The weather has finally turned in Washington and with the cooler weather we are in the final stages of planning for the 2018 SERDP and ESTCP Symposium to be held November 27-29 at the Washington Hilton. As in the past, we have a full schedule of technical sessions, posters, and short courses planned covering all five of the SERDP and ESTCP Program Areas. We are also planning a few new things this year including a pair of sessions exploring technology transfer, a session and individual help desk focusing on use of our on-line management system (SEMS), a lunchtime session for student attendees, and a lunchtime session on SERDP and ESTCP funding opportunities with me and the Program Mangers.

That’s a list of what we are doing to get ready for the Symposium. There are also some things you can do to get ready. The most immediate is to make your hotel reservations. The Government rate room block at the Hilton expires tomorrow. You can make your reservation on-line. Once you have secured a room, you can register for the conference. Those of you that attended last year know that advance registration makes checking in the day of the Symposium a snap. You can also start working on your poster so that it is perfect before Thanksgiving and you don’t have to spend that weekend worrying about it.

All that’s left is to look over the Symposium agenda and plan your days. Like last year, we will have a Symposium app to help with this. I look forward to seeing you all in November.