Register now to support the next generation of scientists at AGU Fall Meeting

This week, abstract acceptance letters for the AGU Fall Meeting landed in inboxes around the world and the #AGU20 scientific program went live. These milestones remind Guy and Sabine about each one of their first AGU Fall Meetings: Getting our abstract acceptance letter, staying up into the early hours of the morning crunching the final numbers for our first poster and nervously looking out at the crowd before our first oral presentation.

This year’s Fall Meeting will look different from past meetings, but a lot of thought and planning went into making sure that attendees from all over the world are able to share the latest science, meet new colleagues and friends and be part of the largest Earth and space sciences community in the world. We often hear from Fall Meeting attendees that this is where connections are made and networks are built. That’s why we met with leaders across AGU – from the board to the council to the sections to numerous AGU committees – to create a schedule and meeting that enables people from around the world to fully take advantage of all Fall Meeting has to offer. We have also created new ways for engagement so we can see what works better in the online space.

Whether you are in São Paulo, Mumbai or San Francisco, the meeting is designed so you can participate online and customize your experience. Most scientific content will still take place 7-11 December, but the meeting will run 1-17 December to help reduce the number of concurrent sessions. We’ve created concentrated blocks of time for scientific sessions, from 4 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time (1100 – 1830 UTC) and 4 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time (2300 – 0430 UTC) so you can participate at a time that works for you, whether it is morning in New York or evening in Beijing. They’ll also be recorded so you can squeeze in an oral session at lunchtime or gather the entire family to watch some of our dynamic keynotes, including former astronaut Leland Melvin.

We also recognize that in this new virtual meeting environment, we have the opportunity to host the most diverse and inclusive meeting ever. We welcome anyone who wants to attend. We have reduced the standard registration fee to make it more affordable for participants. Additionally, we eliminated registration fees for anyone from low or lower-middle income countries as well as members who are K-12 educators and undergraduate students.

We are also proud to have used funds to support others through our scholarships and grants. We haven’t announced those recipients yet, but the funds they receive may be used for Wi-Fi so they can participate in an oral session, find childcare so they can present their poster or pay for tuition in Earth and space sciences.

For those who have attended past Fall Meetings, this one will be different. We will miss seeing you in the line for coffee and tea, but we have worked with AGU leadership and hundreds of AGU members to ensure it is a diverse, engaging and dynamic online experience. We are putting together different types of technologies and platforms to accommodate the formats and interactions people have said they want, allowing every attendee to create a truly personalized Fall Meeting experience. We hope that the lessons we learn for this year’s meeting enable positive virtual experiences for years to come for those who wish to forgo travel because of family responsibilities, time, cost and carbon.

We will have many resources available over the coming weeks and months to make sure you get the most out of Fall Meeting, including detailed instructions, training and help to craft your posters and talks. In the meantime, be sure to register to get your early bird discount and check out our virtual backgrounds and social media shareables.

We are looking forward to Shaping the Future of Science with you this December.