Call for future IMCs: 2024 IMC

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The IMO cordially invites candidate IMC organizers to present proposals to organize the International Meteor Conference in 2024. To give interested parties full opportunity to prepare themselves it is important to plan future IMCs well in advance. If you are interested in organizing the IMC 2024 or a later edition, please contact Cis Verbeeck at your earliest convenience. He will provide you with detailed documentation which describes all aspects of an IMC. This documentation does not only describe a scenario for organizing an IMC, but also contains useful documents, templates and detailed statistics on past IMCs answering most questions future IMC organizers may encounter. We are aware that organizing an IMC involves a wide range of organizational and financial responsibilities, and, therefore, the IMO wants to assist future IMC organizers to the best of its abilities. Also these financial aspects are amply covered in the documentation we can provide, with complete examples of past IMC proposals and budgets.

An IMC always takes place from Thursday evening (arrival of the participants) to Sunday lunchtime (departure of the participants). The period of the year in which the IMC is held is typically in September, although this can be stretched from the end of August to early October. Occasionally, we have had IMCs at different times of the year, but this should always have a very good reason (for example, allowing participants to combine their participation with participating in another major meteor-related conference nearby). By the same token, we of course want to avoid that the IMC overlaps with other major conferences in the same field. In 2024, for example, we wish to avoid overlap with the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC), which takes place in the period September 8–13.

Detailed proposals are due 2023 July 1, and should be sent to cis.verbeeck@gmail.com, preferably in PDFformat or a Word document. The following questions should certainly be anwered in your application:

• Who will organize the IMC? Who is going to be the local organizer? Team work is essential for the local organizing committee and therefore you should indicate who will be part of a Local Organizing Committee. Prior experience with organizing conferences is of course an asset.
• Why do you want to do it? What is your motivation to organize an IMC? You may have particular reasons to organize an IMC, such as anniversary of the organizing group, and this may favor the selection of your proposal.
• Can it be postponed? We can only have one IMC every year. Sometimes, we receive multiple offers for organizing an IMC in a particular year. Of course, we wish to honor all solid proposals, but this is only possible if you as an organizer are flexible and are also willing to consider organizing your IMC in a subsequent year. If there are reasons why the application cannot be postponed, please describe these reasons clearly! Acceptable reasons can be an important anniversary of your group, the absence of external funding in other years, or restrictions on the availability of the infrastructure you have in mind.
• Where do you want to do it? Which location do you have in mind to organize an IMC? Why is this a good location? Can it easily be reached by plane, public transportation, and/or car? How many hours is it by public transportation from the nearest major international airport and/or train station? Can the organizers provide a shuttle service from there to the conference and back?

  Provide a few pictures of the location, or, a web link to such pictures. Preferably, lectures and accommodation should be under the same roof, but there is no real objection to the lecture room being at a separate location within easy walking distance from the accommodation. Describe the accommodation at your disposal. A suitable lecture room is of course essential. It is important that you can darken the lecture room sufficiently so that presentations can be followed comfortably and that details in photographs are not blurred by unwanted incoming daylight. Besides being a place where meteor workers exchange information about their work via lectures and posters, an IMC is also a place where meteor workers meet each other. This latter aspect of an IMC is almost as important as the former to improve bonding within the international meteor community. Therefore, there should be a bar or a room that be can organized as such where people can socialize. Many meteor workers meet each other once a year at best, and often only once every so many years. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that this socializing can often go on until the wee hours of the morning. So, make sure your bar facility does not have to close at 10 p.m., for instance! 24 WGN, the Journal of the IMO 51:2 (2023) Additionally, please provide some information of the availability of alternative accommodation within the vicinity of the IMC location. Some participants prefer to arrange their own accommodation, especially if they want to come with their family.

• What will it cost? With respect to the expenditures, take into account that the participants must be offered full board from Thursday evening, dinner, up to Sunday, lunch, inclusive. Of course, lecture room facilities should be accounted for, as well as a coffee break in the morning and in the afternoon. Finally, it is also customary to have a half-day excursion (max. 6 hours), usually on Saturday afternoon. Take into account that the registration fee including full board in a multiple room should not exceed 250 EUR per person by much. This price does not include t-shirts or printed proceedings, which can be ordered separately. Draft a preliminary budget for the IMC proposed. Mention all sources of income, in particular sponsors or subsidies. As future prices for accommodation may not yet be available at the moment of your candidacy, work with current prices corrected for expected inflation and take into account exchange rate fluctuation against Euro if that is applicable.

  Note that, although the IMO provides the service of collecting the registration fees for you, the IMO will in principle not cover any negative balance that you might incur, so, please, draft your budget responsibly! A realistic budget is an essential element in the evaluation of your proposal.

We wish to conclude with two important remarks:

• First-hand experience obtained by attending an IMC is very important, because that is the best way to find out how an IMC works and what is really important. If nobody of the organizing group has attended an IMC recently, we strongly encourage you to make sure that several of them participate in a IMC prior to the one you wish to organize!
• If you experience major difficulties with meeting some of the requirements, contact Cis Verbeeck already before the deadline of July 1 for submitting your proposal. In this way, we can give you some valuable feedback which may strengthen your proposal.

We look forward to hear from candidate IMC organizers for 2024 or later conferences! The decision about the 2024 IMC will be taken by the IMO Council no later than 2023 August 30.