It was great to see so many familiar faces, old and new friends, together with a high number of guests, some of whom had travelled great distances to be there. This was the first time that we were contained on one site for the duration of the conference, which had some benefits—no logistical issues with coaches and a captive audience—but it also meant it could be restrictive if people wanted to see more of an area.
The informality of the Meet & Greet event on the first night appeared to be quite a hit, and we will keep this going forward. The fact that everyone had to mingle worked out extremely well. The hotel did an exceptional job in terms of managing the event behind the scenes; and I thought the food and meeting facilities were excellent. The hybrid/online facilities were limited for the large meeting rooms, which we’ll try to address for future AGMs.
Next year we plan to be in or close to Prague, hopefully in April, and I will let you know the details in the next few months. If you have any comments on this event or suggestions on future locations or the structure of the AGM, please let me know.
All of the minutes are now available in the Members Area of the ESA website or have been circulated with the next round of divisional meetings scheduled for later this month. A big thank you to Ralf and Peter for producing these and supporting behind the scenes. If you haven’t got access to the Members Area, then please set up an “account” here, it only takes a minute.
Mark Neal,
Secretary General of the ESA