This spring three of our members attended conferences across the country representing the AAVSO. In April, Mike Linnolt attended Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. Hosted by Make Magazine, Maker Faire is a highly publicized DIY/Citizen Science event. This year's conference drew a large number of attendees, some 20,000 according to the organizers, from all over the west coast. Mike manned a table and distributed AAVSO literature and membership forms and answered questions on variable star observing. He also brought a projector to demonstrate to attendees the real-time AAVSO Light Curve Generator and Quick Look data from the website. Mike reports that a wide range of people were in attendance, from beginners, amateurs with CCD's, to representatives of TASS, Stanford SID research, and a theoretical physicist studying accretion disks in CV's.

On that same weekend, member Charles Munoz represented the AAVSO at the Rainwater Observatory's Mid-South Star Gaze in French Camp, Mississippi. Charles handed out several AAVSO promotional items, including our new full-color brochure. He also had a PowerPoint presentation about the AAVSO available for viewing.

Also, in late April, another long-time member, Jim Fox, attended the North Central Region Astronomical League (NCRAL) meeting in Appleton, Wisconsin. Jim reports that over 200 people attended the event. He handed out AAVSO brochures and other materials to the attendees.

We are grateful to Mike, Charles, and Jim for helping to spread the word! We know that our members and observers are constantly attending conferences and star parties all over the world. If you are interested in representing the AAVSO and would like to discuss receiving some promotional and/or presentation materials, please contact Headquarters.

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