The OES new policy of two OCEANS conferences each year is now in full swing. The first “offshore” conference was held successfully as OCEANS MTS/IEEE-Techno-Ocean 2004 in Kobe, Japan last November; and the second, Oceans 2005 Brest was held successfully in June, without sponsorship from MTS. It was ably chaired by Rene Garello with great support from Joelle and members of the France Chapter. There were approximately 600 registrants and 260 papers and enjoyable social events.
Also, in June 2005, the Eighth Current Measurement Technology Symposium in Southampton, England, organized by Sandy Williams, WHOI, was a success with 69 registrants and 31 papers.
OES is planning future North American and offshore conferences out to 2013. If MTS accepts the standing invitation to share sponsorship of any offshore conference, then all costs involved will be equally shared.

Fig.1 Raffles City Convention Centre and Swissotel-the-Stamford

Oceans 2006 Singapore: The next offshore Oceans conference <www.Oceans06asiapacific.org> to be held May 16-18, in the Raffles City Convention Centre and Swissotel,The Stamford, tallest hotel in Southeast Asia, (figure 1).The technology program will sample many of the technology advances in Southeast Asia-Pacific. OES Senior member John Potter of National University of Singapore is Co-Chairing with Arjuna Balasuriya, Nanyang Technological University and Chapter Chair. Members of the Singapore Chapter make up the conference committee. John is a seafaring scientist/engineer who expects to complete in August, a year-long sail to ports of the Indian Ocean. His crew includes his wife Carolyn and two sons,12 and 10. You can read about their travels in the OES newsletter or visit <www.jocara.net>. John offered to give an account of their trip at Oceans ’05 in Washington.

Oceans ’05 Washington: Four years ago, I had the opportunity to invite NOAA Administrator, VADM Conrad Lautenbacher to Chair Oceans ’05 <www.oceans2005.org>. Executive chairs include Barry Stamey, Steve Holt and Fred Klein, all from Mitretek Systems Inc, Falls Church, Virginia. Kudos to Mitretek for their great support. They have escalated the program to 16 prominent ocean leaders as Co-Chairs, who will speak at daily plenary sessions, focusing on their theme of “One Ocean”. And, almost 600 papers in 18 parallel sessions will be presented; promising to be an outstanding conference at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, September 19-23.
US/EU-Baltic International Symposium < www.us-baltic2006.org> will be held in the Baltic port city of Klaipeda, Lithuania May 23-25 in the the week following Oceans 2006 Singapore. Singapore attendees can return to the US by continuing their flight westward to Frankfurt and Vilnius, Lithuania. It’s approximately equidistance to returning home in the US, or shorter to Europe. This is your chance for a “Round the World” fare that offers great stopovers. The US/EU- Baltic Symposium’s theme focuses on Integrated Ocean Observation Systems (IOOS), that is an ocean component of Global Ocean Observation System (GOOS), and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). GOOS/IOOS leaders in the EU and US will be speakers in the Plenary Session. Key OES organizers include James Barbera, Sandy Williams , Victor Klemas, Al Kalvaitis and me.

Fig.2 RECON Committee meeting attendees: L to R, Bob Wernli, Chair, RECON Committee Tamaki Ura, OCEANS 2008 Japan Malcom Heron, OCEANS 2010 Sydney, Australia Christoph Waldmann, OCEANS 2009 Bremen, Germany Peter Gough, OCEANS 2010 Sydney, Australia Jesus Manuel de la Cruz, OCEANS 2011, Spain

AdCom Meeting Agendas
I was unable to attend the AdCom Meeting in Brest, but Robert Wernli, RECON Committee Chair ably substituted. There was a lot of activity reported, but not enough time to complete the agenda e.g. the RECON Committee was unable to report, and new proposal representatives who made the trip to present were unfortunately unable to do so. OES activities are growing in size, especially with the two OCEANS conference each year. Since our schedule is out to 2013 there are about 18 OCEANS Conferences and about 6 active symposia or workshops in the pipeline at any one time. Progress on these are reported and each needs assistance based on their stage of progression. Future conferences often have interesting developments to report... I recommend that at least two days be allocated to AdCom, perhaps at the beginning and end of the conference. The first should be allocated to the big ROI and high priority items, including publications, conferences and symposia. The second day allocated to the standing and AdHoc Committees and new business. To minimize the length of deliberations, E-mail reports should be prepared and sent to AdCom 7 days in advance, thus using agenda time to briefly critique. Any, over extended discussions, should be tabled with action items for post meeting responses.

Fig.3 Port City of Bremen, Germany

Membership & Chapters
International membership and chapters are very helpful in providing core groups to organize a conference or symposium. This was very true in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, Canada (Quebec City planned) and now Spain. Congratulations to the new Spanish Chapter and Chair Jesus Manuel de la Cruz, who proposed Oceans 2011 in Spain. Conference activity will strengthen the chapter. There is promise of a Chapter in Aberdeen for Oceans 2007. After a conference, these chapters need to remain active by interaction with OES activities. A new IEEE Section has been formed in Lithuania, providing an opportunity for an OES chapter. Jim Collins, Norm Miller and Ken Ferer have been promoting and tracking these developments.

Finance
Based on my experience, we may have to consider funding for conferences, symposia and workshops differently. Oceans conferences are now requiring larger start up loans, but have a good record of payback. The risks to achieve success are greater for symposia and workshops, mainly because venues for small meetings don’t benefit by economies of scale; exhibitors are usually not included to provide a major source of income; and local operating policies may differ. Big surpluses are not expected and breaking even could be difficult. In some “new startup’ cases, I would recommend awarding a grant, similar to those instantly awarded for “flag waving” events. For example, new startups in Eastern Europe, the Baltic Region, South America (Chile, Brazil, Argentina) can help open new OCEANS venues in these regions, but new beach heads may require extra investment to assure success.
Grants for any new projects should be considered on the basis of importance to the society, membership served and gained, and ROI.
The OES membership roll has been somewhat static, but much needed to support the many conferences and other projects in the pipeline. It’s important that we don’t over extend our limited human resources, and inadvertently reduce the quality of these activities, at the expense of quantity.

Publicity/Communications
Publicity/communications for conferences, symposia and workshops are ably provided by: Fred Maltz, Editor of the Newsletter; Todd Morrison as Webmaster; and Diane DiMassa, Editor of the Electronic Letter, are all invaluable in getting the word out. A hard copy of the Newsletter is a great handout when visiting and promoting OES business.

RECON Committee Reports
In May, at the OES ExCom meeting at OTC Houston, Glen Williams chaired the RECON Activities Report. At the OCEANS 2005 Brest conference, the OES RECON Committee meeting was chaired by Robert Wernli. Those attending the meeting included: Robert Wernli (Chair), Stan Chamberlain, Sandy Williams, Bob Bannon, Pam Hurst, Tamaki Ura, Christoph Waldmann, Peter Gough, Mal Heron, and Jesus Manuel de la Cruz. Figure 2 is a photo of Robert Wernli with the principal representatives of the countries offering future OCEANS proposals.

RECON Committee
As of this date, RECON members who had previously agreed to serve are listed below with the principal regions they will cover and also have flexibility to assist elsewhere, as needed. Note that MTS will have the opportunity to propose venues and assign members to participate in planned RECON site visits.

RECON Regions of Assignment

RECON Charter
Before discussing progress on conferences, it is desirable to briefly explain the roles of the RECON Committee and the Joint Oceans Advisory Board (JOAB). Members on each have considerable experience in organizing and managing conferences, symposia and workshops. First, the RECON Charter:

Fig.4 Sydney Convention Centre & Darling Harbour

RECON Committee Charter
This charter establishes the membership and functions of the Reconnaissance (Recon) committee in charge of discovering new prospective sites suitable for holding OCEANS Conferences & Symposia.
The RECON Committee members are appointed by OES and MTS Presidents. They must have had previous experience with conducting an OCEANS conference. A balanced MTS-OES representation is needed for the North American Conferences, with additional OES representatives for Non North American Conferences supported by OES. The societies should delegate sufficient authority to RECON members to conduct their tasks.
The main functions of RECON are:
Venue quest:

• Seek candidate venues: initially to seek a single (non-competitive) venue proposal for a given year, alternating between North American east (even years) and west (odd years) coasts. Offshore conferences will be Europe (odd years) and Asia (even Years) If there are other interested, capable venues, plan to slot them into different years to avoid or minimize competition for the same year.
  
• Help the representatives of the potential venue to generate a preliminary proposal (2-3 pages) that describes their objectives and information on the conference that answers the questions pertaining to “What, When, Where, How & Who”, in accord with MTS/OES Conference Guidelines.

Venue guidance:

• conduct venue site visits
  
• Assess transportation and accessibility to the site
  
• Assess adequacy of the facilities
  
• Identify potential sponsors and financial support
  
• Assess leadership offered: Honorary Chairs and Program Committee
  
• Advise on selection of Committee Liaisons
  
• Identify venue attractions
  
• Present information on MTS/OES Conference Guidelines
  
• Discuss the MTS/OES process in getting approvals and the advisory role of JOAB, to assist in conference management
  Proposal and Reporting Guidance
  
• Request a preliminary proposal using the guidelines as a reference
  
• http://www.oceanicengineering.org/docs/Proposal-Guide.pdf
  
• Prepare periodic reports prior to meetings of MTS, OES and JOAB.
  
• Request a PowerPoint presentation by the Conference Committee to MTS & OES, RECON & JOAB (preferably jointly) to obtain provisional approval to process with a final proposal and budget spread sheet, subsequently delivered to JOAB.

Final Proposal Approval

• JOAB to complete review of final documents and make their recommendations to MTS Board & OES AdCom & Recon.

Fig.5 Proposed Venues of Spain, Valencia and Santander

The Joint Oceans Advisory Board (JOAB) & (OAB)
The JOAB is comprised of MTS & OES experts on conference management to advise the Oceans MTS/IEEE conferences. OAB consists only of OES members and advises non North American, Offshore conferences.
The JOAB/OAB is activated as soon as RECON completes its review and assessment of the new venue; obtains the preliminary proposal and budget and then hands off the conference. The JOAB is prepared to advise the conference committee on matters brought up and sought by the Conference Committee Liaisons. After the handoff, the JOAB should give a power point presentation to the Conference Committee on how to proceed on the major functions of the conference. The charter of JOAB is presented elsewhere in this Newsletter.

Conference Policy & Procedures
The Newly drafted OES Constitution and By Laws documents by the OES “Group of Ten” Committee will now be followed by Policy & Procedures. RECON & JOAB Charters and some new procedures in the Conference Guidelines will be considered in the review.
Proposed OCEANS Conference Sites: Proposed sites, as of 16 June 05, are given in Table 1, as compiled by RECON Committee Chair, Robert Wernli. He noted that there was general concurrence among the attendees of the recommended sites, although there was no formal vote. It was recommended that, if possible, the North American dates should be scheduled into October or early November to provide a greater time gap from international conferences in May-June.
The following presentations for proposed OCEANS international/offshore sites were made at the meeting:

a. OCEANS ’08, Japan - Tamaki Ura recommended that the OCEANS conference return to Japan in ’08. Meetings are scheduled in Japan to discuss the Kobe vs. Tokyo venues and a recommendation will be made at the OCEANS ’05 AdCom in Washington. DC. Tamaki Ura did not propose any other Asia-Pacific sites for ’08 or ’12.
b. OCEANS ’09, Germany - Christoph Waldmann, University of Bremen gave an excellent presentation on the proposed OCEANS conference in Bremen, Germany in ’09. A handout with a detailed budget was provided. Excellent support from Bremen organizations is anticipated. Recommendations are to proceed with locking in the dates and facilities. RECON is working toward a hand off to JOAB. Bremen, illustrated in figure3, is an important port city in Germany.
c. OCEANS ’10, Australia - Mal Heron, James Cook University, Australia and Peter Gough, University of Cantebury, New Zealand presented their proposal to hold the OCEANS ’10 conference in Sydney, Australia, illustrated in figure 4. Brian Ferguson, Defense S&T Organization of Australia is organizing the members and Australian cities to support the Sydney venue in late May or early June. RECON is planning site visits to Sydney in 2006, perhaps following OCEANS 2006 Singapore in May.
d. OCEANS ’11, Spain - Jesus Manuel de la Cruz, Complutense University, Madrid is Chair of the new Spanish OES Chapter. Roque Saltaren served as Chair during Chapter formulation. We congratulate and welcome the members of the new chapter. Jesus Manuel de la Cruz presented a brief introductory proposal to hold the OCEANS ’11 conference in Spain and was assured of excellent support across the country. There are at least 3 good venues for the conference, including Valencia on the Mediterranean and Santander on the Atlantic as illustrated in figure 5. Valencia will be the site of the America’s Cup Races in 2007.His presentation will be included in the AdCom report. RECON will be assisting the conference committee via the guidelines and planning visits to the proposed sites in 2006-2007.
e. No additional future OCEANS sites were formally proposed at the meeting.

Symposia & Workshops
Homeland Security Technology Workshop is scheduled for December 6-8, 2005 at the Marriott Hotel, Newport, RI. This is the third in the series, organized and Chaired by Pam Hurst and Bob Bannon. Information on registration and the program is available on <www.oceanicengineering.org.> and click on conferences. Abstracts are due September 14.
The Fourth International Workshop on Scientific Use of Submarine Cables & Related Technologies, February 8-10, 2006 in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland. Bob Bannon is a principal organizer and chair. Information and Call For Papers is available on the OES web site <www.SSC06.com>
Underwater Technology Symposium, UT ’07: The Underwater Symposia in Japan were held in ’98-’00-’02 and in Taiwan in ’04. Tamaki Ura suggested that the Underwater Technology Symposium be moved to 2007 so that it will not conflict with the other even –numbered years, Asia-Pacific OCEANS conferences. Proposed dates for UT’07 are 18-20 April 2007, with plans to follow it with a workshop on April 23 in China to develop the possibility of the UT conference going there in ’09.

Chile-US Workshop on Ocean Engineering
The Chile-US Workshop on Ocean Engineering is back on track. Prof.Victor Gallardo, one of the principal organizers, has been very busy on major projects with CORE (Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education). He has a leading role in the Census of Marine Life global program sited at CORE, dealing with Marine Biodiversity. One of the needs is to build capacity for developing nations to enable them to have the technical capability and means for development and utilization of ocean resources and to comply with several issue-related conventions. The Ocean Engineering Workshop planned at Universidad de Concepcion can advance Chile's capacity and serve as a pilot project for other developing nations. The plan is to prepare a proposal to seek funding for the Workshop. A new target date is tentatively for the Winter 2006-2007 (Summer in Chile).

Proposed OCEANS Sites
Proposed OCEANS Conference Sites (’05-’13) are listed above. Those listed under RECON are currently under review and subject to MTS review and approval if they are in the North American sector.

Acknowledgements
Lastly, I would like to thank all of you who sent good wishes after my knee replacement surgery, And, thanks to Glen Williams and Robert Wernli who ably substituted for me at meetings in Houston and Brest, and provided substantial inputs to this report.
The OES membership is invited to propose new venues for OCEANS conferences, symposia and workshops and provide the supporting information for RECON follow up.

Semper Fi
Joseph R.Vadus
VP International