Meeting Categories
From an administrative point of view, there are three main categories of meeting:
- Flagship Meetings: The William Smith meeting, the Fermor meeting (triennial) and the Lyell meeting (joint with the Palaeontological Association) are administered by the Geological Society Conference Office in collaboration with the scientific convenors. Arthur Holmes Meetings, which are field meetings, are held without a regular schedule. Science Committee selects topics approximately 21 months in advance, from proposals by Fellows and/or Specialist Groups.Meetings Administered by the Geological Society Conference Office:
- Meetings are run by the Society Conference Office in collaboration with the scientific convenors, who may represent the Society, a Specialist Group or have put forward the meeting proposal independently. If the meeting is held in Burlington House and is sponsored by the Society or a Specialist Group, then there will normally be no room hire charges, but the meeting must be budgeted to meet the Conference Office costs.
- Independently Administered Meetings: Specialist Groups organise a wide range of meetings and where these are held outside Burlington House, the Society’s involvement is usually limited to providing publicity through Geoscientist and the Web Site. However each Specialist Group is entitled to make use of Burlington House for meetings (up to 8 per year), subject to availability, without room charge. Often the scientific convenors handle the administration in order to keep registration costs to a minimum, and the Conference Office is happy to offer advice. The Society is also often happy to sponsor meetings organised by other organisations where they are of interest to Fellows, and will provide publicity for these meetings without charge.