Ancillary Events

are defined as non-ASHG events held over official ASHG annual meeting dates (October 25-29 inclusive - see table below). Examples of ancillary events include reunions, receptions, committee meetings, educational sessions, product demonstrations, board meetings, etc. Ancillary events may be scheduled ONLY during the following hours. Ancillary meetings are not permitted to overlap with ASHG scientific sessions or the ASHG Membership Meeting. Please note that ASHG is not responsible for subsequent schedule changes made by the Program Committee or by the Chairs of the ASHG Committees. Ancillary organizers will be notified if their requested time must be changed.

Satellite Events

are defined as non-ASHG events scheduled to take place on dates that fall before or after official ASHG meeting dates (i.e., before October 25 or after October 29). Organizers of satellite events are welcome to send their event details in the following format to Pauline Minhinnette at Pauline@faseb.org: Title of Event, date, time, place, room, contact name/address and contact telephone number and Email address.

Ancillary and Satellite events are listed in the Schedule of Events which is published on the ASHG Website, and printed in the Program and Abstracts Book, CD-Rom and in the Annual Meeting Program Guide.

The information entered in the online form is exactly how the information will be scheduled and listed on the Website and printed in the Program Guide. The ASHG office is not responsible for incorrect listings or scheduling errors due to illegible handwriting, misspellings, typos or omissions. Organizers must indicate on the Special Function Form whether the function is open to all meeting registrants, or if it is for invitees only. If this information is not provided, the event will be listed as an "open" event. Neither the ASHG Administrative Office nor the ASHG Meeting Logistics Management Office will call event organizers to verify or obtain missing information.

Please Note: Exhibitors who schedule education sessions and indicate that the sessions are OPEN TO ALL, must honor this listing and allow all interested to attend, including competitors and agents of competitors. If there is any possibility that there is a competitor who may attend and who would not be welcome list your event BY INVITATION ONLY, and send invitations only to those who you wish to attend.

After the
May 20, 2005
deadline,

 
 
unassigned meeting rooms will be released back to the hotel for general sale. Ancillary function organizers will be notified of their room assignments in mid-July. Once rooms have been assigned, organizers are responsible for making all further arrangements for the event (e.g., AV, F&B requirements) directly with the hotel.

ASHG meeting
management

 
makes every effort to contract in advance for adequate space to accommodate all ASHG events, society-related events and non-ASHG ancillary functions. However, there is not enough space at the Convention Center for non-ASHG ancillary events. Therefore, all ancillary events will be located in the headquarter hotel: The Grand America Hotel. Rooms will be assigned on a space available basis. Because of the increased number of requests for functions to be held at the ASHG annual meeting, space assignments will be made according to the priority list below in a manner that will best accommodate as many functions as space allows.

1. Official ASHG functions, such as Board and committee meetings;
2. ASHG-society related functions, such as ABMG, ACMG and ABGC Meetings;
3. Ancillary functions that relate to scientific scholarship, conduct of research, delivery of services and to public or public information related to science.
4. All other requests.

PLEASE NOTE:

that the hotel may charge for the use of the meeting room. Room rental can be negotiated between the organizer and the hotel (after space assignment has been confirmed) and rental may be reduced based upon the dollar amount of food and beverage ordered for the function. Each function will be handled individually and issued a separate contract. All meeting room rental fees, food and beverage, audiovisual equipment rentals and other services are the responsibility of the organizer. Organizers should study function contracts carefully before signing, paying special attention to cancellation clauses. In the event of a canceled function, the organizer may be required to pay the hotel for lost revenue.

All requests for
meeting space

 
will need to be approved by ASHG before space can be confirmed.

COMMERCIAL
COMPANIES:

 
One of the benefits for commercial companies that exhibit at the ASHG meeting is the opportunity to hold ancillary events during the meeting. Since non-exhibiting commercial companies are prohibited from advertising, soliciting or otherwise contacting ASHG meeting registrants on official ASHG meeting space or at ASHG meeting hotels, ASHG will not release or assign any of its meeting space to commercial companies not already contracted to be an official ASHG exhibitor. For information about exhibiting at the annual meeting, contact: Toney Vogel, Exhibits Manager, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3998; telephone (301) 634-7311; e-mail: tvogel@ashg.org or go to the ASHG web site at http://www.ashg.org, click on Annual Meeting, then click on Exhibitor Prospectus.