Countdown to the IPVS
The Winter Olympics are over and preparations for IPVS in Vancouver are well underway and getting into their final stages. Early bird registrations closed a week a go with 1922 delegates, students and accompanying persons registered. Delegates have registered from more than 60 countries so far and we are projecting to have well over 2000 registered delegates at the IPVS in Vancouver in July.
Nearly 1200 abstracts were submitted and after removing duplicates, abstracts were sent to more than 100 “blinded” reviewers around the world, each abstract being reviewed by at least two reviewers. The reviewers were “blinded” by removing the names and institutions of the submitting authors from each abstract to eliminate potential bias in favour or against any abstract.©The Scientific Committee then compiled the reviews and sent out acceptance notices to authors of 1160 abstracts, a new re cord for number of abstracts at an IPVS.©Of these 266 were selected as oral presentations that will be delivered in 25 concurrent sessions over the 3 days of the IPVS and the remainder, 894 were selected for poster displays.
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As I have reported in a previous blog, we will have electronic posters (e-posters) and formal poster sessions at the IPVS this year.©Authors of certain e-posters will be selected by poster session chairpersons to give short summaries of their work at pre-determined time slots each day. The time slots will be positioned to run one half-hour in the early morning immediately before the concurrent oral presentations begin.©Other time slots are during morning and afternoon coffee breaks and the last half hour of the lunch period.
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The Welcome Reception will have a distinctly Regional Canadian flavour.©Food stations are being set up on a Canadian regional distribution basis.©The regions represented will be the Maritimes (Atlantic) Region, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, British Columbia, and Nanuvut/ North West Territories. Each station will have a selection of foods indigenous to that particular region accompanied by wines and other beverages matched appropriately with the dishes.©
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Preceding the Welcome Reception is this year’s Hog Jog. The Hog Jog is actually the first official function of the 21st IPVS occurring during and after delegate registrations.©The Hog Jog starts at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon, July 18th, 2010 and consists of a 3 km, 5 km or 10 km walk or jog.©The Hog Jog will take place in the 400 hectare (1000 acres) Stanley Park, one of the largest and most picturesque urban parks in the world and located within walking distance of the Vancouver Convention Centre (VCC) where registration and the Welcome Reception will take place. Although within walking distance of the VCC, buses will be provided to transport joggers from the VCC to the starting point of the Hog Jog. Joggers will walk back to the VCC at the end of the jog.
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The Welcome mat is being laid out for one and all.©It promises to be an exhilarating and totally captivating experience for yet another IPVS.
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