Botany 2016
July 30–Aug. 3, 2016
Savannah International Trade & Convention Center
Savannah, Georgia

CHALLENGES Cost is the No. 1 issue for Botany’s planning team. “Being that we serve academics and students, we really need to keep the conference affordable so our members can attend,” said Johanne Stogran, BSA’s director of conferences. “Our program doesn’t vary space-wise much from year to year, so consistency is a cost savings. Other costs, however, such as Wi-Fi and the hotel/conference-center cost of a pot of coffee, can really send the budget into a tailspin.”

INITIATIVES In the past, there have been holes in the education programming because some international attendees submitted abstracts or posters, then chose not to attend the conference. “We have cut this problem significantly in the past couple years by insisting that nonmembers have a paid registration by a certain point to be included,” Stogran said. Another Botany 2016 initiative: doing away with a formal awards ceremony on the last day of the meeting. “We are still tweaking the idea — we will eat, drink, and be merry, and present the awards at other events during the week,” Stogran said. “We ask that each award winner gives us a photo or has their photo taken at the meeting, then our amazing team will assemble them into a great slideshow that we’ll keep playing to honor the winners.”