After much consideration, due to the health crisis, it was decided that the SAS/AAVSO-2020 Symposium will change to an online format.
Registration for the online symposium is now open.
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Details For the online Symposium, we will meet on-line for 2.5 hours per day. Each daily session will feature technical presentations, audience Q&A, and a panel discussion with the presenters. Sessions will be spread over five days (probably not consecutive). The schedule and registration details for the online Symposium will be announced in early May. Already registered for the in-person Symposium? If you have already registered for the “in person” Symposium, you will receive a full refund of your registration and Workshop fees (to the same credit card that you used to make the original payment). You should cancel your hotel reservations by contacting the hotel directly. |
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Thanks for sharing this post.It is very informative and helpful.
Kindly note that the Registration Page does not cater for participants located beyond the US territories.
Best Regards,
Stephen
Thanks for pointing out this bug, Stephen -- we're working on it. I think we can get it fixed in a few days.
Cheers,
Bob Buchheim
The "Registration for..." link is broken - it's got an extra "https" in it.
Shawn (DKS)
Thanks for pointing this out, Shawn. It is now fixed.
I realise that the fee is not very high, but several scientific organisations I am a member of are going out of their way to organise free-of-charge symposia/meetings/webinars in these challenging times as as way of keeping their communities going. Has the AAVSO considered making such a gesture for this meeting?
Hi, Jeremy:
The Symposium fee is set by SAS, so I’m responding in my role as SAS President (rather than as an AAVSO Board member). Our relationship for this joint meeting has SAS handling all of the logistics, registrations, soliciting and reviewing papers, organizing the agenda, and producing the meeting. Both organizations benefit from our joint meetings: AAVSO is able to have two meetings per year while avoiding significant staff labor and expenses; SAS reaches a broader audience; and the technical interchange facilitates relationships among members of both organizations.
Like most organizations, we are feeling our way through this new environment. The SAS Board considered several approaches to the online Symposium, including a “no charge” approach. Ultimately we decided that a small registration fee was appropriate because – even with the online approach – we have non-trivial expenses, we didn’t think it fair to ask our Sponsors to bear the full cost, the modest fee will still offer excellent value to the participants. We understood that some people may be reluctant to pay for an online Symposium. That is why we made the first day (May 30) a “no charge” day. Anyone can attend Day #1, judge the value, and then still have time to register (and pay) for Days #2 thru #5.
Thank you for raising this question, and for all your efforts on behalf of the small-telescope research community.
Bob Buchheim
Friends,
As Bob mentioned, a minimum fee is being charged by the SAS to enable the appropriate secure online infrastructure to be in place. The agenda is already online; it is a stellar line-up of speakers discussing timely topics in astronomy. Check it out:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kx37wiso10ejgwb/Online%20Session%20Agenda%20rev%205-12-2020.pdf?dl=0
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners at the SAS for their work to bring this symposium into fruition. It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes effort by this group of volunteers to plan a meeting, with the additional technical challenges that are involved in a virtual event. I hope to “see” many of you there!
Best wishes - be safe,
Stella.