Hi everyone.

Below is our draft of the email we will send our three gracious potential hosts for the next CALMet Conference. We would like to get these in the mail Monday or Tuesday of next week, so please take a moment to review the letter and acknowledge that it captures what should be communicated to those offering proposals.

We have three offers to host CALMet VII. These include CMA (Beijing, China), RSHU (St. Petersburg, Russia), and MeteoFrance (Toulouse, France). This is a wonderful position to be in. Perhaps, since only one site can host, we might also be able to also choose the host for CALMet VIII, if one of these three is open to that long term commitment, and keep to only a two-year gap between conferences because planning can commence sooner.

Fan Hong, because your organization is one of the potential hosts, perhaps you can comment on whether the letter provides everything you think you need to formulate a proposal. We also don't want to suggest that the proposal must be a long document with fine detail, but only estimates and possible plans, based on preliminary research. (Perhaps we should say this in the letter?)

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January 20, 2006

Focal point developing proposal...

Address of institution…

Dear focal point:

On behalf of the CAL Working Group, and as Co-Chairs of the organizing committee for the 2007 CALMet VII Conference, we are very pleased that you and your institution have expressed an interest to host the next CALMet conference. The CAL Working Group is a sub-committee to the Standing Conference of Heads of Training Institutions (SCHOTI), which works in cooperation with the WMO in support of the mission to enhance professional development of the world’s weather services. The CAL Working Group supports the mission by organizing the CALMet Conference. This conference offers workshops and provides a forum for hydrometeorology training professionals and educators to share and learn about new developments and approaches to the education and training of hydrometeorologists, including the use of computers and other instructional technologies.

CALMet VII will be a five day event to be held in mid-summer, 2007. We estimate that there would be between 60 to 100 participants. There is no base funding provided by the WMO or its members. Typically, registration fees are the only source of funding, but in the past some corporate sponsorship has been obtained by local organizers.

As the hosting organization, you would need to provide a conference committee to handle registration, arrange for lodging and conference facilities, plan many of the conference events, and to work with the CAL Working Group to organize the program of presentation and workshops. A more complete outline of responsibilities of the local organizers is provided below, with more detail provided in the attached checklist. In preparing your proposal, please describe general plans and options in the following categories, providing cost estimates to help us estimate required registration fees. We realize that these estimates are just that, and do not reflect a final budget.

Accommodations

· Because many participants come from developing nations, lodging, in addition to hotel accommodations, ideally would include low-cost alternatives like university residence hall rooms. Please provide cost estimates of options in several ranges of cost.

· Accommodations should be very close to the conference facility, near convenient public transit, and/or accessible by hired transit. Those costs might also be addressed.

· Lodging costs will be fully and independently borne by conference attendees apart from their conference registration fees.

Conference Venue

· Conference facilities need to provide space for plenary sessions of 80 to 100 attendees, two individual meeting rooms for paper sessions of 20-40 participants, and at least two computer lab(s) for hands-on workshops of 20-40 participants working in pairs.

· Conference registration fees will cover the costs of renting conference facilities and equipment, if that is necessary. Any facilities or equipment use that you can contribute in support of the conference would be much appreciated in helping keep conference fees reasonable. Please include cost estimates for facilities and equipment, and what can be contributed by your organization.

Travel

· The conference location should be convenient to international travel connections, and able to be reached at a reasonable cost.

Activities

· Traditionally, the hosting organization has hosted a conference dinner the evening of the fourth day of the conference

· The hosting organization has also traditionally arranged at least one group excursion. The cost of excursions is traditionally included in registration fees.

Budget Responsibilities

· Local organizers must have a budget to pay deposits for facilities, etc., in advance of registration fees being collected.

· Traditionally, collected registration fees have not covered the entire conference costs. If this is again case, will your organization have means to make up this difference? In the past, this has been accomplished through organizational funding and through obtained corporate or other sponsorship.

We hope this outline assists you in investigating the details you need for creating a proposal. On behalf of the committee, we look forward to your proposal and to another successful conference.

Sincerely,

Patrick Parrish, Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET)

Vesa Nietosvaara, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)