VEXAG Meetings and Schedules
The VEXAG Monthly Meeting Schedule describes the main recurring themes/events of the given meetings on any month. Most months have “regular business,” including new developments and SAW updates, but Steering Committee meetings leading up to big meetings, such as VEXAG annual meeting, LPSC, or Fall AGU, have other items.
VEXAG Monthly Meeting Schedule
Month | Activities* |
January | Review and approve Findings, submit to HQ. Two new SC members begin term. SAW membership update. |
February | Plans for annual interAG meeting |
March | Prepare for LPSC |
April | Committee updates (Refresh SAW goals. Revise or retire existing SAWs) |
May | Committee updates |
June | Committee updates |
July | Two new SC members begin term. Committee updates. SAW membership update. |
August | Plan for annual meeting. Committee updates |
September | Plan for annual meeting(s) |
October | Review of CAPS and PAC presentations from Fall meetings; finalize planning for annual meeting; assign tasks for SC members at meeting |
November | Annual meeting in person + virtual as needed |
December | Review and vote on new Steering Committee members and committee assignments for the coming year. Plan for AGU Town Hall, if any |
*Each month will begin with reports HQ Liaison (if any) and from the standing Study Analysis Workgroups and other current Venus-related bodies.
Nominal Structure of a Monthly VEXAG Steering Committee Meeting
Structure is always subject to change, however, these items are usually present, roughly in this order:
- Breaking News
- HQ updates (CAPS meetings, HQ Liaison report, Decadal or NASA study reports)
- Critical Business (SC selection, fast turn-around SC work/community response, meeting preparations)
- Guest Reports (Missions/Initiatives)
- Science Analysis Workgroup (SAW) Updates
- Last Announcements, upcoming events
- Around the room (if time)
SC monthly meetings characteristically fill or overfill one hour. Monthly business or other items may occasionally suggest or necessitate a supplementary meeting during the month.
Nominal Structure of an VEXAG Annual Committee Meeting
There is no fixed structure of VEXAG annual meetings, and recent years have experimented with different formats (plus of necessity the fully virtual format of 2020). VEXAG annual meetings are usually two full and one half-day in the first half of November in a calendar year.
Formats have often included “traditional” meeting styles with reports most of the first meeting day, talks late day 1 and day 2, a poster session(s), and a Steering Committee meeting at the close. In more recent years, a field trip or other community-building activity has been included where feasible. The following list describes roughly in order current general session formats.
HQ reports:
Recent meeting formats have begun with reports and updates from NASA HQ Science Mission Directorate, and other relevant program offices.
Venus Tutorials:
This session includes 2-3 informational talks or short courses for the general Venus-interested community on fundamentals of Venus science, technology, etc. Broad topics such as radar science, Venus geochemistry, and atmospheric processes are meant to give the Venus science/technology audience understanding of topics outside their field of focus. (Tutorials tend to be invited by the Organizing or Steering Committee).
Mission, Study, and Workshop Reports:
Over the course of the year, various NASA and international group efforts produce study reports, workgroup findings, or mission progress reports. This session is for reports and/or presentations, and updates on those items, and often has a strong international component. (These reports are both Invited and Contributed)
Contributed Sessions:
These sessions are for VEXAG contributed and invited science and technology talks from the community for the community. A number of session formats are possible. Current preferred formats:
- ½-hour mini-panel (used Virtually in VEXAG 2020) Four related short talks of 5 minute duration (with no questions) followed by a 10 minute Q/A panel with all four speakers taking questions about all four talks.
- 1-hour small-panel: (Exoplanets in our Backyard model) Four related short talks of ~7-10 minute duration (with no questions) followed by a 20-30 minute panel with all four speakers taking questions about all four talks.
- 1.5-2 hour panel (Primer model): Three longer talks (20-30 minutes) followed by a 30 minute panel.
Poster Sessions:
When the venue permits, all posters go up on Day One of the meeting and stay up until the end. One evening of the meeting includes the poster session after the end of talks, usually preceded by a ~1 hour lightning-talk session where poster presenters can give a 1-slide 1-2 minute introduction to their poster to the meeting. Smaller venues may need to have 2 poster sessions on the two evenings of the meeting. Posters are contributed, and abstracts may request poster format, or accept poster format if a requested oral presentation is declined.
Keynote/Public Speaker (occasional):
Some VEXAG meetings may also have, usually on the first evening, a keynote or public speaking event, especially if there is a topical event or a unique opportunity for outreach/engagement.
Field Trip (occasional):
Some VEXAG meetings may replace a half-day with a field trip to a locally relevant site (e.g.,, a geology field site, observatory, etc).The focus of the field trip is to build community by randomly assigning attendees to different cars.
Banquet (occasional):
Some VEXAG meetings may host (at participants’ cost) a dinner event for participants - this may or may not accompany or be related to a Keynote/Speaker event.
Steering Committee Meeting:
At the close of the VEXAG meeting there is a Steering Committee meeting (the November SC meeting) where any business not already conducted is accomplished. The first part of the SC meeting is open to interested VEXAG meeting participants, followed by an SC-only meeting if/as required.
Fully Virtual VEXAG Meetings:
If circumstances dictate the annual meeting be fully virtual, VEAG works with our supporting organization (e.g. LPI) to hold the meeting online. A virtual meeting is likely to be shorter, concentrating on NASA, mission, study, workshop, and other reports, and with most community contributions in the form of ePosters and lightning talks.