Happy New Year to all! Big thank you to all of you that renewed your memberships before the end of the year. If you haven’t renewed it yet, just visit our member page, it should not take long to do it. 2021 is going to be a busy year for our Society and we appreciate your support in helping us start with the right foot forward.
SFS webinar series - This is our new activity for 2021. We will organize various webinars leading to our 2021 Annual Virtual Meeting. Our past president, Amy Rosemond, will be opening the series by hosting a conversation on hydroclimatic risk management with colleagues from the University of Georgia. The webinar “Hydroclimatic risk requires a turn to humility-based management” promises to be an exciting interdisciplinary conversation. Mark your calendars for February 11 at 3pm ET.
2021 Annual Meeting - Another big thank you to those of you that provided feedback for our virtual meeting by completing the survey or by submitting awesome logo designs. The 2021 meeting committee is designing a very interactive meeting. Our traditional talks and posters will have time slots for live discussions. We are going to have coffee sessions that you can join to chat with others at the meeting. Live events are scheduled to maximize participation from different continents and will be recorded and available to see at your leisure. We will start sharing more specific details about the Annual Meeting in the coming weeks, but keep in mind that abstracts are due on February 15th.
Reading survey comments, some of you suggested that SFS should not make a profit out from the Annual Meeting. We believe this to be an important point that needs clarification. Besides being a not-for-profit corporation, SFS has a long standing philosophy of not using meetings to generate revenue. Meetings are carefully budgeted and planned to achieve this goal. The main concern is to make sure we break even. The reason registration varies over the years is typically due to the venue selected and some are just more expensive than others. Our virtual meeting will have a low cost, but it will not be free to put together. We are confident that our virtual provider for the 2021 meeting has the right tools to give us the best virtual experience possible. Please know that we are committed to bring you this experience at the lowest cost possible.
Looking forward to a busy and great 2021.
Alonso & Checo