Media Advisory 3: 2007 Joint Assembly in Acapulco, Mexico

AGU Release No. 07-08
11 April 2007

Contact: Peter Weiss
Public Information Manager
Phone: +1-202-777-7507
E-mail: pweiss@agu.org

Abstracts and Sessions Now Online

ALERT!

Some Media Registrations Were Lost!

If you registered as news media for the Joint Assembly between 1 March and 6 April, a computer glitch (now fixed) may have deleted your registration. Please check if your name is on the Who’s Coming list. If not listed, please re-register at the Joint Assembly Web site.

Contents of this message:

  1. Abstracts and sessions now online and searchable
  2. Press conferences in development
  3. AGU journalism awards to be presented
  4. News Media Registration Information
  5. News Media Registration Form
  6. Who’s coming

1. Abstracts and sessions now online and searchable

A. Searching for Abstracts of Interest to You

The 2,612 Joint Assembly abstracts may be accessed by a search tool: http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja07/waissm07adv.html

Reporters and public information officers may search for abstracts of particular interest to them, by looking up any the following parameters on the search tool above:

Up to three search parameters may be combined. Full instructions are available from the search page.

Hint:
In searching for abstracts from an institution, it is often more effective to search by e-mail address than by the name of the institution. The latter may be written in different ways by various authors (e.g., UCLA; University of California, Los Angeles; Univ. of Cal. at Los Angeles; etc.), but all of their E-mail addresses will presumably include “ucla.” The search category “Affiliation” covers names of institutions and their locations; the category “E-mail” will find institutional domains (e.g., look under Affiliation for Columbia or New York, under E-mail for @columbia.edu).

The downloadable file of the meeting abstracts and program (plus instructions for burning it onto a CD) will be available online later this month at the Joint Assembly program page: http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja07/?content=program.

Copies of CDs of the meeting abstracts and program will be available in the Press Room. Print volumes of the program will also be provided there, but not a print version of the abstracts.

B. Finding Sessions at Joint Assembly

The names, numerical designations, dates, times, and room numbers of all sessions may be seen at: http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja07/?content=program&show=glance

Clicking on any session will open a list of oral presentations or posters associated with that session. Clicking on the name of a particular presentation will open its abstract, including name and contact information for at least the lead author.

In the room listings, “ACC” or “LAS” refer to the Acapulco Convention Center. Presentations in “Chichen-Itza Hall” are posters; all other room assignments are oral sessions.

Some special events take place at the Hyatt Regency and Emporio hotels, which will be accessible by shuttle bus.

2. Press conferences in development

We are putting together a program of press conferences related to some of the newsworthy discoveries being presented at Joint Assembly. Subsequent media advisories will provide detailed information about press conferences.

3. AGU journalism awards to be presented

Thursday, 24 May
7:00 pm (19:00)
Hyatt Regency Acapulco, El Cabaret Ballroom

AGU will present two journalism awards at Joint Assembly, as part of Honors Evening. News Media registrants are encouraged to attend the awards ceremony and ensuing reception for the honorees.

These journalism awards, previously announced, will be presented:

David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism—News
to Betsy Mason, Contra Costa Times
Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism—Features
to Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling, Los Angeles Times

4. News Media Registration Information

U.S. Press:

American citizens and anyone else returning to the United States following Joint Assembly must have a valid passport to enter the U.S., if traveling by air. Information for U.S. citizens may be found at: http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.

Reporters may require visas to cover scientific meetings in Mexico. For American citizens, the Mexican Consulate-General in New York has posted relevant regulations, which includes contact information: http://www.consulmexny.org/eng/visas_journalists.htm.

International Press:
Citizens of other countries should contact the Mexican Embassy in their capital city or the nearest Mexican consulate regarding visa regulations for journalists.

News Media registrants receive a badge that provides access to any of the scientific sessions of the meeting, as well as to the Press Room and Press Conference Room. No one will be admitted to press conferences, sessions, or the exhibit hall without a valid badge.

News Media registrants who have preregistered may pick up their badges in the Press Room (Room 15—located inside the Exhibit Hall (Salon Chichen-Itza) upon arrival at the convention center. Please be prepared to show identification (see below).

If you have not preregistered, you may fill out a News Media Registration Form in the Press Room, presenting appropriate identification (see below). Your badge will be made while you wait.

Eligibility for press registration is limited to the following persons:

Note: Representatives of publishing houses, for profit corporations, and the business side of news media must register at the main registration desk at the meeting and pay the appropriate fees, regardless of possession of any of the above documents. They are not accredited as News Media at the meeting.

Scientists who are also reporters and who are presenting at this meeting (oral or poster session) may receive News Media credentials if they qualify (see above), but must also register for the meeting and pay the appropriate fee as a presenter.

5. News Media Registration Form

The News Media Registration Form is set up for online submission only. Please go to: http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja07/?content=media&show=pressReg_online

The last day for advance News Media registration, assuring that your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive, is Friday, 11 May 2007. You may also register onsite.

6. Who’s coming