1-02 (March 2002) by Ron Blicq INTECOM

Mark the date on your calendar: The next "Forum" Conference will be held in Milan, Italy, from June 30 to July 2, 2003. The Forum 2003 theme will be Meeting the Cross-Cultural Challenge.

Previous INTECOM conferences have been held at five-year intervals, in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and, most recently (2000), London, England. The Seventh Conference will break with tradition: It will be held after only a three-year interval, reflecting INTECOM delegates’ awareness that Technical Communication technology is advancing so rapidly that a five-year interval between conferences is too long.

Participants who have attended previous Forum conferences will welcome Forum 2003, for they already know about its unique format and the admirable opportunities it provides for interaction between presenters and delegates. "Idea Markets" will again be a cornerstone of the conference. Developed 30 years ago by Ulf Anderssen and Lars Forslund in Sweden, INTECOM’s Ideas Markets have become recognized as the ideal way to present and exchange information. Rather than have delegates sitting in docile rows listening to a speaker deliver information in a one-way setting, in an Idea Market everyone participates in an interactive exchange of ideas. It’s exhilarating and refreshing!

As in recent Forum conferences, Forum 2003 is being sponsored jointly by four INTECOM member societies:

• Conference administration is being handled by Germany’s tekom, with tekom’s Executive Director Michael Fritz as conference chair (m.fritz@tekom.de).
• The conference program is in the hands of the ISTC in the UK, with Anke Harris as chair (harris@mapline.com).
• Publications are being coordinated by the STC in the US, with Mary Wise as chair and Jeff Hibbard and Tom Warren as publication coordinators (mwise@manu.com).
• Publicity is being handled by IEEE/PCS, with Ron Blicq as chair (ronblicq@cs.com)

1. It is easily accessible, either by air or by rail.
2. It is centrally located, making travel to additional mid-Europe and Mediterranean destinations fast and easy to achieve.
3. It offers a significant range of attractions.
4. Its climate is ideal.

Within 100 metres of the conference hotel is St. Maria delle Grazie Church, with Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of The Last Supper (painted between 1494 and 1498) on a wall of the Dominican monastery. Because it is difficult to get tickets to see the painting, your conference committee is arranging to book visits for conference delegates in advance.

This initial news release is intended to whet your appetites, and to remind you to mark your calendar with a big "F2003" as a reminder that a major technical communication event will be occurring next year.

For more information about the conference or the programme, please contact your INTECOM delegate, one of the chairs listed above, or me: ronb@rgilearning.com.  

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