Dear Members and Friends,

We realize nearly every day something new is being thrown at you, with challenges to your home, family, and profession. We at GSA are considering everything we can do to assist you with your research, work, and careers. We fully embrace that the safety and well-being of our community across the world remains the highest priority. As such, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person annual meeting scheduled for Montréal on 25–28 October 2020, and we are launching GSA 2020 Connects Online, a 100% online experience on 26–30 October 2020.

This is a new experience for the GSA staff, and we appreciate your patience as we navigate the development of this new geoscience conference. We can share the following items with you now:

● The abstract submission system will open 1 July for you to share your science in the sessions that were accepted for the annual meeting. The deadline for submissions will remain the same: 4 August. Watch for new flexible guidelines (coming soon) on the format and length of the technical program.
● Registration will open in early July, with reduced rates. As always, we will be providing additional financial assistance for students; watch the meeting website for details.
● Starting in 2020, GSA has renamed our Exhibit Hall the GSA Resource and Innovation Center. This will apply to the online experience, as well as when we return to a face-to-face Annual Meeting in 2021 in Portland, Oregon.

Many of the things you value and enjoy at GSA’s Annual Meeting will be part of this new experience, including field trips, short courses, technical sessions, poster sessions, the Presidential Address, Feed Your Brain sessions, networking events, GeoCareers opportunities, and the GSA Resource and Innovation Center—with elements that will elicit the flair and feel of our original Montréal location. Our goal is to create an extraordinary online event for networking, new discoveries, and experiences of community togetherness for science. All this = GSA 2020 Connects Online.

GSA was able to make this pivot because of the great partnerships we have with Tourism Montréal, the Palais des congrès de Montréal, and the hotels in Montréal. Because of them, we are also pleased to announce that GSA’s Annual Meeting in 2027 will take place in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The 2020 local organizing committee and GSA  are looking forward to sharing all the amazing geology that the region has to offer with our members. Our hats are off to the local organizing committee for their innovation and help through this decision-making process.

We thank you for your patience and support as we worked through the various contractual obligations that needed to be resolved before we could officially announce our plans to launch GSA 2020 Connects Online and cancel the in person annual meeting in Montréal.

More information will be forthcoming in the August issue of GSA Today, and you can always check the Annual Meeting website: https://community.geosociety.org/gsa2020/home, which will be continually updated.

If you have questions or concerns about the meeting, contact the GSA Meetings Department.

Regards,
GSA Council