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General Meeting Task Force Print E-mail
One year ago we shared with you that a task force had been commissioned to evaluate the organization of the General Meeting and to help chart its future course. We reported that the Task Force deliberations have resulted in the Society approving the following new mission statement: "The ASM General Meeting will showcase the central role of microbes in the biosphere by communicating today's cutting edge science in the diverse areas influenced by microbes" and a requirement that the breadth of the meeting be expanded to provide participants with opportunities for immersion in fields of specialization as well as forays into different disciplines. The Task Force recommendations to incorporate the following guiding principles were also approved:

● The format for the General Meeting was to be flexible and provide organizers with the ability to innovate, optimize, take advantage of unanticipated opportunities, and incorporate the most exciting advances in the field.
● The organizational process should strive to be inclusive and solicit proposal recommendations from the ASM membership for topics to be considered for scientific sessions.
● The organizational process should be integrated and allow coordination, oversight, and quality control at every stage.
● Scientific sessions should emerge from a competitive process that selects the very best and operates in the absence of entitlement or historical precedence.
● The General Meeting should showcase new data and new approaches. Choices for speakers should strike a balance between nascent talent and luminaries and reflect the diversity of our membership, both domestic and international.
● Scientific sessions should combine full-length presentations by established investigators with shorter talks by students, postdoctoral fellows, and new faculty. These are formative experiences for young scientists, and there is wide recognition that the meeting should provide such a venue.
● The new format should focus on decreasing the number of sessions while increasing their quality.
● The ASM should make every effort to contain costs and make the General Meeting more affordable to its members.

A year later, we are pleased to report that the May 2011 meeting in New Orleans proved to be a successful first step in achieving these goals. With over 8,000 attendees representing 72 countries, the feedback we received both during and after the meeting was instrumental in continuing the evolution of the program. Through an evaluation of the 1,400 responses we received to the asm2011 attendee survey, we learned that several of you were appreciative of many new aspects introduced at the meeting, but we also learned a good deal from the areas you highlighted for continued growth.

We were pleased to learn that our colleagues provided a rating of 7 or higher (with 10 being the highest) for the following new aspects of the meeting:

77%......................Plenary sessions focusing on interdisciplinary topics of broad interest.

80%....................Afternoon symposia on more specialized topics.

67% ..................The decrease in the number of sessions while limiting topic redundancy.

77% .............The balance of nascent talent and luminaries while at the same time reflecting the diversity of our membership.

88%....................The representation of clinical science sessions in the Medical Microbiology Track.

In addition, colleagues highlighted the following areas for continued growth: (i) promotion and scheduling of the Division Lectures; (ii) representation of sessions focusing on environmental microbiology, food microbiology, industrial microbiology, physiology, and virology; (iii) the length of time available to view posters; (iv) the Opening Reception hosted in the Exhibit Hall; and (v) the number of opportunities available to network with peers.

We believe the continued evolution of General Meeting will once again be reflected at asm2012, scheduled for June 16-19, in San Francisco, California. This will be the first time that the General Meeting has been held in San Francisco, and it promises to be an exciting venue. Based on lessons learned from asm2011, we have incorporated the following changes to the meeting format:

● Division Officers have been given the opportunity to incorporate the Division Lectures into the plenary or symposia sessions.

● The Poster Hall is scheduled to be open from 9:00am to 4:00pm.

● Increased networking for Divisions will be addressed through extended time in the Poster Hall. A reception will be held on Sunday and Monday evening to allow time to meet with colleagues working in a similar field while enjoying a quick beverage and light snack.

● The Opening Reception will not be tied to the Exhibit Hall but is scheduled to be held in the Convention Center central to the Opening Session location.

● Unique sessions have been incorporated into the program, including one designed specifically by postdocs and another with the talks selected by the membership through social networking sites.

We invite you to review these changes and the complete scientific program and events on the General Meeting website at www.asm.org /asm2012, and we look forward to seeing you in San Francisco.

Margaret McFall-Ngai
Chair, General Meeting Program Committee

Arturo Casadevall
Vice Chair, General Meeting Program Committee