Why do I hear about writer conferences a month in advance in NY and a month after it happens in Alaska?

I got a booklet in the mail for the 2008 AWP NYC Conference and Bookfair in New York city this January and February, it got me to wishing that there was more for writers in Alaska. Seems like the few things that we have had up here, by the time I hear about them there is either no time for me to have a chance to attend, or they have often already passed by the time I hear about it. I guess I have to drag my head out of the sand and watch more news rather than avoid it like I have been in recent years. It just usually only makes me get in a bad mood, so I began avoiding the news.