Newswise — The American Chemical Society (ACS) Office of Communications is offering the news media the opportunity to join press briefings whether covering the meeting onsite or from a remote location. This new updated format during ACS's 235th national meeting April 6-10 in New Orleans will provide access to the increasing number of journalists who cover scientific meetings from their home base.

Borrowing the popular chat room concept from the Internet, we will provide news media with access to both real and virtual chat room sessions during the New Orleans meeting. With more than 9,000 research presentations, this is one of the year's largest and most significant scientific conferences.

Reporters attending the meeting can gather with scientists in an informal setting in our Press Center in Room 206 of the Morial Convention Center. Scientists will summarize their research and field questions. Offsite reporters can enter a virtual version of this chat room over the Internet. In addition to seeing and hearing the real-world activity, offsite reporters can submit questions.

Like hosts of a traditional chat room, we never know how many participants will join a session. Each session will proceed, regardless of attendance, so that digital transcripts can be made and posted online as a resource for individuals unable to attend.

Chat room sessions begin at noon on Sunday, April 6, and continue during the week. A full schedule will be emailed shortly, and available on Eurekalert and at www.acs.org. Watch for a complete schedule. For now, get a head start by registering at Ustream.tv, a live, interactive online video site.

ACS' Virtual Press Conference room

To register with Ustream.tv, go to http://ustream.tv/sign-up-step-1. It's free and only takes a minute or two to sign up. To join the chat room during one of our sessions, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/acs-live-from-new-orleans and click the "Login" button at the top right of the Ustream window. Ustream requires the latest version of Adobe Flash, which can be downloaded without charge here.

Use the built-in chat box to ask questions during the press conference (requires Ustream.tv registration).

Use the chat box to the right of the video window to submit questions to the researchers. After the press conference is complete, recorded versions of the sessions and accompanying chat transcripts will be available by going to the ACS Press Room at http://www.acs.org/pressroom and clicking on "Chat Sessions."

We hope to see you " really or virtually " at one of our chat sessions.

The American Chemical Society — the world's largest scientific society — is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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