During the week of Oct. 16, the NWA held its 36th Annual Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. By all accounts, this conference was wildly successful. We had a record number of registrants (625), amazing session presentations in crowded lecture halls, a thought-provoking Town Hall meeting and a professional Panel Discussion that focused on the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak and generated hours of subsequent talks, content rich student and broadcaster conferences on Sunday, as well as the golf outing and public WeatherFest on Saturday. In short, it featured the very best of what we have come to expect from our annual meetings.

In the weeks leading up to our Birmingham conclave, Kevin Lavin, former NWA Executive Director, suggested that the Newsletter re-run the President's Message from July 1999 written brilliantly by the late, great Jim Moore. I agree completely, and especially in the wake of such a successful meeting, which relied heavily on Facebook, Twitter and other modern technology, Dr. Moore's message still seems particularly appropriate. It is excerpted below:

Advances in scientific communication have revolutionized the ways in which we can improve our understanding of atmospheric processes, for the purposes of teaching, research, or applying new ideas to day-to-day forecast problems. The availability of information on the Internet (e.g., the NWA Home Page and its many links), compact disks (e.g., Operational Support Facility's warning decision making CDs and COMET CDs), teletraining courses, online journals, etc., all make mastering new concepts or clarifying 'old' material easier today than ever before. It is difficult to remember how we exchanged information and data before e-mail, fax machines, ftp and next-day air express. No one would deny that all these avenues represent impressive gains in advancing science and scientific research. Yet, at the risk of sounding old fashioned, there is something missing in all this speed-of-light correspondence and data transmission – effective communication and collaboration between people.

A colleague chanced to give me a short essay written by John Locke, a professor at the University of Cambridge – England, titled 'No Talking in the Corridors of Science,' in American Scientist magazine (Jan.-Feb., 1999, vol. 87). Dr. Locke's concern is how all of these technological advances in scientific communication have affected our ability to collaborate and convene—two critical components of scientific training and research. He notes, 'We can say what we mean with words, but colleagues cannot know whether we mean what we say without access to our face and voice, and the output of these nonverbal systems is irreducible to alphabetic letters.' He further notes that speech is used not merely to express thought but to create bonds between people and companionship. 'Effective collaboration', he notes, 'requires trust, which is facilitated by the transmission of personally readable behaviors – eye movement, facial expressions, vocal nuances.' It is difficult, if not impossible, to do this electronically. Learning and researching involve more than reading bullets, or viewing colorful images, or listening to 'talking heads'. They involve people working with people."

Convening is essential for scientists. Most people would agree that the value of a scientific conference exceeds the formal papers presented and discussed. While these are important, it is the spontaneous lobby discussions, backroom conversations and dinner meetings that make conferences invaluable. Think of how many great ideas were generated during meals or refreshment breaks between conference sessions, and sketched out on a napkin! How can this stimulating environment be duplicated electronically?

Workshops and training courses involve much more than merely reading a text and answering questions. A large measure of true learning comes through the spontaneous exchange of ideas between participants. As a university professor, I find that I have never taught a course where I did not learn something from my students. Without face-to-face discussions this would not be true.

I am by no means suggesting that we retreat to the old days of strictly snail mail and telephone tag to communicate; I am not a Luddite! I am as hooked on new technology as the next person. However, I think that we need to recognize the value of face-to-face learning and collaboration as we work together to advance weather forecasting as an applied science. We need to concern ourselves with exactly what constitutes the optimum balance between the use of new communication technologies and human interaction in scientific affairs.

Even now, 12 years later, these words have never rung truer. Funding is tight, travel is expensive and there is never enough time to do all that we need to do, either at home or at work. Nevertheless, this year's meeting was yet another of renewed collaborations as well as new projects and new faces for me and many others. In particular, the record-breaking tornado season has not only reinvigorated our science, but also led to new efforts to bridge the gap between meteorology and social science. The Town Hall on Tuesday evening and ensuing panel discussion on Wednesday afternoon represented significant strides in understanding how severe weather warnings are perceived, and how the public responds to them. This would not have been possible without our face-to-face, in-person interactions. Plan now to attend the 37th NWA Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin next October!

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at president@nwas.org – Patrick Market, NWA President