Next Weekend at AAAS

As I've mentioned in passing before, I'll be attending the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science next weekend, in order to appear on a panel about the TIMSS Advanced 2008 test. I'm an idiot, and didn't submit an abstract in time (I thought there was a perfectly adequate placeholder abstract there, but I must've imagined it), but I'll be talking about how the physics questions on the test line up with standard curricula and conceptual tests and that sort of thing. The three-hour symposium format is not what I'm used to (presentations at physics meetings are generally assumed to be completely independent), so this will be a different experience.

I'm doing a bit of a drive-by for this, relative to my usual conference attendance, but I'm scheduled to teach on Friday morning, and there are only so many times I can ask colleagues to cover for me. So, I'll be getting in Friday afternoon/ evening (I'll be very annoyed if I don't make it to the meeting by 5pm), and leaving Sunday evening (leaving for the airport at 5:45, so leaving the meeting area at 5, probably). If there's anything going on those two days that is a can't-miss panel/ symposium/ whatever, feel free to point it out to me in the comments. (Undoubtedly, there will prove to be fascinating stuff going on while I'm in my session, because that's how these things always work...)

I see from the program that there's something labelled "Social Media Soiree" on Friday evening for people who blog/ tweet/ whatever. So if you're going to be at the meeting, and are dying to meet me but don't want to hear about international science testing, that's probably the best place to look. I'm fairly easy to spot.