EXHIBITORS

Welcome to the 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, to be held at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) from 29 November to 3 December 2007.

The Society for Marine Mammalogy holds such conferences every two years, their purpose being to bring together scientists and students from all over the world who are studying marine mammals, to present their latest research findings in a series of spoken and poster presentations, special symposia, and workshops. This will be the first time the Society has met in the Southern Hemisphere (and only the second time outside North America), and current indications are that we expect between 1,000 and 1,500 delegates.

Space has been made available for exhibitors in Hall One of the CTICC. This is the venue in which posters will be on permanent display, in which all delegates’ coffee breaks will be held, and where sundowner (happy hour) sessions will be held most evenings. All of these occasions will provide you with opportunities to interact directly with delegates. The names and details of exhibitors at the Conference will also be included in the conference programme distributed to all registrants. The Society has negotiated a contract with Oasys Ltd for the provision of a basic, 9 m2 exhibitor stand, the details of which are listed below. Any requirements additional to this should be negotiated directly with the service provider, contact Maxine Woycieh (maxine@oasysexpo.com).

If you wish to accept this invitation, you must also register as an exhibitor at the conference. This fee will entitle you to

• free admission for two people to Hall One for the duration of the conference
• free participation in all coffee and sponsored sundowner sessions (extra badges can be purchased at an additional fee of R200)
• a conference bag including the programme, a souvenir coffee mug and other paraphernalia.

Unfortunately registering as an exhibitor does not include automatic access to any of the speaking venues or the icebreaker reception. If you would like to participate in both these activities then you must please register as a regular participant. However separate tickets to the icebreaker reception can be purchased (see below).

Additionally, on registration as an exhibitor you may purchase any of the following

• Tickets to the icebreaker reception, to be held at the Castle of Good Hope on the evening of 28th November, at R 500 a head
• Tickets to the closing banquet to be held at the CTICC on the evening of 3rd December, at R 350 a head
• Bottles of a special label of Whalehaven wine, some of the proceeds of which will go the South African Whale Disentanglement Team, at R50 a bottle for both red (Merlot/Shiraz blend) and white (Viognier/Chardonnay blend) wine

T-shirts bearing the conference logo will also be available from a separate link to be established later. All proceeds from these sales will go the local SPCA.

Details of all conference fees can be found on the conference website, but it is important to note that to take benefit of early registration, such fees should be paid before 1st September.

Please see the exhibitor prospectus, and you may now download a registration form.

Looking forward to seeing you in Cape Town.

Peter B. Best,
Conference Chair
MRI Whale Unit,
C/o Iziko South African Museum,
P.O. Box 61,
Cape Town,
8000 South Africa.

Basic set-up for an exhibitor’s stand at the 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals

For a view of the basic stand click here (click again to hide image)

The 9m² shell scheme stand package includes the following

• Shell scheme - white
• ¼ 30 amp single phase distribution board
• 2 x 150 watt spotlights
• 1 x 15 amp plug point
• Carpeting throughout (assuming the entire Hall will be carpeted)
• Fascia board with exhibitor’s name
• 2 x E5 office chairs
• 1 x E70 trestle table
• 1 x E45a waste paper bin
• 1 x full length table cloth (white)
• Electricity charges
• Construction, deconstruction costs

Note: stands are not draped but are constructed out of shell scheme panels

Total cost per stand (exclusive of exhibitor registration fees): R 3,000.