ISA Annual Convention 2010 Blog

Powerpoint & Adobe Presentations

ISA is making a big change for our 2010 convention, it's one that many of you have requested. Our members have told us that they are unhappy with having to make transparencies for use on overhead projectors and would much rather present their research using PowerPoint and other digital media formats. Starting in 2010 ISA will provide an LCD projector, screen and a netbook with a USB port in each panel room. We will no longer provide overhead projectors.

ONLY the the following presentation formats are supported at the ISA convention.  Please follow these instructions to use ISA’s audio visual equipment.  Each panel room will have an LCD projector, screen and ACER personal computing netbook with a USB port.  PowerPoint 2007 and Adobe Reader are the only software components installed and available to presenters. Please follow these guidelines:

1. Save your presentation on a USB Flash drive.  Bring the flash drive to the convention.  DO NOT BRING YOUR LAPTOP TO THE PANEL ROOM – you will use computers and LCD projectors installed by ISA’s audio visual supplier.  Do not disconnect ISA’s laptop computers – this will cause the LCD projector to reset and you will have to call for technical support help!
2. To start your presentation, locate the USB port on the personal computing netbook.  The netbook will be located on a standing podium near the LCD projector, or on a cocktail table near the Head Table.  Insert the flash drive into the USB port.
3. Double-click on the FLASHDRIVE shortcut on the netbook desktop.
4. Find your file and double-click on it to open.
5. Keep the flashdrive plugged in during your presentation.
6. When presentation is completed, close all windows and remove your flashdrive.
7. DO NOT UNPLUG OR TURN OFF LAPTOP OR LCD PROJECTOR!

Human Rights Section Travel Grant Program

ISA-Human Rights Section announces a travel grant for a scholar from the developing world to support travel to present at the ISA Annual Convention in New Orleans, funded by Oxford University Press Journals on behalf of the Journal of Human Rights Practice and the International Journal of Transitional Justice. Applications are welcome from ISA members presenting a paper on a panel sponsored or co-sponsored by the Human Rights Section. Please send a short request indicating your accepted paper title to section chair Chandra Lekha Sriram at c.sriram@uel.ac.uk by 15 December 2009. More information is available here.

Hotels: Hilton Now Full

The Hilton New Orleans Riverside ISA room block is now full.  You may check back occasionally to see if cancellations have occurred and rooms at the ISA group rate have become available. Loews New Orleans is our co-Headquarters hotel. We also have several overflow hotels with ISA group rates. All are available at our convention hotels web page. If you can’t find rooms at the group rate at your preferred hotel, please check our other overflow hotels. All have some availability for Monday night February 15 arrivals until full.  ISA group rates range from $143 to $179. Due to Mardi Gras activities, please expect to find significantly higher hotel rates at all hotels within the city if you don’t use ISA’s group rates. 

Hilton Almost Full

We have been notified by the Hilton that we are nearing capacity for our convention room block, there are only a few smoking rooms remaining. If you are unable to secure the room you wanted at the Hilton please see the Loews Hotel information posted on hotels website for additional options. Once we fill the Loews we will add additional over-flow hotels. Thank you.

Loews Hotels Now Accepting Reservations

Loews Hotels-New Orleans
300 Poydras St
New Orleans, LA 70130
Map It!

We have just posted the room rates and reservation link for the Loews Hotels-New Orleans. Loews will offer single rooms at $153 and double-rooms at $188 for our convention participants. They are accepting room reservations by phone and online. Please see our Convention Hotels website for more information.

Registration Reminder

We are currently sending out registration reminders to convention participants. We ask all those who are on the program to register by October 15th in order to remain on the program. Should they fail to do so, they will be removed from the program and the Program Chair will begin to add others who have submitted worthy proposals and are on the waiting list. Therefore, we urge you to register as soon as possible but no later than October 15th if you wish to remain on the program. Please visit our registration website for more information. Thank you.

New Orleans Welcomes ISA

The New Orleans Conventions & Visitors Bureau has prepared a customized website just for our participants. They are eager to highlight New Orleans attractions including:

• Top 10 Things you MUST do in New Orleans
• The Best Dining and Live Music
• Tips for the Green Traveler

Visit New Orleans Welcomes the International Studies Association for more information on this amazing city.

MyISA Access Restored

Some of you may have experienced difficulty accessing our MyISA system today. The University of Arizona suffered a campus wide network outage as noted on their system alert site:

At approximately 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23rd, a normally non-disruptive UPS maintenance procedure unexpectedly resulted in a campus wide network outage. Power was restored at 12:10 p.m.

Network services are currently being restored and we expect to be fully online no later than 4:00 p.m. today. As a result of this network outage, UA WebMail is experiencing residual problems, including trouble logging in.

Access to MyISA now appears to be fully restored. We are monitoring the situation and will keep you updated.

Visa Information

Before traveling to the U.S., a citizen of a foreign country must generally obtain a nonimmigrant visa for temporary stay or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. The type of visa you will need is based on the purpose of your travel: visit, study, work, immigrate. Please visit the U.S. Department of State Visa website for more information on how to apply for a visa for business travel to attend the ISA Annual Convention.

Travel Tips

• Airline tickets should be issued with the full name on your passport
• Apply for passports and any required visas well in advance
• Passport information may be found here (U.S. State Department website)
• Visit the Travel Security Administration website for latest security requirements for travel into the U.S.: www.tsa.gov
• The New Orleans Conventions & Visitors Bureau has prepared a customized site just for our international participants featuring information on passports, tax-free shopping, and customs.

Program Posted

The preliminary program for the 2010 Annual Convention has now been posted to our website and to our MyISA system. ISA's 51st Annual Convention will take place from February 17-20 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel and the Loews New Orleans Hotel.

We have posted the program in a PDF format (above) on this, our public (no login required) website. You may view and browse the entire program online and use the binocular search icon (or Ctrl F on your keyboard) to search the program. You may also download the entire program to your computer and browse at your leisure.

In the MyISA system, you may search the program by keyword search of people (first name, last name, affiliation), sponsor (sections), title/abstract, day, and event title. You may also customize your panels and any panels you are interested in attending into your personalized My Program. You can then print your personalized program before the convention so that you know what you want to see each day.