Location

The TAC 2008 workshop will be held in the Administration Building (Building 101), at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) main campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Signs will direct you to the registration area once you are in the Administration Building. On November 17 and 18, the TAC workshop will be held in the NIST Red Auditorium; on November 19, the TAC workshop will be held in the Green Auditorium with the TREC 2008 Conference.

Registration

The TAC 2008 workshop registration fee is $300 and includes: workshop notebook/CD, coffee breaks, three lunches, a barbecue dinner, transportation to and from the workshop hotel and NIST each day, and transportation to and from the barbecue. We will be offering the choice of a hard-copy and/or CD version of the TAC 2008 notebook at the workshop.

All TAC workshop attendees must register by Monday, November 10, 2008.

Due to increased security, no on-site registrations will be accepted, and all attendees must be pre-registered. A government-issued photo identification must be presented before entering the NIST campus; for non-U.S. citizens, this identification must be a passport. Attendees must wear their conference badge at all times while on the NIST campus.

All non U.S. citizens are required to fill out Form NIST 1260. Please complete the top half of this form only. Failure to provide this information prior to arrival at NIST will result in significant delays (up to 24 hours) in entering the NIST facility. By Monday, November 10, complete Form NIST 1260 and send it electronically to:

marylou.norris@nist.gov (Mary Lou Norris, NIST Conference Office)
Subject: 2008 TAC Workshop participant, NIST FORM 1260

If you are planning to attend the TAC 2008 workshop and your passport is from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria, you must contact Lori Buckland no later than October 16, as additional information is required from you.

Contacts

Registration questions: Teresa Vicente (teresa.vicente@nist.gov), phone: 301-975-3883.
TAC questions: Lori Buckland (lori.buckland@nist.gov) or Hoa Dang (hoa.dang@nist.gov).

Communications

The telephone number for contact with the meeting is 301-975-2997 or 301-975-2998. Attendees will not be called out of the meeting to receive telephone calls, except in emergencies. Public phones are located outside the Green Auditorium.

Wireless Internet Access

Workshop attendees will be provided with wireless Internet access at NIST. Please indicate on the registration form if you will want wireless access so that you can receive a password when you check-in at the workshop.

NIST requires that workshop attendees connecting to the NIST network must meet a number of conditions. The conditions are spelled out in a form that users must sign before access is granted. The form requires a user of a non-NIST machine who wishes to connect the machine to the NIST network to certify that:

1. the machine has antivirus software installed and the signatures were updated within the past week;
2. all security-relevant patches have been installed within the past month;
3. file sharing software has been turned off and will not be activated while the computer is attached to the NIST network.

Meals and Coffee Breaks

Lunch and continental breakfast will be provided for attendees on Monday, November 17 through Wednesday, November 19. Continental breakfast is served in the West Square Cafeteria at NIST; lunch is served in the NIST main cafeteria. Refreshments will be available at morning and afternoon coffee breaks.

Accommodations

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Holiday Inn Gaithersburg at a group rate of $113, single or double, plus 13% tax. Please use code VID to get the group rate when reserving a room online. You may also call the hotel directly, telephone: 301-948-8900, and mention the NIST/TAC Workshop. Reservations must be made by Saturday, November 1, 2008. Reservations must be canceled by 4 p.m. on the arrival date in order to receive a refund.

Roundtrip transportation will be provided between the hotel and NIST each day in the morning and evening. Attendees are encouraged to use this service, as parking at NIST may be limited.

Barbecue Dinner

An informal barbecue dinner will be held at Smokey Glen Farm, Gaithersburg, MD, on Wednesday, November 19, beginning with a cash bar at 6 p.m. One barbecue ticket is included in the cost of the workshop registration. Transportation will be provided from the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn to Smokey Glen Farm, then back to the hotel at the conclusion of the dinner.

Travel

Super-Shuttle, 1-800-258-3826, and Federal Airport Shuttle, 1-866-721-2929, offer commercial van service from Dulles International, Ronald Reagan National, and Baltimore-Washington International Airports to Gaithersburg. Call for reservations.

The Washington Metro has subway service to Gaithersburg. Metro can be boarded at National Airport. Take a Yellow Line train marked "Mount Vernon Square" to the Gallery Place stop and transfer to a Red Line train marked "Shady Grove" to the Shady Grove station. Service is every 6 to 15 minutes, depending on the time of day. The travel time from National Airport to Shady Grove is about 50 minutes. Taxis are available from the Shady Grove Metro station to area hotels.

To reach the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn:

Traveling north on I-270: take Exit 11, Rt. 124 East, Montgomery Village Avenue. At the second traffic light, turn left, then immediately right into the hotel parking lot.

From southbound I-270: take Exit 11, Route 124, Quince Orchard Road/Montgomery Village Avenue. Turn left at the first light onto Route 124, stay in the far left lane. Go straight thru the second light. At the next intersection, turn left onto Route 355/N. Frederick Avenue, then immediately right into the hotel parking lot.

For other information about NIST and the Gaithersburg area, please see: NIST Visitor Information.