It has been a busy year bringing NARST more current with modern tools of communication.  Since our last newsletter our Board, our Committee Chairs, our President, and even some of our members have used video conference tools and live [and asynchronous] webcasting tools to conduct some important business.

The Annual Meeting Program was again available in electronic form this year as it has been in the previous 2 years.  In addition to the traditional hard copy of the program, members were offered a free electronic version of the program.  Because of its popularity among members, the Board was able to save publishing and shipping costs in the Annual Meeting budget (not to mention all the paper and raw resources for an archive to sit on your office shelf).    Like last year, it was available in multiple formats—the most popular being the full-featured iBook.

This year the electronic program was available to the membership 7-10 days prior to the conference so that members could plan ahead.  Members were then able to use their electronic devices to plan their attendance at specific events and make contact with other members to coordinate meetings. For NARST members and attendees who need copies of the electronic program for travel reimbursement purposes, copies of all three are available at this website.

Members will also find all Presidential Addresses and plenary sessions from our last three Annual Meetings recorded with slides and composite video available at the NARST YouTube Channel.  I want to thank Michael Radosta of SUNY-UB for raising the quality of our recordings and broadcasts from our Annual Conference. If you would like to share with your students, colleagues, or politicians any of these talks, they are available free to the public at this link.

The NARST Board, Presidential Team, Committee Leadership, and I are excited about upgrading our tools of communication and working towards a more open and collaborative environment. We value your feedback as well and hope you will participate in efforts to provide feedback and guidance that will direct our future efforts.