Sorry if you are receiving this a second time. My first message may not have sent
Dear GSW Councilors and Officers + 2021 Program Committee Chair Mong-Han Huang –

It is my great pleasure to inform you that Dr. Mong-Han Huang, an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, has agreed to serve as the 2021 Program Committee Chair (https://www.geol.umd.edu/mong-hanhuang). Most of you know Hong-Han from his regular meeting attendance or from seeing him give an excellent talk himself at GSW. Welcome Mong-Han.

As I look ahead to 2021, there are several matters on which I would like to solicit your input – I perhaps am even obliged to solicit input.

It came to my attention yesterday that Council never officially approved the number of meetings for 2021, as we would normally have done. GSW typically hosts 12 meetings annually – 7 in the spring and 5 in the fall. We have 12 meetings because that is the number of meetings we can afford, given the venue and refreshment costs (meetings require Council approval because of the financial implications). This spring we will not have any meeting costs because we anticipate that meetings will be virtual through the spring (May). We all hope that when we start up again in September we can meet safely in person. Time will tell.

So, do we still host 12 meetings? More? Fewer?

I recently discussed two possible meeting calendars with Mong-Han and anticipated 1st VP Larry Meinert. Meinert stated that GSW members in his orbit have zoom fatigue, making it difficult to attend yet another virtual meeting in the evening. This is compounded by the fact that our social time isn’t as fulfilling on zoom because we cannot engage in 1-on-1 / spontaneous small group conversations privately, as we normally would in the Powell Auditorium. We certainly aren’t having dinner together…

I would rather hosts 5 well-attended meetings this spring, rather than 7 anemic ones. But I also feel it is hard to justify having fewer meetings, given that there are no associated costs. Perhaps many of our members are not fatigued, but grateful for these evening events.

Rather than engage in a long email string (I will always seek ways to avoid this, you will find), please respond to this survey this week.

Regardless of survey outcomes, we will have our first 2021 meeting on January 27th – mark your calendars.

https://forms.gle/buJUbwELLzPQQ23YA

Liz
1st VP for a few more hours…

Greetings everyone,
I was not able to open the attached survey, but my vote is to stick with the traditional meeting schedule.  There is something comforting about a predictable and traditional schedule during times of upheaval and chaos.  I am also under the impression that a predictable and traditional schedule would result in better attendance.
Chris Swezey

From: gsw-councilplus-l-bounces@minlists.org gsw-councilplus-l-bounces@minlists.org on behalf of Cottrell, Elizabeth cottrelle@si.edu
Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 4:17 PM
To: GSW Council gsw-councilplus-l@minlists.org
Cc: Mong-Han Huang mhhuang@umd.edu
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Gsw-councilplus-l] Response requested: GSW meeting dates for 2021

This email has been received from outside of DOI - Use caution before clicking on links, opening attachments, or responding.

Sorry if you are receiving this a second time. My first message may not have sent

Dear GSW Councilors and Officers + 2021 Program Committee Chair Mong-Han Huang –

It is my great pleasure to inform you that Dr. Mong-Han Huang, an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, has agreed to serve as the 2021 Program Committee Chair (https://www.geol.umd.edu/mong-hanhuanghttps://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geol.umd.edu%2Fmong-hanhuang&data=04%7C01%7Ccswezey%40usgs.gov%7C2c876668aa98459f2b6208d881071c1f%7C0693b5ba4b184d7b9341f32f400a5494%7C0%7C0%7C637401214825583850%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=X16fKzfsK%2FsGeoJSCC8A9S%2B%2BfY4EBU283mY4iGsISFM%3D&reserved=0). Most of you know Hong-Han from his regular meeting attendance or from seeing him give an excellent talk himself at GSW. Welcome Mong-Han.

As I look ahead to 2021, there are several matters on which I would like to solicit your input – I perhaps am even obliged to solicit input.

It came to my attention yesterday that Council never officially approved the number of meetings for 2021, as we would normally have done. GSW typically hosts 12 meetings annually – 7 in the spring and 5 in the fall. We have 12 meetings because that is the number of meetings we can afford, given the venue and refreshment costs (meetings require Council approval because of the financial implications). This spring we will not have any meeting costs because we anticipate that meetings will be virtual through the spring (May). We all hope that when we start up again in September we can meet safely in person. Time will tell.

So, do we still host 12 meetings? More? Fewer?

I recently discussed two possible meeting calendars with Mong-Han and anticipated 1st VP Larry Meinert. Meinert stated that GSW members in his orbit have zoom fatigue, making it difficult to attend yet another virtual meeting in the evening. This is compounded by the fact that our social time isn’t as fulfilling on zoom because we cannot engage in 1-on-1 / spontaneous small group conversations privately, as we normally would in the Powell Auditorium. We certainly aren’t having dinner together…

I would rather hosts 5 well-attended meetings this spring, rather than 7 anemic ones. But I also feel it is hard to justify having fewer meetings, given that there are no associated costs. Perhaps many of our members are not fatigued, but grateful for these evening events.

Rather than engage in a long email string (I will always seek ways to avoid this, you will find), please respond to this survey this week.

Regardless of survey outcomes, we will have our first 2021 meeting on January 27th – mark your calendars.

https://forms.gle/buJUbwELLzPQQ23YAhttps://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FbuJUbwELLzPQQ23YA&data=04%7C01%7Ccswezey%40usgs.gov%7C2c876668aa98459f2b6208d881071c1f%7C0693b5ba4b184d7b9341f32f400a5494%7C0%7C0%7C637401214825583850%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=MIfY%2Fuh%2BYzS3y2xMS5xBL1J%2BcQe6Uw0OdvMB%2FBv%2B%2B5o%3D&reserved=0

Liz

1st VP for a few more hours…