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2024 Maize Genetics Meeting Registration:
How to register
To attend the meeting, you will need to register and pay the registration fee. The registration fee includes meals, everyone's share of the meeting and poster room rental costs along with all the audio-visual and poster equipment, access to recordings of the talks, and other conference fees. The hotel reservation cost only covers lodging. Rooms are $157 per night/$471 for three conference nights for a double room (upgraded room locations or amenities have higher prices). Please make roommate arrangements before you reserve your hotel room and make the reservation with both guest names.
The MGC has implemented a membership platform to help sustain our community. Please visit the member page to learn more and become a member today! If you register as a member, but have not paid your membership dues at the time of registration you will be billed for the difference in registration cost, which is higher than the cost of membership!
Additionally, if you're interested in contributing to a MaGNET program by volunteering as a mentor, please apply using this form.
There are four steps to complete the registration process for the 2024 meeting:
To submit a talk or poster abstract follow the instructions on this page. You must be registered for in-person attendance to submit an abstract. Deadline: January 3, 2024.
Step 1
Financial Aid:
Student Attendees:
The MGC strives to make meeting attendance accessible to students. To support student attendance at the meeting, there are two financial aid options:
1. Apply for hotel support through NSF and our sponsors. Each year the MGM steering committee works to raise money to support students at the conference. If fundraising efforts are successful as in previous years, then one-half of a double occupancy hotel room for each qualified student will be paid for upon check out. To qualify, students need to apply for hotel support, reserve a double occupancy room in the hotel block, register for the meeting, and pay the student registration fee by January 3, 2024. The hotel room will not be paid for if the student stays at a different hotel. Students who live in the Raleigh area and prefer to stay at their own homes are not required to reserve a hotel room.
2. Apply for additional financial aid through our NSF-funded award programs (MaGNET, PUI, DB, and BIP). These awards will cover student registration and hotel costs for eligible students. Students are encouraged to apply for multiple programs if they are eligible for them. If you apply for a MaGNET, PUI, DB award then please do not register for the meeting until after you receive notification about whether your application was accepted or not. All awardees will receive a discount code that will waive the registration fee when they do register.
Broadening participation financial aid:
A limited number of awards are available to support costs for the purpose of broadening conference participation. For in-person travel support, students and researchers from underrepresented groups (MaGNET awards), from Primarily Undergraduate Institutions, from diverse plant research-related disciplines, and first-time attendees are encouraged to apply. Note that these awards are restricted to scientists at U.S.-based institutions. For virtual meeting support, the Broadening International Participation award will be available again this year. Complete information about these programs and how to apply online are located on the Financial Aid page!
If you apply for a financial aid award then please do not register for the meeting until after you receive notification about whether your application was accepted or not. All awardees will receive a discount code that will waive the registration fee when they do register.
Step 2
Hotel Reservation:
Sheraton and Residence Inn hotels (SOLD OUT, see below)
There are two hotels, the Sheraton and Residence Inn, located next to the convention center that we have contracted with to provide discounted rates to our Maize Meeting attendees. Attendees are welcome to make a reservation at either hotel, but there is a restriction at the Residence Inn that prevents their payment system from accepting split-payments on hotel bills. For this reason, if you intend to split the cost of your room with a roommate then please book at the Sheraton. Cost sharing at the Residence Inn can only be done if one person pays for the entire room while their roommate(s) reimburse them through other means (e.g. Paypal, CashApp, Venmo, Cash, etc.).
Please read the following instructions before you reserve your hotel room:
OPTIONAL: Before proceeding to the reservation link, you should make roommate arrangements if you plan to share a room. The meeting site does not have a fixed process to handle room sharing, the participant should find a roommate, and discuss the payment with each other.
Next, determine which hotel you should make a reservation at. Attendees who intend to split their hotel bill with a roommate and students requesting hotel support should make their reservation at the Sheraton. We have created a flow-chart below to help you determine which hotel you should make your reservation at.
The front desk can only check you in if they received a whole room deposit. If you have a roommate and you arrive at the hotel at the same time, each person will pay one-half the room deposit and check-in at the front desk of hotel. If a participant arrives at the hotel first, and wants to check-in first, the guest will have to pay the whole room deposit (the balance will be returned at check out), and each guest will pay for half of the room charge when they check-out.
Attendees who wish to cancel a reservation must do so before their first night stay by 72 hours if reserving at the Sheraton and 48 hours if reserving at the Residence Inn, otherwise they will be charged a room rate of one night plus tax.
Please be aware that because of the size of the hotel rooms, if you select either a triple or quad occupancy for the hotel room, it is likely that roommates will need to share a bed.
If you intend to book a room with the Residence Inn on any nights outside of the conference dates, you will need to call in to make your reservation. If you call in, be sure to specify that you are part of the Maize Meeting block so that you get the discounted rates. All the participants need to make hotel reservations using one of the following links:
We are partnering with Conference Direct again to create a registration platform using Squarespace. Follow the registration link below to be taken to this platform. This platform operates similar to a commercial web store, where each registration tier (e.g., Student, Postdoc, Professional, etc.) exists as a product that can be added to your virtual shopping cart. To add a registration, follow these steps:
Click on the registration tier for the person you want to register
Click "Add To Cart".
A form will pop up for you to fill in the details of who this registration is for.
You may add as many registrations as you want to your shopping cart. Additionally, the abstract book, t-shirts, stickers, and spousal dinners exist as additional optional products that you may add to your shopping cart. Once all of your items have been added to your cart, click the cart icon at the top-right corner of the screen to proceed to the checkout page where you will enter your payment information. If you have any questions about this platform please reach out to Garrett Simmons at [email protected].
Abstract book and merch
Also new this year, the printed abstract book will be available for a $20.00 separate purchase instead of being included with your registration fee. T-shirts and stickers will also be available for pre-order. These items will not be purchasable at the meeting, and the deadline to pre-order them is February 2nd, 2024. Please note that these items can only be picked up at the meeting, and will not be shipped.
Deadlines:
Full registration is due by January 3, 2024.
The abstract book, t-shirts, and stickers must be ordered by February 2nd, 2024.
Members of the Maize Genetics Cooperation will receive a discount to their registration rate per the table below, and should have received a discount code in an email. Visit the member page to learn more and become a member today! New members will receive the discount code in their confirmation email.
Registration fees are as follows:
MGC Member Rates
Non-Member Rates
By January 3, 2024
After January 3, 2024
By January 3, 2024
After January 3, 2024
Professional
$865
$975
$1,100
$1,265
Postdoc
$550
$700
$635
$920
Emeritus/Retired attendees
$520
$630
$630
$715
Graduate Student*
$175
$250
$230
$265
Undergraduate Student*
$115
$140
$140
$155
One day registration (either Friday or Saturday)
$500
$550
$600
$650
Virtual-only registration
There will not be an interactive virtual platform of the meeting this year, but for a fee of $25 non-registrants will be given immediate access to view the recorded talks of the meeting. After six months, the recordings will be made publicly available from speakers opting into the MaizeGDB talk archive.
Cancellations/Substitutions/Refunds:
Please submit any substitutions or cancellations/request for refunds in writing to [email protected]. Requests received by Dec 18, 2023 U.S. CST will receive a full refund. After Dec 18, 2023, a $50 processing fee will be withheld, and there will be no refunds after Feb 9, 2024.
For registration questions, email [email protected].
Information for all participants:
The Registration Fee includes conference meals from Thursday, February 29th dinner through Sunday, March 3rd breakfast as well as refreshment breaks, access to the recorded talks, and conference services to cover the cost of running the meeting. All out of town attendees are expected to stay in the room block at the Sheraton or Residence Inn to keep conference costs down. All registrants will pay the hotel directly for the sleeping room unless they have been approved for financial aid.
Recordings of the talks, awards ceremony, and community session will be made available on-demand shortly after the meeting concludes to registrants. Non-registrants will be allowed access to the recordings for a $25 fee.
International attendees:
Those international attendees who require letters of invitation to facilitate visa processing may contact the meeting Chair, Rubén Rellán-Álvarez.
To travel to this conference, you may need to obtain a non-immigrant visitor's (or other) visa, usually from a US embassy in your home country. Please determine specific requirements for your country. Relevant information may be found at US government web sites:
The Maize Genetics Cooperation complies with NDAA section 889, and was re-certified on 12/13/2022.
Step 4
Abstract Submission:
All abstracts must be submitted electronically by January 3, 2024. Use the link below to begin the process of submitting your abstract. Abstracts are limited to 300 words. Time constraints on the meeting may mean that some authors who request oral presentations will be asked to present their data in poster format instead.
Abstracts should be submitted under one of the research topic categories listed on this abstract submission page and meeting website, based on which the submitter believes is most appropriate. Session topics will be determined (by the MGMSC) based on the abstracts selected for talks, but will likely be similar to the listed categories. Presentations will only be considered for in-person attendees.
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