Dear Members of The Clay Mineral Society, The 17th International Clay Conference (ICC) is being postponed to July 25-29, 2022. The pandemic has seriously impacted all aspects of life and it is the consensus of AIPEA, CMS Executive Committee, and the Turkish Clay Society that convening this year would be unsafe and untenable. The same recommendation has been made by DEKON, the worldwide professional conference organizer that is being used to run meeting logistics. The same excellent ICC field trips, workshops, and tours will be moved forward along with the 33 thematic sessions. All new ICC deadlines are posted on the meeting website icc.aipea.org. The ICC organizers hope that participants will be able to visit Istanbul in 2022 to explore one of the most fascinating cities in human history. This will certainly be an opportunity of a lifetime for many from both scientific and cultural perspectives. We will continue to integrate hybrid opportunities for those that may be limited by physical factors. This decision has a ripple effect on following CMS meetings. To maintain continuity of annual meetings CMS is planning a virtual meeting in the Fall of 2021. The format will center on a webinar, where a thematically related series of talks will be presented and opened to the general scientific community. More details about this webinar (dates and program) will be made available through the CMS website as they become available. The intent is to attract more scientists to the CMS mission, particular as CMS membership numbers continue to decline. A virtual CMS business meeting will also be conducted during the Fall virtual meeting. Please go to the CMS website where you will see that a robust and exciting set of meetings are being planned well into the future. The past year has been a difficult and tragic time for the world. Thankfully, scientists such as those in the CMS community have the passion and vision to see a bright future. The effort put forth to advance clay science in all its capacities by you is most appreciated. Sincerely, Bruno Lanson, CMS President Paul Schroeder, ICC/CMS meeting Co-Chair