7th ISS - 5th Announcement (February 15, 2006)

Programme and Abstracts

The Scientific Programme of the 7th International Sponge Symposium is now 
available at the symposium’s website (http://acd.ufrj.br/hajdu/7thISS). By 
now, all corresponding authors should have received the acceptance letters 
of their submitted abstratcs. If you did not, please contact the Scientific 
Committee immediately. The book of Abstracts is now in press. We have a 
very tight time schedule, and therefore many abstracts submitted for oral 
presentation had to be changed to poster presentation. Authors selected for 
oral presentation who, for any reason, will no longer be able to attend the 
symposium or to present their studies orally should contact the Scientific 
Committee a.s.a.p. so we can still try to replace their presentations and 
have no gaps in the programme.

Registrations and fees

In February 9, 2006, there were:
- 309 abstracts accepted for presentation
- over 250 participants registered
- 138 participants who paid their registration fees. If you already paid 
your registration, please check if your name is on the list. If it is not 
there, maybe you forgot to send us the copy of the document. If your name 
is on the list but you did not receive your receipt yet, please be patient: 
it will be delivered in a few days. For any doubts, please contact the 
Scientific Committee.

Hotel reservations and transport
- 30 participants have made hotel reservations through ABVTUR, the official 
symposium’s travel agency. Please notice that Pérola Hotel (still the same 
Nikki Beach / The Pearl, but with a new name now) has offered us another 16 
of their less expensive rooms. We urge you to take advantage of this offer, 
as a higher occupation of the symposium hotel will reduce the costs of the 
Conference Hall and will enhance the interchange of experiences among 
participants.
- 10 participants requested transportation from Rio de Janeiro to Búzios.

Deadlines

The deadline for registration in the symposium is February 28, 2006. This 
is the same deadline for payment of registration fees with discount. This 
deadline WILL NOT BE EXTENDED. Please register and pay your registration 
fee with a special discount by filling the appropriate forms in the 
symposium’s website (http://acd.ufrj.br/hajdu/7thISS) until February 28, 2006.

Format of Posters and Oral Presentations

Posters:
Size: maximum 1.2m high X 0.9m wide. The font should be large enough to be 
visible from a distance of at least 1 m. Posters will be exposed for 1-2 
days, but authors are requested to stand by their posters for 90 min, from 
6:30 to 8:00 PM in a specific poster session. Please check the day, session 
and number of your poster in the programme 
(http://acd.ufrj.br/hajdu/7thISS). Authors should prepare to mount their 
posters during lunch time, or at coffee break before their sessions.

Oral presentations:
Authors will have 10 minutes for oral presentations, followed by 5 minutes 
of plenary discussion. Invited lecturers will have in general 25 min for 
presentation, followed by 5 min of discussion. A laptop PC running Windows 
XP and a multimedia projector will be available for all presentations. An 
Apple Macintosh computer, a projector for diapositives (35mm slides) and an 
overhead projector will only be available if specifically requested by a 
participant. These formats are not recommended. We strongly recommend the 
use of MS Power Point to prepare oral presentations. If you choose to 
prepare your presentation in a different format, please inform the 
Scientific Committee your preferred format and the equipment you will need. 
Please bring your files in CDs or USB Pen Drives (with back-ups). If you 
need to use alternative media such as floppy-disks, ZIP disks or DVDs, 
please contact the Scientific Committee.

Manuscripts to be published in the Proceedings

Authors willing to publish their contributions in the Proceedings of the 
7th ISS should submit their manuscripts to the Editorial Committee between 
May 07th and July 31th, 2006. Detailed instructions for authors will be 
posted on the Symposium website soon. The Proceedings will be published as 
a high standard volume in the Book Series of Museu Nacional.

Post Symposium dive trips

We would like to know which and how many of you are willing to join the 
dives scheduled for Saturday 13th (in Búzios) and Sunday 14th (in Arraial 
do Cabo, approximately 1 h from Búzios). The cost for a boat trip and two 
dives is expected to be around R$110 (ca. €43, only tanks and weights 
included) and R$150 (ca. €58, all equipment included). Please contact the 
Support Committee and inform whether you prefer one or two dives each day, 
or if you prefer to snorkel. Diving certificates are required for SCUBA 
diving in Brazil. Most international certificates are accepted (PADI, PDIC, 
CMAS). Don’t forget to bring yours!

Requests for Financial Support

Until now, 29 requests for financial support were received by the 
Organizing Committee of the 7th ISS. A final response for these requests 
will be directed to each participant who applied for such aid until 
February 28th.

We are looking forward to meet you all in Búzios!

Convenors, 7th ISS
Eduardo Hajdu, Guilherme Muricy and Radovan Borojevic

(PLEASE, DO NOT REPLY THIS MESSAGE - ALL CONTACT INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND 
IN THE SYMPOSIUM WEBPAGE - http://acd.ufrj.br/hajdu/7thISS)