Last year the Executive Committee, Advisory Committee and senior staff force-ranked AAPG’s top 25 programs. Generally, the outcome was what you might expect, with the BULLETIN, EXPLORER and ACE (annual meeting) taking the top rankings.
Other highly ranked programs include the AAPG website, Datapages, Special Publications,Student Chapters and Distinguished Lecturers.
I realized through this process that some of our programs are not well known because they are niche or unique to a Region. Three of those are the APPEX, GEO-Middle East and GEO-India conferences and exhibitions.
♦ The APPEX program is an offshoot of the original AAPG Prospect and Property Expo that was started in Houston in 2001. It was designed similar to NAPE, with emphasis on geoscientists.
A few years later we started APPEX London. It was designed to be a global prospect and property expo. APPEX London was never as large as APPEX Houston, with about 300-400 attendees compared to 2,000-plus attendees in Houston.
After AAPG joined the NAPE program and discontinued APPEX Houston there were questions about continuing the APPEX London program – but after a few interviews with attendees and staff we realized that APPEX London had a loyal following and was starting to develop an attendee base and revenue that would allow it to grow.
APPEX London is now a regular fixture in London during March of each year with more than 500 attendees.
The event continues to grow and now features a forum with a series of speakers discussing plays and concepts around the world. You can find a little reminder about this year’s meeting on page 44 of this EXPLORER.
We are expecting 800 attendees this year, and new revenue from APPEX London is used to support the European Region.
This year APPEX London will be held March 1-3.
♦ The GEO-Middle East Conference and Exhibition is undoubtedly one of the best geoscience conferences in the world. It is operated by Arabian Exhibition Management (AEM), a member of the Allworld Exhibitions group.
GEO-Middle East is supported by Saudi Aramco and many other national oil companies and integrated oil companies.
In 2006 AAPG became the Secretariat for the GEO Middle-East Conference. This essentially means we support the technical program committee and manage all facets of the conference, including collecting and managing the abstractions, communications with speakers and making sure operations run smoothly onsite.
In addition to AAPG, the program also is supported by SEG, EAGE and several national geoscience societies in the Region that assist with the conference and offer a variety of professional development opportunities before and after the event.
The GEO-Middle East Conference is held on even years in March, and it always boasts a large exhibition along with the technical program. AAPG’s net revenue from the GEO-Middle East conference supports AAPG activities in the Middle East Region.
♦Three years ago AAPG also agreed to work with AEM to develop the GEO-India conferenceand exhibition. The second edition of this event was just held in Greater Noida outside New Delhi this January, in sponsorship/partnership with ONGC and the Association of Petroleum Geologist India (AAPG’s affiliate). Both attendance and exhibit space grew this year over 1,500 attending.
The conference draws the best technical papers of the Region, and help support AAPG activities in India.
During the past seven years AAPG leadership has followed its strategic plan of globalization through expanding our scientific offerings. The Region offices, short courses, geoscience technology workshops and partnerships in technical conferences have allowed us to grow and help disseminate great science.
Although the APPEX, GEO-Middle East and GEO-India meetings are not well known across the AAPG membership, they are key events in support of the Regions – and AAPG’s involvement has been an important part of building new relationships and our geosciences community worldwide.