If this is your first time attending a ScienceWriters meeting, join us on the top floor of the Omni to learn how to get the most out of the conference. Enjoy meeting other attendees, including a few veterans, in an informal setting.

To get things started, all first-time attendees, students, their advisors, and “Sci-Buddies” are invited to a meet-and-greet social in Bar 19 (on the 19th Floor) following the Cabaret Program, at 9:30PM. Sodas and snacks will be served. A cash bar will be available.

Not a first-timer? Read-on

Remember what it was like the first time you attended an NASW Annual Meeting? You wanted to meet and engage as many of your fellow science writers as possible but didn’t know how to break the ice. So, you stood in the corner, keeping all of your wonderful insights into quantum physics, bacterial drug resistance or Darwinian evolution to yourself. Or perhaps you haphazardly picked which meeting sessions to attend because you didn’t know whom to ask about what would make the most rewarding agenda.

If you’re a veteran of past NASW conferences and would like to vastly improve the ScienceWriters2010 experience for a rookie or a student attendee, volunteer to be a “Sci-Buddy.” You’ll have the “casual, as available” assignment to introduce newcomers and students to other attendees; help them avoid confusion and anxiety by being a source of information and advice on meeting sessions, networking and other topics; and in general, help make ScienceWriters2010 the most productive and satisfying time as possible for first timers and students.

Anyone wishing to be a “Sci-Buddy” should alert the folks at the registration desk upon arrival. “Buddies” will receive a special "Ask Me" ribbon so that newcomers and students will know whom to approach for help.

Questions? Contact Michael Newman at (301) 975-3025 or michael.newman@nist.gov.