INFORMS International Conference: Puerto Rico 2007

U.S. Citizens
No passport or visa is required for U.S. citizens. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and a part of the United States.

Citizens of Canada, Mexico and Bermuda-NEW Regulations
As of January 23, 2007, citizens of Canada, Mexico and Bermuda will be required to present a passport to enter the United States (Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory) when arriving by air from any part of the Western Hemisphere. For further information, go to: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

Citizens of Other Countries
The INFORMS Puerto Rico Meeting has been posted on the U.S. Department of State’s Intranet Listing for conferences in the United States. Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth/territory; the same requirements apply to entry to Puerto Rico as for all parts of the United States. These web sites provide helpful information on passport and visa requirements:

While the average temperature in summer is in the mid-80s F, some days may be closer to 90-100 degrees with high humidity. Be sure to pack plenty of sunscreen! Remember that hotel meeting rooms can often be cool, so bring along a sweater or light jacket as well. Go to http://www.srh.noaa.gov/sju/ for the latest weather.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth/Territory - U.S. currency is used. To convert your country’s currency to U.S. currency, go to http://finance.yahoo.com/currency. Both English and Spanish are official languages; and regular U.S. mail, package and phone services are available.

TRANSPORTATION TO HOTELS

The Luis Munoz Marin International Airport is 19 miles (40-50 minute drive) from the Wyndham Rio Mar Resort, INFORMS headquarters hotel, and 30 miles (just over one hour) from the El Conquistador, the second INFORMS hotel. Click here for detailed Ground Transportation information.
If you plan to tour the island on your own and/or if you don’t want to be limited to hotel services, you may want to rent a car. The major U.S. car rental companies provide service, with desks at the San Juan International Airport.
Taxis -- In the San Juan metropolitan area, there are regular taxis that charge metered rates. In addition, Tourist Taxis (painted white with the official logo on their front doors) offer fixed rates in the major tourist areas.
Ferries – ferries are a fun and scenic way to travel. The small islands of Vieques and Culebra can be reached by ferry from the city of Fajardo (rates are just over $2 for the 90-minute ride).

REGISTRATION

Registration
Click here to register. On-site registration will be located at the Wyndham Rio Mar Conference Center, Rio Mar Foyer.

Badge Required for Technical Sessions
Your INFORMS Puerto Rico registration badge must be worn to all meeting events. Badges will be checked at the entrance to technical session areas. Attendees without badges will be directed to the registration desk to pick up their badges and register. [next sentence in bold red] All attendees, including cluster chairs, session chairs and speakers must register and pay the registration fee.

ROOM LOCATIONS
The printed program you receive in Puerto Rico will list room locations for all sessions and events, as well as provide floor plans. All technical sessions, registration, exhibits, plenary presentations and the Monday evening reception will be held at the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort.

AUDIO-VISUAL SERVICES
Every room will be equipped with an LCD (data) projector. If you require an overhead, you must reserve it prior to the meeting. Contact Cheryl Clark to order the overhead. Please follow these guidelines to ensure a successful presentation using the LCD projector:

Bring your laptop PC to your session. We supply the projector, but we DO NOT supply the computer.
Bring your AC power adaptor with you. There will be convenient AC power in every session room.
If your laptop is not compatible with AC power, bring an electrical adaptor so that you can connect to U.S. electricity.
Arrive at your session at least 30 minutes before it begins. All presenters in a session should set up and test the connection to the projector before the session begins.
Do NOT attempt to run your presentation off the laptop battery, no matter how trustworthy.
Produce and bring overhead transparencies as a backup.

Speaker Ready Room: There will be a special Speaker Ready Room available near the INFORMS registration desk during the meeting. You can stop by and practice connecting your laptop to the projector. We will also have quick instructions at each session room and technical assistance available for any problems.

Online Program
The program will be posted online in early April. The online program is considered to be the final version of the preliminary program. This means that once the program appears online, we are not able to move either single presentations or full sessions to other time slots. Speakers go to the online program for the date and time of their presentations and then make travel and hotel arrangements based on this information. We can add to existing sessions or add new sessions as time and space permit. You can also make changes to your abstract title, abstract or list of authors.

Making Your Presentation
Go to the registration area and pick up your Puerto Rico Meeting Program, name badge and other registration materials. The room and location of your session will be listed in the Technical Sessions section and in the Master Track Schedule.

Arrive at your session at least ½ hour early for A/V set-up.
Limit your presentation to key issues with a brief summary.
Time your presentation to fit within your designated time span, leaving time for audience questions. Time per speaker is determined by the number of papers in the session, with equal time given to each paper.
Bring copies of your paper or other handouts to distribute to the audience.

Please don't be a "no-show." While we understand that last-minute circumstances may prevent speakers from attending, we urge you to inform us so we can alert attendees. Speakers who fail to notify us that they are not attending are being unfair to their colleagues and the Organizing Committee. In an effort to improve the quality of the meeting, we maintain records of individuals who are late cancellations (cancel after May 18) and “no-shows.” These people may be required to register in advance for future meetings in order for their papers to be scheduled.

Send cancellation in writing to abstractcentral@informs.org with the reason for canceling. Cancellations will be listed in the Program Addendum and deleted from the online program.
Invited and Sponsored speakers should also inform their session chair if they are not able to attend the meeting to make their presentation(s).
If a paper is withdrawn from a session before the meeting, the session chair may add a new speaker or extra time may be allowed for the remaining speakers.
Invited and Sponsored session chairs should find a substitute to act as chair in their place.
If a speaker is a "no-show," the original time schedule should be adhered to rather than sliding every talk forward. This allows for effective session jumping.

The role of the Chair is to coordinate the smooth running of the session. The Chair:

Begins and ends each session on time. Each session lasts 90 minutes, with the time per presentation determined by the number of papers in the session. Equal time should be given to each paper.
Introduces each presentation (just the title of the paper and the name of the presenting author).
Ensures that presentations are made in the order shown in the program. This allows for "session jumping." If a speaker cancels or does not attend, the original time schedule should be adhered to rather than sliding every talk forward.
Completes the session attendance forms (forms will be in the room).

Printed Program
The printed program provides four primary resources to help you understand and navigate the Technical Sessions:

The technical session listing, which provides the most detailed information. The listing is presented chronologically by day/time, showing each session and the papers/abstracts/authors within each session.
The Author, Session Chair and Session indices provide cross-reference assistance.
Floor plans that show you where technical session tracks are located.
The Master Track Schedule - an overview of the tracks (general topic areas) and when/where they are scheduled.

The Session Code
Each session is identified with a code - for example, MB25.

The first letter is the day of the week.
The second letter is the time block (A = 8:00-9:30am; B = 10:00-11:30am; C = 1:30-3:00pm; D = 4:30-6:00pm).
The number is the track, which correlates with room location.

To Find Your Own Session
Use the Author Index at the back of the printed program - the session code for your presentation(s) will be shown. Then refer to the full session listing for the location of your session(s).

To Find Sessions of Interest
Before you arrive in Puerto Rico, use the online Program Search to identify sessions you want to attend. Search by CLUSTER to see what's available in broad topic areas. Search by KEY WORD for particular interests. Search by SESSION for a chronological look at sessions available each day. Or search by AUTHOR. You can also create your own itinerary.

Once you arrive in Puerto Rico, the best method for finding sessions of interest is to use the Master Track Schedule. It provides an overview of the general topic areas for all sessions during the week.

Program Information Booth
There will be Program Information booth located near the INFORMS registration desk. If you have any questions or comments about the program, we encourage you to stop by.