Information to help as you head to St. Louis

The 2012 CAR Conference begins in just a few days.  Below are a few bits of information to help you prepare for this great conference!

For the latest up-to-date information about panels, speakers, and special events at the conference, please visit our conference pages.
 

Hotel Information
The conference is taking place at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott, One St. Louis Union Station, St. Louis, MO 63103.

Registration
Registration opens Wednesday at 3pm and will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Atrium, located on the 2^ndfloor of the hotel’s conference center. 

Weather
It looks like the weather is going to be nice for late February in St. Louis.  See the 10-day forecast thanks to weatherchannel.com. 

Wireless Internet during the conference
Be sure to stop by the registration desk to receive the access code for the wireless Internet being offered throughout the meeting space during the CAR conference.  In addition, attendees staying at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott in the group block will receive free Internet in their guest rooms. 

Travel Information
Discounted parking, Amtrak and other travel information can be found at CAR2012 Lodging and Travel

Recent additions

CAR Conference Focus Group
8:30 a.m., Friday, February 24 in Frisco/Burlington

Please join IRE board members and staff over a cup of coffee to discuss what attracted you to the conference and what you’d like to see in future years.

Trivia Night
7:30 – 10 p.m., Friday, February 24 at Hard Rock Café private dining room

What’s the one activity that says St. Louis? If you said trivia, you’re correct. So we couldn’t have NICAR here without a CAR-related trivia night. Grab three or four of your closest NICARians to form a team and join us at the Hard Rock Café at 
7:23 p.m.  Trivia begins at 7:30 and runs until 10.  You might even be in one of the questions. Seating is limited to 30 people so please sign up early at the sales desk. The $20 fee will get you trivia, food from an appetizer bar, and all of the soda and coffee you can drink. (Alcoholic drinks will be on your own dime, unfortunately, but we'll be right next to the bar.) For questions, please contact Jaimi@ire.org.

Missouri Botanical Gardens
There’s more than flowers and sunshine at the Missouri Botanical Gardens – there’s GIS and other technology that aids the gardens in research, maintenance, education and more. Come see how this technology is being put to use with a special (free) tour just for NICAR attendees Saturday, February 25 at 10 a.m. Space is limited so you’ll need to sign up in advance. As this is an off- site event, you’ll need to arrange for transportation (leave the hotel no later than 9:30 a.m.). To sign-up or for questions, contact Jennifer LaFleur at jennifer.lafleur@propublica.org.

Mentorship program
We’re launching a new mentorship program for the CAR Conference.  It’s informal and simple: We’ve got a sign-up sheet. You put your name by a mentor, write down their contact info and set up a meeting. Come to the sales table from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Friday and ask for the sign-up sheet.  We have a limited number of mentors and the program is on a space-available basis.

Conference addendums 
Be sure to check your email each day, where you will receive the conference addendum with any last minute changes.  Paper copies will still be available at the registration desk each morning.

Conference evaluations
New for the CAR conference – we will be sending out daily evaluations to gather your feedback on the sessions you attended that day.  Please take a moment to complete these evaluations, as they are important as we plan next year’s conference.  We will also send a full evaluation after the conference.  Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the evaluation.

Twitter/Student blog
Be sure to use #nicar12 during the conference.  Stop by the registration desk to see the tweets live on the announcement monitor along with live blogs from the conference.  The blog will be embedded on the main conference page, where you can also find the most up to date information on the conference. For an entire list of conference blog posts visit https://www.ire.org/blog/2012-car-conference-blog/.

We thank you for your continued support and are looking forward to seeing you in St. Louis!