William Shakespeare once said, “Action is eloquence.” If this is the case, we have a lot of “eloquence” going on this new year – AAPG’s schedule of meetings, workshops, e-symposia, short courses and other professional opportunities and “actions” seems to grow each year.
Of course, this is the time of year we are very busy making final preparations for the Annual Convention and Exhibition (ACE) in New Orleans, and I hope you’ll join us there April 11-14.
New Orleans is always a great place to have a convention and the city is ready for us. The New Orleans Organizing Committee, led by general chair Tom Hudson, is culminating months of preparation for a great meeting.
The technical program committee is putting the final touches on what promises to be a very comprehensive technical program. We are expecting 432 oral talks and 570 poster presentations, plus many fine AAPG and SEPM short courses and field trips.
We also have some great speakers lined up, including Bobby Ryan with Chevron and Aubrey McClendon from Chesapeake. Ryan will be the All-Convention Luncheon speaker and McClendon will be the Michel T. Halbouty special lecturer sponsored by the AAPG Foundation.
Exhibition sales have been very active for New Orleans. In fact, the exhibition floor will be very full, and you can look forward to seeing some of the newest technology and geoscience applications.
I always find the exhibit floor an “educational event” in itself, and we thank the exhibitors for their support of the conference.
In addition, the many AAPG and SEPM committees are preparing for the annual meeting. The committees have been very active this year and we look forward to the new ideas and products they will be recommending.
Before ACE, however, there will be a lot of other activities to showcase our “eloquence”:
AAPG will have a presence at the annual NAPE conference, set Feb. 10-12 in Houston. AAPG is a partner in NAPE and we enthusiastically support the expo. AAPG’s subsidiary, the International Pavilion, promotes attendance and provides services for international exhibitors at NAPE. The AAPG Executive Committee plans to hold its mid-year meeting this year at NAPE.
Following NAPE, AAPG has its APPEX A&D Conference in London March 2-5. This is a great opportunity to network and look for new ventures, farm-outs and asset opportunities.
APPEX is held in the Business Design Center, and unique this year is a session on “Lessons Learned and to be Learned from Initially Unsuccessful Drilling Ventures” (see January EXPLORER). This will be a great “learning” opportunity.
Immediately following APPEX is the GEO Middle East Conference in Manama, Bahrain March 7-10. AAPG is the secretariat for the technical conference, which is one of the highest quality geoscience conferences in the world.
In May the Southwest Section meeting will be held May 16-18 in Dallas, and the Pacific Section meeting is set May 26-28 in Anaheim, Calif.
The Section meetings always offer unique opportunities to review current plays and regional geology.
You can review and register for any of these meetings online. Registration already is strong for New Orleans so I recommend you make your plans early – especially your hotel and conference registrations.
As Nobel Prize-winning author André Gide once said, “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”
I see AAPG’s technical conferences as a great adventure and opportunity in science and thought. I urge you to come and join us this year.