The Local Committee Chairman in consultation with the chairmen of the other committees prepares copy. You will find it helpful to refer to an announcement in GSA Today while gathering your material.

You may also want to post announcement information on your institution, department, or company Web site. We ask that GSA's web site is considered the main web site for your announcement, and that any changes to the information is passed along to GSA in order to update our web site. You are responsible for updating any other web sites. All sites need to contain the same information.

The preliminary announcement is considered your "Call For Papers." GSA's Technical Program Manager, Nancy Wright, will work closely with you throughout this entire process. You will be reminded when due dates are approaching.

Sections are budgeted for one printed page in GSA Today for their preliminary announcement. However, the entire information will be posted on the web site. GSA covers the cost for this.

The preliminary announcement should be sent, unformatted, to Nancy Wright at nwright@geosociety.org as a WORD attachment and is due approx. nine months before the meeting. It is published in GSA Today seven months prior to your meeting. At the same time, we also post this information on our GSA Web site.

Sample of Preliminary Announcements.

• brief information for registration including preregistration and cancelation date
• deadline date for receipt of abstracts
• ADA accessibility
• Names of field trips, and any additional information on trips you may have
• short courses, plus descriptions
• business meetings
• social activities including any spouse/guest program, plus descriptions
• technical sessions and symposia, plus descriptions
• awards for best student papers, if applicable
• Exhibitor contact with exhibit information
• housing information
• local committee members, and mug shots* of each.