Attachments to Houston Minutes Spring 2009: World Orchid Conference Trust Report The Proceedings of the 19th World Orchid Conference (WOC) held in Miami during January 2008, is in the final stage of publication. I will have a hand-bound copy in Houston that I would be happy to show to anyone who is interested. The others should be available within the next month and will be shipped out shortly thereafter. The organizers hope to be able to complete whatever tasks are still pending and close the corporation this summer. Details for the 20th WOC change with some regularity due to the world’s economic climate. Kiat Tan is the head of the Organizing Committee for the Conference in Singapore and he is working closely with the government, which is underwriting the main part of the Conference. Currently the 20th WOC is scheduled for November 2011, with the Show and Conference to be held in the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort. The Sands is currently under construction but should be complete and open by late 2010. It is adjacent to the new Gardens by the Bay which is also under construction. Hopefully some of the facilities of the Gardens will be available during the WOC. Work on the 21st WOC in Pretoria, South Africa, continues. There is a show scheduled for March 2010, which the Organizers intend to use as a rehearsal for the WOC. If anyone has any questions, please see me in Houston or e-mail me at
[email protected]. Respectfully submitted. PETER R. FURNISS Research Committee Reports American Orchid Society Grants The American Orchid Society awards grants for non-commercial conservation projects, as well as experimental projects of fundamental and applied research on orchids.