JUNE 25, 2009:  UPDATE

[Sent to all registered participants, to all invited speakers, and
to all people who submitted talk or poster abstracts.]



Dear colleagues,


Here is an update on the current state of conference on "The Milky Way
and the Local Group - Now and in the Gaia Era" at the University of
Heidelberg.


We now have 200 registered participants as well as about 40 additional
people who submitted poster or talk abstracts but who have not registered
yet.  We have received 172 abstracts for talks or posters thus far.  The
deadline to request a talk passed at the beginning of June, while poster
abstracts can still be submitted until the end of this month.  You are
very welcome to continue to submit poster abstracts to Ms. Seibel. 
Please do so using the LaTeX template at
http://www.ari.uni-heidelberg.de/meetings/milkyway2009/abstracts.html
Please send your abstract to Ms. Seibel as a LaTeX file, not as a .pdf.


The preliminary program of the conference can be downloaded at:
http://www.ari.uni-heidelberg.de/meetings/milkyway2009/program.html

The program is still evolving and subject to change.  Please notify
me (grebel AT ari.uni-heidelberg.de) if you notice any problems or
errors.


We have scheduled 145 talks, which are mainly arranged in parallel
sessions.  Care was taken to avoid immediate topical overlap between
sessions taking place in parallel, but you will sometimes need to
make the difficult choice between two sessions that are of equal
interest to you.  All the speakers were notified at the beginning
of this week.


We currently have a waiting list of approximately 20 people whose
requests for talks could not be accommodated.  However, a number of
people who requested a talk have not yet registered.  I would like
to ask all those who are currently on the program with a talk slot
but who have not registered yet to do so before the end of this
month (by June 30).  Afterwards, we will begin to fill these slots
with people on the waiting list.


Talk requests that remain unfulfilled in the end will be converted
into poster presentations.  If you do *not* wish to present a poster
instead or if you want to withdraw your talk or poster presentation,
please let us know as soon as possible.


Many thanks for your interest in this conference.  We look forward
to seeing you in Heidelberg.


Best wishes,
Eva Grebel and Uli Bastian