To provide a better experience for all attendees at its General Assembly, the EGU is making changes to the schedule of its largest annual meeting. The EGU General Assembly 2019, taking place in Vienna (Austria) on 7–12 April 2019, will bring together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The new schedule offers more time for all presentation types by featuring posters, orals and PICOs throughout the day, and includes a dedicated networking slot.

As in the past, each day of the EGU General Assembly in 2019 will begin at 08:30 and end at 20:00, will be organised in time blocks (TBs), and have a number of breaks. However, most TBs will now be 15 minutes longer and will feature all presentations types in parallel, as follows:

• 08:30–10:15 TB1: Posters, orals, PICOs
• 10:15–10:45 Coffee break
• 10:45–12:30 TB2: Posters, orals, PICOs
• 12:30–14:00 Lunch break
• 14:00–15:45 TB3: Posters, orals, PICOs
• 15:45–16:15 Coffee break
• 16:15–18:00 TB4: Posters, orals, PICOs
• 18:00–19:00 TB5: Networking, meet EGU, exhibition, and extra poster viewing
• 19:00–20:00 TB6: Townhalls, some medal lectures, some short courses, special events

By scheduling poster, oral and PICO sessions throughout the day, we aim to avoid overcrowding in oral rooms and poster halls, making for a more comfortable conference experience. This new schedule will also allow us to fit 19% more oral presentations into the meeting, and will give PICOs 30% and posters about 7% more viewing time. Scheduling the three types of presentation equally is also in line with EGU’s statement that all scientific presentations have equal importance, independent of format.

Posters will remain hung during the entire day, with the official viewing and presenting time being the time when the corresponding session is scheduled. During breaks between TB1 & TB2 and TB3 & TB4, free tea and coffee will be available in the poster halls as well as in other selected coffee points around the conference centre. During TB5 beer and soft drinks will be available in the poster halls and exhibition areas. This dedicated networking slot will give attendees additional time to discuss and interact with colleagues, to view posters and to visit the exhibition. As in the past, townhall sessions will take place from 19:00 until 20:00, in TB6. Some medal lectures and some short courses will also be scheduled during this time slot.

“EGU strives for an open meeting, where everyone can present their research. For that reason, we do not wish to cap abstract submission to a certain overall number for the conference. But even when we are not actively soliciting growth of the meeting, we have reached a stage where we need to adopt new measures to ensure presentations fit in our oral rooms, poster halls and PICO spots. We also need to make sure all participants have a comfortable experience. With the new schedule we hope everyone finds ample time for presenting, networking and participating in events of their choice, while being able to easily move around the building,” says EGU Programme Committee Chair Susanne Buiter.

The new schedule follows the introduction of the one-abstract rule, another one of the measures taken to ensure all presentations find a place.

Guidelines for presenters, including specific guidelines for each presentation type (oral, poster and PICO), are available on the EGU General Assembly 2019 website. On this page, you can also find information on how to submit an abstract (the deadline is 10 January 2019, 13:00 CET) and register for the conference.

• EGU General Assembly 2019 website
• Call for abstracts to the EGU General Assembly 2019 now open!