Are you still undecided about the IUCr meeting in Glasgow?

This is being written on February 12th, nearly 2,000 abstracts have been submitted, and they are still arriving; registrations are beginning to flow; the satellites are now taking registrations; the social programme is attracting a lot of bookings; the exhibition has only a few small stands left; more sponsors are getting involved; the computer fair is nearly ready ­ everything is coming together for a truly spectacular scientific meeting in August in Glasgow. Are you still undecided?

Some people are complaining about the cost. Actually on a per day rate it is as cheap as any international meeting and certainly cheaper than some! For students, accommodation with ensuite facilities in excellent student housing at Strathclyde University right in the middle of town the cost is £370 including breakfast and evening meals. Add to this the £200 registration fee, £10 for 10 days of bussing and it works out at £58 per day for almost everything. For those of us for whom student days are just a memory, it is only £10 a day more than this. It is the 10 days of course that makes it relatively expensive, but it is these ten days that make it so special and so exciting: the sheer concentration of crystallography in all its marvellous diversity over such a period. For industrialists the strong programme in industrial crystallography is concentrated in the first 5 days (which also span a weekend).

So submit your abstract (with modest late fee!), fill in your registration form, and book your accommodation all of which is in the 2nd announcement or on the web at: http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/iucr99/ or e-mail: iucr99@chem.gla.ac.uk for a copy (or any other problems).

And have a holiday afterwards.

The abstracts will begin to be posted on a web site soon, which will give you the flavour of the science. A brief survey of the abstracts is quite mouth-watering.

Or else you could spend the rest of your life at subsequent conferences hearing the words 'Do you remember at Glasgow when...?' and not being able to join in!

Be there!