What are attendees expecting from the 2009 Fall Meeting? Are there any hot sessions everybody’s talking about? How has the meeting evolved over the years? Any advice on how to survive a meeting that draws a crowd of 16,000+? Here are some answers we got from people schmoozing at yesterday’s Ice Breaker.

“People need to come to this meeting and talk to scientists outside of their field, not just stay in their comfort zone.  There are thousands of researchers outside your area of expertise in here – talk to them!” James Goff, ATCR University of New South Wales

“This is our first meeting. I’ll be presenting my research and hopefully getting some new ideas.” Nichelle Baxter, University of Florida

“I hope to meet other people working on similar things – make some connections.” Megan Pickard, Penn State University

“I am presenting a poster to share my results and I hope I’ll get some useful input.” Katherine Rowe, University of Florida

“The key question today is how climate change affects us, and this is one of the best meetings to learn about all of the different aspects of climate change.” Svetlana Petelina, La Trobe University (Australia)

 “I’ve been attending the meeting for 40 years. The obvious difference is that before, I knew almost everyone in my field. Now, I look for people with gray hair… and I might know them. It’s just too crowded now.” Alexander McBirney, University of Oregon

“Last year was my first meeting:  I was trying to see what everyone was doing, and most of the time, I just got lost. Now I’ve tried to select things that are really specific to the research I’m doing.” Manahloh Belachew, University of Rochester

Share with us what you are looking forward to seeing at this year’s meeting!

–Maria-José Viñas, AGU Public Information