3 December 2009
14–18 December
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, California, USA
Preliminary Press Conference Topics; Press Pre-Registration Deadline Dec. 7 Last Call for Field Trip; NCSWA Holiday Dinner — Sign up by Dec. 10
Contents of this message:
- Preliminary Press Conference Topics
- Last Call! Press Field Trip to California Academy of Sciences museum
- Attention PIOs: Sending Press Releases to Fall meeting
- NCSWA holiday dinner — registration deadline 10 December
- News Media registration information
- News Media Registration Form — pre-registration deadline THIS MONDAY, 7 December
- Who’s coming
For important information regarding visas for international reporters and hotel bookings at meeting rates, please see: Media Advisory 1
For additional information about the new scientific-program search engine, please see: Media Advisory 2
For details on press rooms, the new blog roll, and tips to find abstracts by author affiliation or location, please see Media Advisory 3
1. Preliminary Press Conference Topics
We are planning a number of press conferences on some of the newsworthy presentations at Fall Meeting. The following list is subject to change, including deletion of items, likely addition of other press conferences, and different emphases. Reporters are urged to check the sessions and abstracts and attend sessions on topics of interest to them, in addition to attending press conferences.
A subsequent media advisory, to be issued next week, will contain the full list of press conferences, including days and times, explanatory blurbs and lists of participants. All press conferences take place in Room 3012, Moscone West.
- The changing magnetic field of the Earth
- Earthquake research and citizen scientists
- Climate change in the Arctic
- Predicting solar flares
- Black carbon and Himalayan glaciers’ retreat
- Worldwide changes in groundwater reservoirs
- Explorations with unmanned vehicles
- The Samoan tsunami
- Submarine volcanoes: up close and personal
- The future Solar Dynamics Observatory mission*
- Studying Greenland with new technologies
- Unlocking the secrets of noctilucent clouds
- Near-Earth Objects*
- Quiet Sun’s atmospheric effects
- Etc.
(* Workshop)
2. Last Call! Press Field Trip to California Academy of Sciences museum
If you wish to join us on Sunday morning, 13 December for a free, behind-the-scenes tour of the fabulous and recently renovated California Academy of Sciences museum, please send an email to Maria-José Viñas ([email protected]) by Friday, 4 December, with the following information:
- *Name
- *Title
- *Media outlet or other affiliation (“freelance” is fine)
- *Work address
- *Work email address
- *Phone number
- *Whether you have registered as a member of the news media for the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, *Why you wish to participate
- *(If you are a vegetarian, please also mention that dietary requirement in your email.)
For additional information about the field trip, please see: Media Advisory 3
3. Attention PIOs: Sending Press Releases to Fall Meeting
Public information officers of universities, government agencies, and research institutions are encouraged to disseminate 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 3010) Moscone West, from Monday, 14 December.
If you prefer, you may send these materials (but not to arrive before 11 December) by FedEx, UPS, or DHL to the following address:
Peter Weiss
(Guest arriving Dec. 11)
Parc 55 Hotel
55 Cyril Magnin
San Francisco, California 94102
Phone: +1-415-392-8000
Shipments to the above address should be timed to arrive on Friday, 11 December, or after. They will be displayed from Monday, 14 December or as soon as received (if later than Monday).
Remaining materials may be collected from Room 3010 on Friday, 18 December, at 1300h, after which they will be scrapped.
4. NCSWA holiday dinner — registration deadline 10 December
[The following notice is provided on behalf of the Northern California Science Writers Association. Registrationis required by Thursday, 10 December.]
HOLIDAY DINNER: Science Comedian Brian Malow & annual science trivia contest —all at the New Delhi Restaurant
Join us at the New Delhi restaurant in downtown San Francisco and prepare to have your funny bone tickled. At NCSWA’s holiday dinner, we’ll be entertained by “the Science Comedian” Brian Malow, who has brought his stand-up routine to CBS, Tech TV, Discovery and A&E. Malow also appears in night clubs but particularly enjoys an audience that is science-savvy because “I can really geek out and give them obscure references,” he told the Washington Post in April 2008.
Join us for Malow’s performance and to meet your national colleagues. As we do every year, we’ve timed the party to coincide with the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting, just a few blocks away in downtown SF. A couple dozen friendly writers and editors covering AGU from out of town will join us for a cosmopolitan evening of mingling.
Of course, festivities will include NCSWA’s own annual science trivia contest with door prizes. Amaze your peers with your deep grasp of useless minutiae that may or may not have anything to do with AGU.
LOCATION:
160 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA
Phone: (415) 397-8470
Directions and parking information
SCHEDULE:
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm No-host happy hour
7:30 pm – 8:45 pm Dinner
8:45 pm – Speaker
ABOUT NEW DELHI:
Named “one of the finest Indian Restaurants in the United States” by the New York Times and featured on the Galloping Gourmet TV Show, the New Delhi has been the Indian restaurant of choice for celebrity chefs such as Julia Child and Paul Prudhomme, as well as politicians such as Bill Clinton and Willie Brown. Decorated like a Maharajah’s ornate banquet room, the restaurant serves food that has earned numerous awards and gold medals for its excellence. Hors d’Oeuvres served during the Happy Hour will include Bari Pakora and Samosas (vegetable fritters and turnovers filled with lightly spiced potatoes) Hariyali Tikka (chicken barbecued in a tangy mint and cilantro marinade) and Seekh Keebab (spiced lamb rolls prepared over a charcoal fire served with Mint and Tamarind Chutney). The family style dinner menu for NCSWA’s holiday bash will include Murg Akbari, an exotic preparation of chicken with cashews and raisins simmered in a blend of mild spices; Karahai Gosht, a flavorful Lamb curry cooked in North Indian spices; Paneer Makhani, housemade paneer cooked in tomato cream sauce and seasons with fenugreek leaves; Alu Palak, spinach cooked with potatoes and seasoned with garlic; Kali Dal New Delhi, slow simmered black Lentils with Ginger and Tomatoes; Peas Pullao, Saffron flavored Basmati rice with green peas, all of which will be accompanied with Nan, Raita, Chutney, Kachumber Salad, and condiments, plus dessert.
PAYMENT:
The cost is $35 for NCSWA members who can bring one guest at the $35 rate; $26 for student members of NCSWA, and $45 for AGU and all other non-members.
5. News media registration information
Eligibility for press registration is limited to the following persons:
- Working press employed by bona fide news media: must present a press card, business card, or letter of introduction from an editor of a recognized publication.
- Freelance science writers: must present a current membership card from NASW, a regional affiliate of NASW, CSWA, ISWA, or SEJ; or evidence of by-lined work pertaining to science intended for the general public and published in 2008 or 2009; or a letter from the editor of a recognized publication assigning you to cover Fall Meeting.
- Public information officers of scientific societies, educational institutions, and government agencies: must present a business card.
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 Press 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.
News Media registrants will receive a badge that provides access to any of the scientific sessions of Fall Meeting, as well as to the Press Room and Press Conference Room. No one will be admitted without a valid badge.
6. News Media Registration Form — pre-registration deadline THIS MONDAY, 7 December
The News Media Registration Form is set up for online submission only. The last day for advance News Media registration, assuring that your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive, is Monday, 7 December 2009. You may also register onsite.
7. Who’s coming
The online list of journalists who have preregistered for the Meeting is updated daily.