract -- here's one. [link]

Thanks, Jesse!

That sounds fascinating, Amy!

It is eerie out. Very dystopic future looking. And breathing. Much coughing, some people are wearing masks. I actually have some to wear when I'm cleaning heavily, maybe I will break them out if the smoke doesn't clear.

The community college where I usually transfer buses is an evacuation center, so I wasn't sure if it would still be a transfer point, so I drove to the mall to catch the Vallejo bus directly, which seems like a good excuse to go see a movie on the way home.

The pictures look very distressing. So troubling.

The fires are so heartbreaking. I lived in OC and know the areas on fire, and Napa is, well, Napa, os very much attached to there too. Sending lots of~ma, -t. Stay safe!

Amy, in truth I'm not sure I know what "proper abstract format" is, but I teach academic writing and have had many abstracts accepted, and I even teach about food. If you want a spare set of eyes to look at it, I'd be happy to.

The only abstract format I know is for medical articles, which is nowhere near what you need (I assume). Unless you conducted a clinical trial about bread.

Steph's point reminds me, I would look to the cfp or to the website to see if there are any further specifications beyond word length. 300 words is fairly typical for an abstract.

When I've submitted abstracts, they've just been summaries of what I was going to talk about. There wasn't any specific format.

This is what I came up with, which is basically 256 words of me bullshitting as fast as I can, since we don't have any other kind of presentation to propose:

Daily Bread: Turning a retail bakery into a thriving community.

Even in today's frenetically paced Western world, bread is still a staff of life. Traditions around "breaking bread" are constantly emphasized in the media; images of fresh-out-of-the-oven bread are used to create a feeling of home, family, and comfort. In deciding to open a French bakery in the U.S., Catherine Seisson hoped to ensure the success of the enterprise by highlighting the ways bread, itself a staple of nourishment, can nourish community, just as it has for centuries in France, where a regular part of every day is a stop at the boulangerie. In an era where more people every year choose to eat gluten-free or to restrict carbohydrates, it's more important than ever to use bread not only as a product but as a metaphor for the human aspect of bread's creation and the community bonds it builds. Using communal tables, offering baking classes, encouraging conversation among patrons, educating customers about the history of bread and its customs, and celebrating French cultural traditions here in the U.S. have helped to create a unique society among Seisson's customers, many of whom have developed friendships and other associations through the bakery. In this way, she hopes to provide a template for other small bakeries or businesses involved in artisanal bread-baking to not only survive during challenging economic circumstances, but thrive. Falling into the Application category, this presentation will provide attendees with real-world inspiration for using bread to create a very particular brand through the community it builds.

Stay safe, -t.