Dear Colleague, the Massive Star Formation Conference in Heidelberg is approaching quickly, and we like to provide you with an update. All necessary information can be found on our web-page (http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/MSF07/). In addition to the program, poster list and list of participants, you find there further sections about the proceedings, the social events, local transportation and small maps outlining parts of old town Heidelberg. Oral presentation: ------------------ For the oral presentations, we provide a PC with PowerPoint and a Mac with PowerPoint and Keynote. Since it is easy to switch between these two but less easy to plug in all the times new laptops, we would appreciate if you bring your talk on a USB-stick, CD or DVD that we can copy them on the local machines. The earlier the talks are on the local computers the better, but please bring them latest in the last break before the your session starts. As previously mention, the review talks have 35 minutes + 5 minutes discussion and all other talks 16 minutes plus 4 minutes discussion. Poster presentations: --------------------- The posters are expected in portrait orientation with sizes corresponding to the European A0 or the American Arch standard. In numbers, this implies a maximum width of 92 cm and a maximum height of 122 cm. Abstract book: -------------- On the program and poster page you find a link to a pdf-file of the abstract book. A printed version is part of the registration documents handed out at the reception desks. Internet access: ---------------- We will provide a separate room with PCs for internet access as well as a printer. Furthermore, additional plugins for you laptops will be available there. In addition to that, the coffee area of the Convention Center will be wireless and you can easily connect via a normal DHCP connection. The WLAN net will have the name "Kongresshaus". Proceedings: ------------ A contract with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific has been arranged to publish the proceedings of our conference. We will have ample space for including the high number of talks in our proceedings. Since we have two basic types of talks ("normal" talks of 20 minutes and review talks of 40 minutes length), we intend to scale the written contributions as follows: Review talks : 10 - 12 pages Normal talks : 6 - 8 pages Although we refrained from the more and more popular policy to request the written contributions already before the conference, we want to publish the proceedings fast. Please plan to write and submit your contribution within two months after the end of the conference. The deadline is November 23rd 2007. This will help us a lot in order to obey the tight schedule given to us by the ASP publishers. The contributions have to be written in LaTeX, the figures should preferentially be done as encapsulated postscript files (eps). We provide here a zip file containing a template LaTeX file to be used by the authors, the ASP style file, and some documentation (see web-page). In general, figures should be done in black-and-white. Color figures are possible but these will be at additional costs for the authors requesting the color figures. Due to the high number posters, it will unfortunately not be possible to include poster contributions in the printed version of the proceedings. We are still discussing whether a CDROM will be included with the pdf files in the proceedings book. In any case, such files can be made available on our conference web-site. The posters are a substantial contribution to our conference. To highlight this further, there will be a Poster Summary Talk at the end of the conference, and the creator of the best poster (to be chosen by a small committee) will be given the opportunity to give a short oral presentation of the poster content after the Poster Summary Talk. Opening of reception desk: -------------------------- The reception desk at the Heidelberg convention center will open Monday September 10th at 10:00AM. Panel discussion: ----------------- We will have two panel discussions during the meeting: - Tuesday Sept. 11th 18:00-19:00PM: What is a massive protostar? Theoretical definitions, observational criteria and evolutionary sequence. Moderator: Neal Evens Particpants (on stage): F. v.d.Tak, S. Lizano, D. Shepherd, Th. Henning, S. Bontemps - Thursday Sept. 13th 18:20-19:20: Theoretical models and observational constraints Moderator: Hans Zinnecker Participants (on stage): I. Bonnell, C. McKee, M. Walmsley, H. Yorke, F. Palla In addition to the listed participants, the audience is obviously welcome to participate in these lively panel discussions as well. Furthermore, we plan to tape and film the panel discussions to allow the moderators writing a chapter for the proceedings from it. Social events: -------------- Reception: Monday September 10th, 19:30 on the Castle-Altan (the Castle terrace overlooking Heidelberg) Conference dinner: Wednesday September 12th at the MPIA on the Koenigstuhl. Shuttle buses will leave from the convention center after the last talk at 18:45. Neckar-boat-cruise: Friday September 14th, in the afternoon. You have to purchase the tickets from our reception desk. Public talk: Friday September 14th, 19:30, held by Harold Yorke in the University's "Old Assembly Hall", the title is: Sterne der Supergewichtsklasse: Geburt, Leben und Tod Conference address and phone: ----------------------------- Heidelberg Convention Center (Kongresshaus Stadthalle Heidelberg) Neckarstaden 24 D-69117 Heidelberg Germany Phone: +49 (0)6221 14 22 812 If you need any more information, please contact me anytime. Looking forward to see you very soon in Heidelberg, we remain with best regards On behalf of the SOC Henrik Beuther