ACS Meeting Final

To wrap up on the Spring National ACS meeting (yes, it ended last Thursday), I will make some general comments.

I am not sure what the official attendance was, but I suspect that it was lower than usual.  Other than the first morning, the exhibit hall was not particularly crowded.  Even the book vendor booths were open compared to the usual crowds.  Of course the book vendors seemed to have brought less books than usual.  I also noticed that some vendors were gone Wednesday morning when I went through.

The talks I went to were generally very good.  There was only one where I could not understand the speakers accent to the point where I had to just go by the slides.  It was interesting that some groups appeared in force over the week.  I think the entire Smith group from St Andrews came from Scotland to present.  Over the course of the week I got a very clear picture of that group's work, which I found interesting.

I did find myself thinking that the organizers from each division might offer a service to the attendees by suggesting a pre-meeting reading list of articles that might bring those from the hinterlands up-to-date on the hot areas that will be covered at the meeting.  I certainly was glad that I have been reading a lot about organocatalysis lately and wondered if I would have found the meeting as enjoyable had I not.

An ACS meeting his like that old fashion activity of leafing through a paper journal.  I pick up new useful stuff and doodle about my own projects in the margins when something does not capture my attention.  I still find it a useful activity, luddite that I am.

T.S. Hall