Dear MAPS Supporter;
For 2013 the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society will once again gather its members, vendors and
supporters in a professional development conference. This year we meet at the Frederick County Public
Schools Earth and Space Science Laboratory, a vibrant educational resource in Frederick MD from July
17-20 under the theme, “Spaceship Earth; Educating Its Crew”.
Vendors from a variety of industries are encouraged and welcome to participate in the conference.
Register by June 1, 2013. Some such industries or products are: Projection systems, Astronomical
instruments, exhibit design, ticketing systems, multi-media control systems, content producers,
equipment service providers, educational resources, lighting systems, and more.
The MAPS Board and membership are grateful that vendors make our meetings possible and enrich
these experiences through their generous sponsor support. This year, we hope to enhance the win-win
experience that these meetings bring to everyone with more opportunities for supporters to engage
with attendees. These are some of the features you may appreciate about MAPS 2013:
- Dome time – Our 35′ dome is located in a science resource center with epi-centric 90 seats under a horizontal dome with opto-mechanical and full dome projection in the center of the theater.
- Plenary sessions – Vendor and delegate talks will be held in the Lincoln school cafeteria just down the hall from the vendor exhibit area.
- Breaks with the vendors and a vendor hall refreshment table will allow delegates plenty of vendor interaction.
- Spacious vendor hall – Vendor exhibits will be in the gymnasium with ample space for tables, and portable domes.
- Educational vendor workshops – We can now host workshops where a vendor demonstrates and educates existing and prospective ‘customers’ about the use of their equipment, software or content materials. This must be a tutorial form of service to delegates, not a sales pitch, and will incur added sponsor fees. Please submit a standard workshop form to propose.
- New benefits to upper level sponsors, Third Magnitude and higher, include an advance list of conference delegates; up to 2 tables; and Second Magnitude and higher also merit prime time scheduling of dome demo time, and preferential location of exhibit booths; and all sponsors get free advertising and exposure in the MAPS Constellation and web site.
Thank you for considering a leadership role in the 2013 MAPS Conference. We appreciate your
contributions to the profession and the planetarium field and value your participation. If you have
any questions please do not hesitate to contact the key contacts listed above.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Grills and Mark Bowman, Your ESSL Hosts
Downloadable Documents:
Sponsors and vendors are very welcome to join MAPS and the activities of the annual meeting. Hard copies of information and registration forms have been sent to past supporters, but if you did not receive them or need additional copies, download these files. All are in Acrobat pdf format and quite large.
Vendor registration is limited to snail mail submission and checks for fee payments.