August 11, 2009 - In exchange for the Moon Society registering with ISDC 2010 as a Supporting Organization, Moon Society Members can download a special form that will let them register for the International Space Development Conference, next Memorial Day Weekend, Thursday May 27th to Monday May 31st, to be held at the Intercontinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

As of September 1st the rate will be considerably higher. The Moon Society and the National Space Society signed a mutual affiliation agreement in 2005 that, among other things, allows our members to pay the same rate as members of NSS.

See our ISDC 2010 Participation Page

This Affiliation relationship has proved to be very good for us, opening doors, allowing us access to more people, and allowing us to be more effective.

The ISDC is traditionally a "Big Tent" Conference as which members and leaders of many organizations feel comfortably at home. This maximizes networking and the magic that can come out of collaborations.

A conference hosted by the Moon Society alone would be much smaller, with far fewer speakers or attendees. The upshot is that ISDC is our conference too.

Chicago hosted the first "super" ISDC in 1989, and most of the crew involved with organizing that event is behind this effort as well. We can expect this to be another super ISDC.

The Moon Society will be very much involved in the programming at this conference and we will endeavor to host a room party for all of our members in attendance, open, of course to other attendees who want to learn more about us.

We are launching a number of projects which should give us something great to showcase at the conference.

Chicago is a super-airlines hub on a par with Atlanta. But in making flight arrangements, do consider that the ISDC hotel is handy to O'Hare International (ORD) and that money you save by flying in and our to Midway airport will probably be eaten up entirely by extra transportation costs to the ISDC hotel.

Hotel room rates are $115 per night (plus tax, of course), but the rate is the same for from 1-4 people per room. That means that you can save money by room-sharing. If  you let us know that you intend to go and would like to share a room with (1) other (1 to each of two queen size beds) or with 3 other (2 to each Queen size bed) we'll try to match you up, no guarantees.

If you have never been to such a conference, it is a heady experience. The presentations, of course, are super. But seasoned ISDC-goers know that the real magic is the networking that goes on outside the presentation rooms, where people of similar interests plan how to combine efforts.

Beware, however, once you've been to an ISDC, unless you are shy and don't talk to anybody, you are likely to get hooked!

We will be working to create special member incentives and events to further encourage member attendance.

So remember, you have 20 days from today to register at this rock bottom rate of $60. Even if you are not sure you can go, putting up $60 now is a good idea and you can cancel at any time prior to April 1st and receive a full refund except for a $5 bookkeeping fee.

Hope to see many of you there!

Peter Kokh, President, The Moon Society.