9 December 2014
American Geophysical Union
2014 Fall Meeting
Media Advisory 4
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, California
15-19 December 2014
Included in this advisory:
1. Pre-registration Still Open
2. Press Conference Schedule
3. Media Availability: Secretary Sally Jewell, U.S. Department of the Interior
4. Webstreaming: Access 2014 Fall Meeting Press Conferences (Live) Online
5. Press/News Media Badge Pickup
6. Press Rooms Update
7. Quiet Rooms
8. Virtual Press Room
9. Fall Meeting App
10. Fall Meeting Virtual Options
11. Journalism Awards
12. First-Timers Breakfast
13. Mass Media Fellows Breakfast
14. Not Just the Facts: How to Communicate Opinion
15. Social Media Forum
16. Northern California Science Writers Association (NCSWA) Dinner Registration
17. Who’s Coming
Please visit the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting Media Center for previous media advisories that include important information about visas for international reporters and searching the scientific program.
1. Pre-registration Still Open
Online Fall Meeting press registration will remain open throughout the meeting in order to expedite the badge pick-up process (see #5 below for details).
To register as press, please see the online press registration page. For eligibility requirements, please visit the Press Registration Eligibility Requirements page.
Press badges provide complimentary access to the meeting’s scientific sessions, as well as to the Press Room, Press Conference Room and Quiet Rooms. No one will be admitted to the meeting without a valid badge.
The AGU Public Information Office has planned more than 20 press events – mostly press conferences but also a couple of workshops for journalists and a media availability — to help reporters cover new developments in the Earth and space sciences. A list of those events is below. Please click on the title of a press conference for more information, including short descriptions, participants and associated scientific sessions. Please click here or on the “Press Conference” tab in the online Media Center for the full schedule and list of press conferences.
The following schedule of press conferences is subject to change, before or during Fall Meeting. Press conferences may be added or dropped, their titles and emphases may change and participants may change. Updates, changes and additions to the press conference schedule will be posted in the Press Conference tab in the Media Center.
Press conferences take place in the Press Conference Room (Room 3000, Moscone West, Level 3), diagonally across the hall from the Press Room. Times for press conferences are Pacific Standard Time. All press conferences will be webstreamed. Click on the “Webstreaming” tab in the Media Center for further information and see #4 below.
Monday, 15 December
9:00 a.m. — Early results from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission
10:30 a.m. — Latest look at x-rays and gamma-rays in thunderstorms
11:30 a.m. — Smog and soot in the Middle East
1:30 p.m. — Surprising findings in Greenland’s melt dynamics
2:30 p.m. — Cholera in a time of changing climate
5:00 p.m. — New insights into boulder transport by major storms
Tuesday, 16 December
8:00 a.m. — Looking under the ice: Initial findings of the Nereid Under Ice vehicle
9:00 a.m. — California’s epic drought as viewed from space
10:30 a.m. — Recent findings from NASA’s Curiosity Rover about modern and ancient Mars
11:30 a.m. – The 2014 South Napa Earthquake
1:30 p.m. — Advances in tsunami warning and forecasting since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
2:30 p.m. — Holidays in lights: Tracking culture from space
Wednesday, 17 December
8:00 a.m. — Rosetta comet science results
10:30 a.m. — Arctic Report Card 2014
11:30 a.m. — Arctic heating: 15 Years of sea ice loss—and absorbed solar radiation gains
2:30 p.m. — After the pulse flow: Greening the Colorado River Delta
4:00 p.m. — Rain-on-snow floods in a changing climate
Thursday, 18 December
9:00 a.m. — First results from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2)
10:30 a.m. — Refilling California’s reservoirs – The storm/aerosols connection (workshop)
11:30 a.m. — New Horizons on Pluto’s doorstep (workshop)
1:45 p.m. – Media Availability: Secretary Sally Jewell, U.S. Department of the Interior
2:30 p.m. – The waters they are arising: What does the historical past warn of in the near term future
3. Media Availability: Secretary Sally Jewell, U.S. Department of the Interior
Secretary Jewell will deliver this year’s Union Agency Lecture, which will take place in the Gateway Ballroom in the Moscone South building from 12:30 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. After the Secretary’s speech and discussion with AGU Members, she will be available for one half-hour, beginning at 1:45 p.m., to answer questions from credential members of the media in the Press Conference Room (Room 3000, Moscone West). For a bio of Secretary Jewell, please click here.
4. Webstreaming: Access Fall Meeting Conferences (Live) Online
Reporters can remotely participate in Fall Meeting press conferences via webstreaming. For information on how to sign up and access this feature, click on the “webstreaming” tab in the online Media Center.
If, for some reason, the webstreaming does not work for a particular press conference, we will immediately put up a message on the Fall Meeting Media Center homepage and switch to making the briefing available via teleconference. To call into the teleconference, dial 877-709-0939 within the United States and Canada, or +1 678-735-6305 internationally. The participant passcode is 1924247921. NOTE: The teleconference will only be available if the webstreaming goes down.
5. Press/News Media Badge Pickup
To avoid long lines on Monday morning, Dec. 15, we encourage all members of the news media to go through the final steps of registering and picking up your badge on Sunday, Dec. 14. You may register online throughout the duration of the Fall Meeting. As always, press/news media registration is complimentary.
If you did not preregister online: The main Fall Meeting registration area is in the first level of Moscone West. The press registration counter will be in the lobby before you enter the main registration area next to the Mobile App desk. To register on-site, you must go to the Press Registration Counter in Moscone West, fill out an onsite registration form, and present your media credentials. For eligibility requirements and required credentials, please visit the Press Registration Eligibility Requirements page. To expedite the registration process, please fill out the online registration form, including your press credentials, before you arrive at the Moscone Center.
If you preregistered and were mailed your badge: If you have your badge in hand, you can complete the registration process (picking up a badge holder, program book and other materials) at booths on the first level of Moscone West, the upper lobby of Moscone South and the Yerba Buena Ballroom level of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis hotel (located at 55 Fourth Street diagonally across from Moscone West). At these booths, you can hand in the voucher that came with your badge and you will be handed the badge holder and other materials. Then, at your convenience, please come by the Press Room (Room 3001A, Moscone West) for your green Press/News Media ribbon that gets attached to your badge. You will need a ribbon to have access to the AGU press rooms, but not to attend sessions or other venues at Fall Meeting.
If you preregistered online but didn’t receive your badge in the mail or forgot to bring your mailed badge to the meeting: You may use the self-registration lines in the main registration area on the first level of Moscone West (you do not need to use the press registration line) or the upper lobby of Moscone South. At the self-registration counters you can either type in your name and zip code or scan the barcode that you received in the email confirming your registration.
The entrances to the Moscone West building are on Fourth Street between Howard Street and Minna Street.
The Press Room is Room 3001A in Moscone West, Level 3. (This room has an unusual number — the added A – because it is a custom-made room that’s only here during the AGU Fall Meeting, located between Room 3001 and the Level 3 Lobby).
Press conferences take place in the Press Conference Room, Room 3000, which is also on Moscone West, Level 3. It is diagonally across from the Press Room.
The Press Room provides working space for reporters, including three phone lines (with no charge for business calls), two computer terminals and two printers, Wi-Fi, and space for socializing. The main phone number in the Press Room for incoming calls is +1 (415) 348-4404.
The Press Room opens daily at 7:30 a.m. Mon. Dec. 15 through Fri. Dec. 19. The room will open at 7:00 a.m. on Mon. Dec. 15 and Wed. Dec. 17 for the First-Timers and Mass Media Fellows breakfasts. The room closes daily at 6:30 p.m. except for Fri. Dec. 19 when it will close at 2 p.m.
Some meals and other refreshments will be provided in the Press Room for news media registrants. Breakfast (from 7:30 a.m.) will be available Monday – Wednesday. Lunch (from 12:30 p.m.) will be available Monday – Thursday. Coffee and tea will be available at 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday – Thursday, and 10 a.m. Friday.
Fall Meeting press registrants can reserve one of two available Quiet Rooms during the meeting to conduct interviews. The Quiet Rooms are located in Moscone South, Room 216, and Moscone West, Overlook 3024. Please sign up to reserve these rooms at the front desk of the press room (Moscone West 3001A) or by calling the press room at 415-348-4404. Reservations are given in 30-minute increments for up to one hour at a time, and are on a first-come, first-served basis.
During the Fall Meeting, journalists will find press releases and many resources online in the Virtual Press Room. Public information officers (PIOs) can post releases and other materials on the site. To access the Virtual Press Room, go to the Media Center on the Fall Meeting website and click on the “Virtual Press Room” tab.
For journalists: Press releases, press conference materials (including PowerPoint presentations, images, videos, scientific papers, and more, as available), and video recordings of press conferences are added to the Virtual Press Room during the meeting for easy online access.
For public information officers: PIOs with a login can add press releases, tip sheets and press conference materials to the Virtual Press Room at any time before or during the meeting, including uploading items in advance and scheduling them to post during the meeting.To register for a login, go to the Media Center on the Fall Meeting website and click on the “For PIOs” tab. Only registered PIOs will be allowed to upload content.
Public information officers of universities, government agencies, and research institutions can also disseminate paper press releases and related documentation at Fall Meeting. We recommend around 50 copies of printed materials and three to five copies of broadcast quality video.
The easiest way to get these materials to the Press Room is to take them yourself, if you are going to Fall Meeting, or to give them to one of your scientists, with instructions to deliver them
to the AGU Press Room (Room 3001A) Moscone West, from Mon., Dec. 15.
If you prefer, you may send these materials (but not to arrive before Dec. 12) by FedEx, UPS, or DHL to the following address:
Peter Weiss
(Guest arriving Dec. 12)
Parc 55 Wyndham San Francisco
55 Cyril Magnin St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
1-415-392-8000, 1-800-595-0507
Shipments to the above address should be timed to arrive on Fri., Dec. 12, or after. They will be displayed from Mon., Dec. 15 or as soon as received (if later than Monday).
Remaining materials may be collected from Room 3001A by Fri., Dec. 19, at 1:00 p.m., after which they will be thrown away.
The 2014 AGU Fall Meeting Mobile App is now available for download for iPhone and Android. The app allows you to browse the scientific program, plan and sync your schedule between devices, receive event alerts, and stay connected on social media.
Click here for instructions on downloading the mobile app.
10. Fall Meeting Virtual Options
Fall Meeting Virtual Options will provide online access to livestreamed and recorded content from the Fall Meeting, including union lectures, named lectures and more than 600 oral sessions.
Registration for access to Fall Meeting Virtual Options is required, but free. Click here for more information.
11. Journalism awards reception
We invite you to join your Press Room colleagues at an informal reception to honor AGU’s most recent journalism award winners. We will celebrate the outstanding reporting and writing of 2014 David Perlman Award winner Andrew Grant and 2014 Walter Sullivan Award winner Elizabeth Kolbert. (Kolbert is not expected to be present.)
The reception will take place in the Press Room (Moscone West, Room 3001A) from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. on Thurs., Dec. 18.
Attending your first AGU Fall Meeting and don’t know where to start? Whether you’re covering a scientific meeting for the first time or just haven’t been to the Fall Meeting before, veteran reporters and public information officers will let you in on their secrets for navigating the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists during breakfast 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. Mon., Dec. 15 in the Press Room (Moscone West, Room 3001A).
13. Mass Media Fellows breakfast
Are you an alum of the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship program? Whether you were sponsored by AGU or by another organization, please join us for an informal breakfast in the Press Room from 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. on Wed., Dec. 17. Share what you’ve been up to since your fellowship and network with other former fellows. All alumni are welcome to attend, even those without press badges.
14. Not Just the Facts: How to Communicate Opinion
Come learn how to express yourself in ways that will spark interest and encourage others to follow your lead, no matter what the topic. At this panel discussion, jointly presented by AGU and the National Association of Science Writers, you will hear from scientists and journalists experienced and successful at voicing opinions in the public arena (Click here for speaker list.). They will provide tips and guidance, and answer your questions. This event will take place 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Wed. Dec. 17 in the Press Conference Room.
To tweet or not to tweet? Find out from social media savvy scientists and science writers in a first-ever Fall Meeting social media forum hosted jointly by AGU and the National Association of Science Writers 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Wed. Dec. 17 in the Press Conference Room.
16. Northern California Science Writers Association (NCSWA) holiday dinner registration
[The following notice is provided on behalf of the Northern California Science Writers Association about their holiday dinner.]
NCSWA HOLIDAY DINNER DEC. 17: THE SCIENCE OF BOOZE
The Northern California Science Writers Association (NCSWA) invites AGU press to attend its festive annual holiday dinner, always held in conjunction with AGU. This year, we’ll hear from WIRED senior editor Adam Rogers, who will discuss his recent bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze. A New York Times review called the book a “lively new survey” of the connection between science and alcohol, delving into everything from the basics of yeast fermentation and brewing to the genetics of alcohol tolerance. Rogers traveled to breweries and labs around the world for his reporting, which he’ll describe at the dinner. Join scores of Bay Area writing colleagues for mingling and possible surprises.
Details:
6 pm Wednesday, December 17
New Delhi Restaurant, 160 Ellis St. (within walking distance of Moscone Center)
Cost for non-NCSWA members: $45
Please *register online* as the event may sell out: http://www.ncswa.org.
Check here for an online Who’s Coming list of journalists and press officers who have pre-registered for the meeting. This list gets updated regularly.
Nanci Bompey
+1 (202) 777-7524
[email protected]