The 47th conference at Clemson University in Greenville SC, USA, is postponed

Dear Iarigai member,

We are all facing challenging times due to the Corona crisis, and it seems that iarigai is affected as well. Conferences like LOPEC have been altogether cancelled, and DRUPA has been postponed until 2021. In September 2020, the 47th conference on Advances in Print and Media Technology was scheduled to commence at Clemson University in Greenville SC, USA. Yesterday, the iarigai presidium had a meeting with the organisers of the conference and the conference director, Nona Woolbright. With so many uncertainties about how long the crisis will last and Nona reporting about travel and budget restrictions that will be in place until August, other members and potential participants likely face the same problems. This could also be seen in the unsatisfactory number of abstract submissions. Thus, after consulting with the complete iarigai board, the decision was made to cancel the annual conference.
Since we already made the decision to hold the 2021 annual conference in Greece as a joint on together with the IC (International Circle), we intend to have the 2022 conference at Clemson.
However, due to the German “Vereinsrecht”, the law of registered associations and clubs, it is necessary to hold a General Assembly (GA) every year. We said we want to stick to the scheduled date in September 2020, but due to the travel and budget uncertainties, we will have the GA, most probably, on a digital platform such as Skype or Zoom.
Personally, in these weeks of avoiding face to face social contacts, I realized many meetings could be virtualized, and traveling can be saved using such tools. Thus, the crisis also has a positive side in learning much more about these techniques. But what fun we will have when it is possible to meet again!

We wish you all the best and keep well and healthy.

Dr. Nona Woolbright
Conference Director
nwoolbr@clemson.edu