This year's DNA Computing and Molecular Programming will introduce a new event on the last day of the conference: the Friday Impromptu Parallel Sessions! Here's how it works. We've reserved 4 rooms, and divided Friday afternoon (1:30-4:30pm) into four 45 minute periods. What happens is up to you. There will be a wiki sign-up board were you can volunteer to lead a session on any topic you want. It could be, for example, a demonstration or tutorial on some software or theory or experimental technique that you really like. Or it could be a "birds of a feather" discussion on a general topic of interest, which you will moderate. Or it could be a late-breaking presentation of your research. But the sessions will be run in parallel, and people will gravitate toward whatever they find most interesting after a long conference, so shake it up a bit! Some of you will recognize this as the general format used at unconferences such as SciFoo. It can be very interesting and full of surprises. Because sessions are run in parallel, they can be personal and interactive.

Three of the sessions are already scheduled as Friday panel discussions. The remaining 12 sessions will remain unscheduled until the conference begins, at which point the wiki will open for volunteering, and three sessions will be chosen and announced each day. We already have a number of people who have expressed interested in giving tutorials on DNA thermodynamics and kinetics, demonstrating software like NUPACK and Visual DSD, presenting novel experimental techniques such as running biochemical reactions in vesicles and emulsions, leading a discussion about molecular computation in industry and defense, and giving a tutorial on the physics of molecular motors and molecular robots.

If you will attend the conference, please create an account on the wiki (account setup link in the upper right corner of the wiki site).

Impromptu session locations will be announced on Friday.