With less than a month to go, ICA Chicago is almost upon us. Because we've introduced some programming changes this year, I'm taking this final opportunity to draw your attention to them and remind you of some of the conference highlights:

First off, we've changed the format of the ICA Business Meeting/Awards Ceremony and Presidential Address. This year, we're separating them from each other in an attempt to focus more closely on each for its own merits. The Business Meeting (Thursday, 4 - 5 pm) is open to all ICA members. Plan on attending - it is a great opportunity to make your issues/voices heard. The Awards Ceremony and Presidential Address (Saturday, 4.30 - 5.45 pm) will not only include the multiple association-wide awards but also recognition of those receiving special awards from the divisions and interest groups. It will also include Patrice Buzzanell's Presidential Address, "Resilience: Talking, Resisting, and Imagining New Normalcies Into Being." Be sure to come and help celebrate.

Second, this year we are going digital and going green! As we move further into this new media age, we are experimenting with new options for making the conference available to those who can't be on site. In addition to our conference theme book, edited by conference theme chair Stuart Allan, we are also exploring the option of podcasting and/or blogging some of the association's central sessions. We'll have more on that for you in Chicago. The decision to go green has also come with its own set of challenges. This year we're eliminating all extraneous handouts in the conference bag, circulating an environmentally sound and foldable conference bag, and offering conference attendees the option of receiving the conference program on a USB memory stick instead of hardcopy. Additionally, we have a new task force addressing how we can move the association toward greener pastures, and it will be conducting an open forum in Chicago in hopes of securing member feedback on how best to shape this initiative (Saturday, 9.00 am).

Third, I've already described many of the key programming highlights in previous newsletters, but for those who might have missed that, here they are in list form again:

• Opening Plenary -- "Keywords in Regulation, or How the FCC and Others See Regulation in the Digital Age" -- with FCC Acting Chair Michael Copps, Robin Mansell, Robert W. McChesney, Joseph Torres, and Georgette Wang (Thursday, 6.00 - 7.15 pm).
• Opening Reception - Marriott Hotel, Chicago Ballroom D (Thursday, 7.30-8.45 pm).
• Four Miniplenaries on Keywords in Communication - "The Message"; "The Public Sphere, Public Culture, and Reasoned Public Choice"; "On Communication"; and "The City" (Friday and Saturday, 12.00-1.15 pm).
• Two Miniplenaries on Professional Issues - "Funding for Research" and "Alternative Modes of Academic Work" (Friday and Saturday, 12.00-1.15 pm).
• Two Miniplenaries with newly elected ICA Fellows -- Brant R. Burleson, Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Jesse G. Delia, Jon F. Nussbaum, Patti Valkenburg, and Barbara J. Wilson (Friday and Saturday, 12.00-1.15 pm).
• 10 Theme Sessions and 15 Cross-Unit Sessions on Keywords in Communication, bringing together divisions and interest groups in wide-ranging conversations about keywords of value to the field, as well as multiple additional sessions addressing keywords within the various divisions and interest groups.
• Plenary Poster Session, displaying 132 individual poster displays by members across the divisions and interest groups. Three of these poster displays will be given awards for best poster and a fourth will be recognized for best visual display (Sunday, 12.00-1.15 pm).
• Two recently-scheduled Special Sessions from ICA's sister associations.  One is IAMCR's "Other/Further Keywords" -- featuring  Annabelle Sreberny  on  "Repression," Gholam Khiabany on "Nativism," Robin Mansell on "Interactivity," Colin Sparks on "Imperialism," and Daya Thussu on "Internationalization."  The other, cohosted by the ECREA, IAMCR, and ICA joint Working Group on Quality in Communication Research and Education, addresses "Debating Quality in Communication Research: Publications," and features Francois Heinderyckx , John Downing, Cees Hamelink, Denis McQuail, Kaarle Nordenstreng, Jan Servaes, and Linda Putnam.
• Neighborhood Tours, including an architectural river cruise, a tour on the Chicago El, a walking tour of Jane Addams Hull House and neighboring sites, an historic skyscraper walking tour, an evening on the town in Old Town/Lincoln Park, a walking tour of Oak Park and Frank Lloyd Wright sites, an evening on the town in Bucktown /Wicker Park, and a tour of Boystown.
• Closing Reception in the elegant Murphy Auditorium at the American College of Surgeons (Sunday, 7-9 pm).
• Closing Plenary -- "Communication and Shock Resistance: The Role of Narrative in Meeting the Current Crises" -- with noted author and journalist Naomi Klein (Monday, 10.30 - 11.45 am).

Finally, whither the weather? All that remains is for Chicago's weather to comply with our plans. Though conditions can be unpredictable, we can look backward in hedging our bets. Weather Underground tells us historically that over the course of the conference, we face a 4% chance of a Hot Day (temperature over 90°F / 32°C), an 85% chance of a Warm Day (temperature over 60°F / 16°C), a 0% chance of a Freezing Day (temperature below 32°F / 0°C), a 29% chance of a Precipitation Day, and a 22% chance of a Windy Day. (Thanks to Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt for pointing me toward this source of invaluable information.)

Safe travels!