Old Business:

We debriefed the Comic-Con panel discussion.   We
agreed that we could improve the presentation for next
year by starting preparations earlier and by getting a
room with its own AV equipment.  We also divvied up
the cost of the flyers and lunch for the panel
associated with the Comic-Con project.
[Editor's Note: One of us should really have brought a
 still camera!]

New Members:

John Stone and Mitch Utterback came to the meeting. 
Both were enthusiastic about the group. They each
possess skills that will be useful as we plan future
projects.

New Business:

There were several ideas for new projects.

1.  We've been invited back to Comic-Con to do a panel
discussion next year.  Gerry wants to work at putting
on two panels and has already started preparations. 
Perhaps we could try to get a teleconference with the
team at FMars through the Web in one room.

2.  Mitch proposed that we set a long term goal of
getting one of our members at the FMars station. 
Mitch also had an idea that we plan a geology field
trip out to the desert, perhaps in association with
SDSU.

3.  Groff and Jon are going to the Mars Society
Conference in Stanford later this month.  They've
promised to give a report to the rest of us at the
next meeting.  Since Shannon will be there and will be
back in San Diego by the next meeting, perhaps she'll
have something to say, too.

4.  Gerry is working on getting us into the Fleet
Space Theater for some of our meetings.

5.  Gerry is also working on getting a tour of Malin
for the chapter.

6.  We discussed trying to get a tour of the
exobiology lab at UCSD later when school starts again.
Dave is going to contact Dr. Baity about that.

7.  There was a discussion about working with either
the Aerospace Museum or Fleet or the schools to have
one of our members give presentations to students
about Mars.

8.  There was also discussion about trying to get on
the local NPR talk show for a Mars discussion, and
contacting the cable access channel, either to produce
a show or air the video of the Comic-Con panel
discussion.  What about UCSD channel since Dr. Baity
was on the panel?  That should be enough of a UCSD
connection to justify a pitch to the channel.

9.  In conclusion, we agreed that we want to build on
the credibility we established with our success at
Comic-Con and keep the momentum going with new
projects.

Next meeting:

The next meeting is on September 6th and is at Gerry's
studio.  Email him through MarsSocietySanDiego@yahoogroups.comfor directions.

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