I will discuss a new proposal for framing and parametrizing new-physics searches, and the results of the "Workshop on Topologies for Early LHC Searches" at SLAC in late September 2010.  The aim of that workshop (http://www-conf.slac.stanford.edu/topologies10/) was to develop a list of event topologies representative of the range of new physics possibilities that could appear at the LHC. . We are presently compiling summaries of 'simplified models' that generate each event-topology of interest, including Monte Carlo implementations, kinematic variables of interest, and suggested parametrizations of search results (http://lhcnewphysics.org/wiki).