The program is coming together for this year’s annual meeting and I hope you will find it both interesting and worthwhile. 

 Bill Johnson and I have met with the Hyatt folks on a number of occasions. We have found both the facility and the people top notch and our Hyatt meeting coordinator even has the last name of Weed. We both agree that it’s going to be a great place for our meeting and that you will enjoy coming to Indianapolis.

The big news is that we are holding a joint meeting with the Midwest Invasive Plant Network.  MIPN will be having a symposium on Wednesday and Thursday will be a full day of workshops.  We plan on offering more opportunities for both groups to interact.  Plans include a joint social, poster session and having our Invasive Section part of the Invasive symposium.  By combining our meetings, we should significantly expand the educational and networking opportunities offered.

In keeping with the Invasive theme, we have Tom Stohlgren as our main general session speaker.  Tom is a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey and he will discuss the impact of climate change on weeds.

We have other interesting symposia planned during the meeting. 
Kevin Bradley is coordinating a half day symposium on Herbicide Resistant Traits.  The Michigan State continent is leading a symposium titled Integrated Weed Management Strategies; Tools of the Trade. We are also continuing with the popular What’s New in the Industry session where up to 12 companies will be providing short updates on their new products.

Another change for our 2008 meeting is that we going to have a Wednesday noon awards banquet instead of the traditional Wednesday evening banquet.  This will create a few challenges around paper and poster judging, but will also allow more time during the meeting for networking with peers and the invasive participants.  Wednesday evening we will have a joint mixer with MIPN sponsored by Industry. 

Also, a reminder to the oral paper presenters and section chairs that the presentations need to be sent to the section chairs before the meeting.  Please consult the printed copy of the program that you will receive in the mail to determine your section and section chair.  Also, please check the directions in this newsletter and the NCWSS website on how to prepare your PowerPoint presentations before sending them to the Chair.

All the various Society committees will convene during the conference so plan on attending meetings that pertain to your group and/or interest you.  President (LAC) Bill Johnson will be making doubly sure that everything runs smoothly during the meeting.  Please plan on attending our 63rd annual meeting and don’t forget to make your hotel reservation by November 6 in order to obtain our guaranteed room rate.