_{The first meeting of the Local Organizing Committee of the XXV Annual Conference on Electron microscopy and Allied fields: EMSI-2002, was held on the 9th of May, 2001 in the seminar room of the RSIC, at IIT Bombay, at 3.30 pm. The following members attended the meeting: D.V. Khakhar, Ajit R.Kulkarni, Raman S. Srinivasa, Indradev Samajdar, C.S.Harendranath, R.P.R.C. Aiyar, S.L Kamath, V. Arumugam, Jayesh Bellare (convenor), Rajgopal Iyer, and A. Q. Contractor, (keeping minutes). The following points were discussed and decisions taken.}

_{1. Confirmation of Local Organizing Committee membership and portfolios.}

_{The list of LOC members and their portfolios was announced (http://www.che.iitb.ac.in/faculty/jb/emsi/LocCom.html) and was accepted members. An appeal was made for further addition of volunteers, e.g., students, RAs and lab. staff. Members agreed to email and confirm further additions to: emsi@cc.iitb.ac.in.}

_{2. Ad hoc members, industry representatives, manager, and professional event manager.}

_{It was decided to formally designate Rajgopal C. Iyer (RCI) as the Manager of EMSI-2002. The services of a professional event management company was not felt necessary. Inclusion of person(s) from industry on LOC was proposed by JB and unanimously agreed. It was decided to try and involve the EM industry representatives in each portfolio if possible. It was decided to have subsequent meetings with (a) industry representatives (b) Lab-in-charges and (c) microscopy researchers of Mumbai-area labs/organizations. LOC Members were requested to suggest names for each of these meetings.}

_{3. Update on work done so far.}

_{The members were briefed on the work done till 9th May 2001: letter to the Director for approval (since obtained), fixing of tentative conference dates, JEE-GATE clash checking, Local Organising Committee formation, allocation of portfolios, letter to the accounts section for introduction to the SBI, Powai and subsequent opening of a current account, acceptance letter to EMSI National Secretary (Prof. Johal), block booking of rooms at the GH, Staff hostel, student hostels, request to EMSI for seed money and addresses, working out of budget estimates. A web page has been set up at: http://www.che.iitb.ac.in/faculty/jb/emsi and a email account at emsi@cc.iitb.ac.in.}

_{4. Workshops.}

_{It was decided to take a decision later on the nature of the workshop/s, especially whether the workshops would be more "Hands On" of advanced techniques or merely introductory lectures, or a combination of lectures and demos by way of separate training workshops and advanced workshops. In order to tide over uncertainties, it was suggested that the advanced workshops could run parallel to the sessions rather than on a separate day, and the training workshops on another day. The details would be decided in due course depending on the response from sponsors and participants.}

_{5. Finalization of Conference dates and venue.}

_{The previously suggested dates of 26-28 Feb. 2002 and 1 March 2002 were reconsidered. It was decided to bring forward the EMSI-2002 by one week to the mid-sem week. Thus, the dates suggested are: 20, 21, 22 February 2002. The use of the LT (Lecture Theatre) and IA (institute auditorium) as venues for the sessions was discussed. The LT, IA, EESH and IDC seminar rooms/auditoriums were proposed for sessions and the SOM/LT foyers/lawns were to be used for the lunches/tea, poster sessions and for exhibits/stalls. It was strongly felt desirable to hold the conference within the IITB campus only. Parallel sessions details were to be worked out later and it was decided to block-book and the aforementioned venues for 20, 21, 22 February 2002.}

_{6. Discussion on draft of first flier.}

_{It was decided to send out one complete "Brochure" in the last week of May 2001 or June 2001, as against the past practice of a first flier in May and a second one later. The brochure would include all details: venue, dates, registration fees, topics for the conference etc. An attempt would be made to get the brochure sponsored. Subsequently, if significant additions/alterations were to be circulated, another smaller circular would be sent later, say in Nov.-Dec. 2001. It was also proposed to publish selected full-length papers presented during EMSI-2002 as a special issue of a reputed Indian/International journal.}

_{7. Discussion on Budget and sponsors.}

_{The budget for EMSI-2002 was discussed on the basis of previous conferences at Kanpur and Chandigarh. and also the conference convened at IITB by Prof. ARK and RSS. Detailed estimates need data that are awaited from sponsors and past EMSI organizers. However, it was definitely felt that more sponsors would be necessary and would have to be sought. They could come from industry, corporates, professional bodies and government agencies (like DST/MHRD/AICTE/CSIR/BRNS).}

_{8. Appeal for better communication.}

_{An appeal was made to all the LOC members to try and maintain good email/phone communication. Mr. V.Arumugam was requested to be in charge of Communications and the request was accepted.}

_{9. Any other matter with permission of the Chair.}

_{Some members suggested that unnecessary data be removed from the printouts of the LOC.}

_{There being no further matters, the meeting ended at 5:40 pm.}