Hi Nadine, Thank you for clarifying ESA's embargo policy. I wondered if that was a big factor, and hope to see more coverage by the media as the meeting really gets going tomorrow. I was a bit surprised though not to find any mention of the opening plenary nor the benefit concert in the local papers - not even their event calendars? - especially because they are open to the public.
Madhu __________________ Dr. Madhusudan Katti Associate Professor, Dept of Biology California State University, Fresno On Aug 7, 2011, at 4:18 PM, Nadine Lymn <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All: > > In response to Madhu's query-- > > Because most scientific organizations such as ESA work under embargoes, you > are unlikely to see advance news stories about the meeting. Once the > embargoes begin to lift (the day a presentation is made at the Annual > Meeting), the media will begin to cover the meeting. The exception was the > belly button microbe story, where a reporter broke the embargo and we lifted > it for everyone; hence the story is already out well before the research is > presented at the ESA Meeting. > > Organizations use embargoes for both scientific meetings where new research > is presented as well as for their journals. The idea is to give reporters > advance time to learn about the topic, interview the researchers and put > together a good story. The embargo gives all reporters the same amount of > time to prepare their story. For a meeting, the embargo lists on the day the > research is presented; for a journal, it is usually when the journal article > is published. > > ESA distributed several embargoed press releases to all its trusted media > contacts, as well as worked with many institutions' public information > offices to encourage them to send out their own releases about the meeting if > they have researchers from their institution presenting in Austin. > > About a dozen press are registered to attend and cover the Annual Meeting and > we expect more to cover it remotely. > > The Society's Opening Plenary and Thursday's benefit concert are open to the > general public free of charge and we sent out Public Service Announcements to > all local news outlets. Austin EcoNetwork did this short blog promoting the > these two events: > > > http://www.austineconetwork.com/blog/ecological-society-america-rockin%E2%80%99-austin-night-nature-acl-%E2%80%93-live-concert-benefit-austin-enviro > > > So, stay tuned, press coverage about the meeting will start rolling in once > the meeting actually starts. > > If you have more questions and are attending the ESA meeting in Austin, you > are welcome to stop by our Press Room, room 2 at the Convention Center. > > Cheers, > > Nadine > > Nadine Lymn > ESA Director of Public Affairs > > > > Hello from Austin, folks! > > I would like to share some thoughts from my blog as I prepare for the ESA > 2011 meeting starting here today, and wonder why this big meeting isn't in > the news - anywhere: > > http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/a-few-thousand-ecologists-meet-in-the-city-to > > I would appreciate any feedback, on why ESA isn't more in the news, or > whether it is just my misperception. > > Madhu > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Madhusudan Katti > Associate Professor of Vertebrate Biology > Department of Biology, M/S SB73 > California State University, Fresno > Fresno, CA 93740-8034 > > Email: [email protected] > Tel: 559.278.2460 > Fax: 559.278.3963 > Lab: http://www.reconciliationecology.org/ > ULTRA: http://urban-faces.org/ > Blog: http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
