Celebrate crystallography in Montréal –
the IUCr 2014 scientific program is now online!

The scientific program for the 2014 IUCr Congress has now been announced and it promises to be one of the glittering centerpieces in the International Year of Crystallography. The congress website (www.IUCr2014.org) now lists titles and descriptions of each of the Microsymposia, with more details such as chairs and speakers being added as they are confirmed. You will soon be able to submit your contribution through the congress website's Call for Abstracts, which is targeted for release by November 1, 2013. In addition to the Plenary and Keynote speakers, the 2014 session chairs will invite over 300 speakers to Montréal, and will need to select another 300+ speakers from the submitted abstracts – a significant increase from the previous Congress. When you submit, please indicate that you would be willing to give an oral presentation if asked. Let's give them lots to choose from.

The venue for the meeting, Montréal's Palais des congrès, is huge, but everything is located on two levels, directly connected by an escalator. The sessions are all on one floor, and posters, exhibitors, and coffee on the other. More than half the exhibit spaces have already been sold, but we still have some choice locations available. Both exhibit and sponsorship opportunities are available through IUCr2014.org.

The subway system – The Metro - stops at the Palais, and underground passages lined with shops and restaurants spread throughout the downtown area. Stepping outside, you are minutes away from hundreds of restaurants and bars, and dozens of hotels. You will be impressed with Montréal in the summer. Don't forget to check out the tours and excursions being offered in conjunction with the Congress. The committee has tried to ensure that interesting options exist for delegates and their travel companions alike.

There will be many exhibits and events proudly celebrating the International Year of Crystallography around the world in 2014, and we would very much like to make Montréal the focal point of the IYCr during the Congress. Members of the International Program Committee and others will be presenting short public lectures on various aspects of crystallography. In the public area in the foyer of the Palais there will be posters and exhibits. The Executive Committee of the IUCr is organizing a microsymposium on the IYCr.

We want more. Let us know what you have planned for the celebration. Have you generated teaching materials? Posters? Videos? Demonstrations? Let's make an effort to share our contributions with our professional colleagues as well as the general public. You can contact any member of the Local Organizing Committee either directly or through our Conference Manager Michèle Bourgeois-Doyle (her contact information is on the website). You can also get in touch with Michele Zema, the Project Manager for IYCr2014 (iycr2014@iucr.org) or Louise Dawe (ldawe@wlu.ca), the Canadian representative on Martha Teeter's ACA IYCr task force. We will make every effort to include your contributions in the Montréal celebrations.