Save the Date: The 2023 Cranky Network Awards Will Be on February 23 in Phoenix

That business trip to Phoenix I wrote up yesterday? I couldn’t say it at the time, but that was meant to finalize our plans for the Cranky Network Awards in 2023. And now, it’s official, we’re heading to Phoenix, Arizona!

It’s only 267 days until the 2023 Cranky Network Awards, so mark your calendars now for February 23, 2023 when we descend on downtown Phoenix for a night of phabulous phun.

We are particularly pleased to announce that Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is our the official presenting sponsor for 2023. We were lucky enough that our date magically squished right in between the Super Bowl and baseball spring training, so it was the perfect window to make this happen at the peak time of year in the Valley of the Sun.

In other words, if you work for an airline based in Chicago, Minnesota, New York, or in Canada… you’re welcome.

The event itself will be held at Events on Jackson, a space that lies right across the street from the America West Arena Footprint Center. We aren’t quite ready to announce the host hotel yet, but it will be right in that area in downtown Phoenix.

After last year’s successful event — which you can watch here with a cleaned up audio stream — we’ve learned how we can make it even better. Just a few things we have in the hopper…

• We will be doing more testing work with a new a/v partner in Phoenix to make sure we don’t run into trouble again.
• We will have a planned after-party this year at a place that won’t shut the bar down just when the fun is getting going.
• We’ll be looking to expand our breakfast forecast event the morning after and hold it at a venue that’s more conducive to discussion.
• We are looking to expand the attendee list to include more of the younger generation of network planners. You do all the hard work day-in and day-out, so you deserve to be recognized in person as well. We’ll be talking to each airline individually about that.

At this point that’s all just in the planning phase, and there will be more to come. What’s important is that if you work in network planning for an airline in the US and Canada, block February 23, 2023. And if you don’t, well, at least block off that evening, because this will again be livestreamed for all to see and enjoy.