Printing (and giving things away…) is our pleasure
The print edition of the ECR 2012 Preliminary Programme
It’s probably more than clear that we’re big fans of the internet at the ESR office. We’ve embraced speedy online publication for our congress and journals, we’ve turned our hand to the snappy world of social media (including, obviously, our recent launch into the blogosphere), and we’ve created a whole catalogue of online tools for learning, booking and planning in the last few years. But as much as we love exploring and testing these new possibilities, doing the traditional things still gives us just as much satisfaction. That’s why, despite our own efforts to cut down on print production, we couldn’t resist printing a few hundred ECR preliminary programmes to share with you, which we’re delighted to be giving away and delivering free on a first-come-first-served basis.
We appreciate the pleasure of flipping through the crisp new pages of a brand new, freshly printed magazine or journal as much as anyone, and that pleasure increases even more when you’ve played a part in creating it, so it goes without saying that we try to make every leaflet, book and guide not just as informative as possible but also as beautiful as we can. But even so, we’ve been making a conscious effort to cut down on the volume of printed material we mail around the world, and that includes the ECR preliminary programme. This is partly because of the enormous cost of distribution (perhaps a less-than-perfect use of membership payments) but also due to the environmental impact of printing more than 50,000 copies of a 100-page, A4 book. This means that the usually highly anticipated (not to mention superbly presented) preliminary programme is no longer mailed to our whole membership database, but is instead made available online as a downloadable PDF.
But, as we’ve become more and more experienced at producing this programme and it has got better and better, we’ve all developed something of an emotional attachment to it. The result is that this year’s preliminary programme has been prepared and designed so well that we simply had to produce a hard copy, even in just a small number, so that we’ve got something to give the programme committee and board members to thank them for their hard work and, perhaps more importantly, so we have something cool to give away!
Floral detail inside the programme reflects this year's poster theme, 'Spring' by Giuseppe Arcimboldo
As always, it’s packed with information about the forthcoming congress, including details of courses and workshops, several feature articles about some of the scientific highlights, an interview with Congress President Prof. Lorenzo Bonomo, and even some wonderful old colour lithographs of historic Vienna. Although, for the aesthetes among you, the cover alone may be enough to tempt you to get hold of one!
Want your own copy of the ECR 2012 Preliminary Programme for free? Just follow the instructions below
To get your own copy of the ECR 2012 preliminary programme delivered free to your address, just fill out this form on our Facebook page. But remember, there’s only a limited number! (UPDATE: the programmes are now all gone. Thanks to everyone who applied!)
