The members of programme committee are looking forward to meeting you in July. We are totally committed to providing you with an excellent programme that is worthy of the 50^th Anniversary of ICEVI.

The plans are well advanced for putting together five 'action packed' days providing a stimulating and rich programme representing the multi-cultural background of the members of ICEVI. More than 400 abstracts were received and reviewed by the members of the programme committee and almost over 300 have been accepted for lecture, workshop or poster presentations.

The authors of the abstracts, based on the three areas of focus Early Intervention, School Years and Transition draw upon their vast range of national and international experience and truly reflect the title of the conference New Visions: Moving Toward and Inclusive Community. These will be presented in a series of parallel sessions on the Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Different Poster sessions each day will run concurrently with the parallel sessions as well as during the lunch and coffee breaks. You will be literally 'spoilt for choice'!

Keynote speakers and respondents on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, representing the seven ICEVI regions, have been carefully chosen for their experience and reputation to provide an opening stimulating discourse - we know you will not be disappointed! There will be plenty of opportunity to carry on the discussions during meal times and in the evening amongst the excellent and congenial conference facilities.

On Wednesday morning, there will be a choice of 15 different in-depth Focus Workshops - again you will find your final decision a hard one to make. However, to help you make up your mind, each workshop will be described in some detail in the Book of Abstracts. This will be in your Conference Bag when you arrive. Each workshop will be led, in most cases by a group of international 'experts' and will be totally interactive giving you the chance to both contribute to the discussions and in most instances, take away a new range of skills and knowledge. We are very excited about these workshops and are positive that you will benefit both personally and professionally from the experience and will have the opportunity to network with colleagues having similar interests. As a reward for all your hard work during the morning, there is an afternoon excursion to Floriade, the world famous horticulture exhibition!

There will be two occasions when the ICEVI regions meet as a group - this is especially important as your voice really counts in any decisions that have to be made. The ICEVI General Assembly on Friday will be an important final meeting of all participants. Informal 'interest groups' can meet together on Tuesday evening - plenty of well-equipped rooms or perhaps a cosy corner are there for you to use.

From this brief description, you can see why we are excited! So if you haven't registered yet, get through to the conference office icevi2002@congres.net now!

Heather Mason
Chairperson, Programme Committee