Apologies for cross posting.

**Note the deadline coming up on the call for papers and the student poster competition**

AGI Cymru Winter Conference: Location Wales 2011 - Opportunities and Challenges 
Date Tuesday November 29, 2011 
Contact Claire Huppertz 
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Description Call for Papers

With so much social, political, economic and environmental change both at home and internationally, we can all, no doubt, agree that the geocommunity has much to offer. But how do we articulate that? How do we make a difference? How do our roles and responsibilities count in the bigger picture? How do we place ourselves within the new economic activity that is needed to grow the future UK   and especially Welsh national prosperity? How do we support efficiency savings? Which technology, data, standards and public policies can we exploit? How are we embracing social and environmental challenges facing us and finding answers? How can we help better serve the citizen? How does GI best practice best support effective decision making and accurate analysis? How can we convince decision makers? We will bring the geocommunity together to address these questions and others, to share experiences, and to express and prove our vital place in what is becoming a new economy. Ideally presentations would have case studies or some connection or relevance to Wales 

Suggested themes 
New Directions,  Lightening Talks (a selection of short talks on a variety of  GI topics),  Leadership in Geography,  Marine,  Mobile

What do we look for in a paper abstract? 
So what are the keys to success when submitting a paper abstract? Here are 5 key points to consider:

Structure your abstract around the conference theme and try to answer any questions given. 
Produce an abstract with clear messaging; remember not everyone marking the abstract will be from your area of expertise, or can second guess anything that is unclear.

Be appealing, your abstract ‘sells’ your paper and thus your work. Something that cannot articulate itself well at the abstract stage is unlikely to work as a presentation.

Be concise. Excessively long abstracts of winding prose will lose out when being marked against a minimum of 100 to 120 other abstracts looking for attention.

Avoid sales pitches. We all have our favourite software and solutions and these can be mentioned, but overt promotion is a short-cut to poor marks and rejection.  

Closing date for paper abstracts 31st August 2011. Please send the abstracts to [log in to unmask]


Best Student poster call

AGI Cymru would like to extend an invitation for submissions for the best Geographic Information poster of 2011.

All posters submitted will be displayed at the AGI Cymru conference on 29th November in Cardiff with the best five applicants invited to attend the conference. The overall winner will be given a 20 minute presentation slot within the afternoon plenary session to present their work and awarded the prize of a handheld GPS device (sponsored by Environment Systems).

To be eligible the applicant must either; 
* be studying at a Welsh University. 
* have as their topic a research area within Wales. 
* be a Welsh resident student studying outside Wales.

All applications should relate to work which demonstrates a practical application of GI to meet a need or challenge facing Wales in any sector and which has been completed within the 12 months prior to the closing date for applications.

Applications will be judged against the following criteria; 
* Innovation in approach proposed. 
* Ability to deliver a solution in a real world context. 
* Expectation of return on investment in terms of cashable savings, service delivery improvement or informing the decision making processes.

The poster should be designed to occupy an area of A1 or A0 in size and may be submitted electronically. Applications should be made no later than Tuesday 6th September 2011. The applicants of best five posters will then be invited to give a short presentation to the full AGI Cymru Steering Group on 8th November, after which the overall winner will be decided.

Please submit your poster to [log in to unmask] by the deadline with 'AGIC Poster' at the start of the subject line.