American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- March 19, 2008

Mark your calendars for one of the year’s largest and most important scientific events — the 235th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), which will be held April 6-10, 2008, in New Orleans, La. With more than 160,000 members in the United States and other countries, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society. About 12,000 scientists and others are expected for the event, which will include more than 9,000 reports on new discoveries in chemistry. Those reports span science’s horizons from astronomy to zoology and include a special focus on health, energy, food, environment, and alternative fuels. In addition to coverage of breaking science news, the meeting provides an opportunity for independent reporting on disaster recovery efforts in the region prior to the June 1 start of the 2008 hurricane season.

Media should click here (http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=1359&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1) to register, and housing reservations are now open for those who plan to attend the meeting. The ACS Press Center will be located in Room 206 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. It will include a media workroom with staff to assist in arranging interviews, press conferences, wireless Internet access, telephones, computers, photocopy and fax services, and refreshments. For reporters planning to cover the meeting from their home bases, the ACS Office of Communications will provide an expanded suite of resources, including press releases, non-technical summaries of research presentations, and Internet access to news briefings.

Remote access to media briefings from NOLA via the internet

The ACS Office of Communications is offering news media the opportunity to join press briefings whether covering the meeting onsite or from a remote location. This new updated format in New Orleans will provide access to the increasing number of journalists who cover scientific meetings from their home base. Borrowing the popular chat room concept from the Internet, we will provide news media with access to both real and virtual chat room sessions during the New Orleans meeting. With more than 9,000 research presentations, this is one of the year’s largest and most significant scientific conferences. Reporters attending the meeting can gather with scientists in an informal setting in our Press Center in Room 206 of the Morial Convention Center. Scientists will summarize their research and field questions. Offsite reporters can enter a virtual version of this Chat Room over the Internet. In addition to seeing and hearing the real-world activity, offsite reporters can submit questions. Click here (http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=WPCP_008471&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1) for more information.