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Vol.
28 No. 5
September-October 2006
From
the Editor
A
good portion of conferences and scientific symposia take place
during July and August, which is no surprise since many scientists
organizing and participating in these events must operate
by academic calendars. The summer break in the Northern hemispheremirrored
to some extent with the winter recess in the Southern hemisphereprovides
a relatively short time window in which to meet. With so many
summer conferences competing for attendees, one must choose
carefully. While some conference goers may be swayed by which
site has the better beach, an important factor to consider
is IUPAC sponsorship. Since one of its goals is to facilitate
scientific discussions, IUPAC has for many years sponsored
scientific conferences. The granting of such sponsorship is
based on multiple criteria, including scientific quality,
significance, geographic and overall diversity of speakers,
and evidence of sufficient advance planning. While the IUPAC
stamp of approval can be a helpful guide, there are many intangible
factors that are harder to judge. For example, the suitability
of the chairmen of each session can have a great impact on
the outcome of symposia.
If
you attended a conference recently, you certainly remember
the not so good session chairman, and yet you probably forgot
who was the good one. With a good deal of humor, Roger Fenwick
and Leiv Sydnes review what it really takes to be a good chairman
(see page 4). What they write
may seem like common sense to some, but potential session
chairmen would do well to take their jolly reminders to heart.
If you have good (or bad or funny) stories that you would
like to share with us, please don't be shy. This is not a
contest for best session chairman, and sharing good practices
is a simple service to the scientific community.
As
the high season for scientific conferences and symposia comes
to an end, I hope that your meeting experiences were good,
enjoyable, and fruitful.
Fabienne
Meyers
[email protected]
www.iupac.org/publications/ci
PS:
Plea to conference organizers: Please review the calendar
of IUPAC-sponsored conferences starting on page 43, or on
the web at www.iupac.org/symposia.
If you are planning an IUPAC event not listed in these pages,
please contact the secretariat at <[email protected]>.
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last modified 21 September 2006.
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