SIWAN 2012 - Day 1

It is here finally!
SIWAN 2012 has been successfully started today.
Hotel Forrás has done a good job so far. The entrance is nicely decorated, multimedia devices are working as they should, and the coffee break and welcome reception got enough attention from the staff. So far, so good.

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I was a bit tense at the beginning because it was difficult to estimate the actual number of participants, but the large lecture hall filled up pretty nicely for the opening ceremony.

SIWAN 2012 was opened by Prof. Gábor Szabó, rector of the University of Szeged, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and most importantly :) - a physicist. He welcomed the participants on behalf of the University and the city of Szeged and emphasized the importance of international events like SIWAN in confirming the position of our university as a leading research university in Hungary.

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Talks were running in parallel in two sessions. Discussion followed spontaneously after each lecture. The chairpersons managed the time well. One talk was missing from this first day - we don't have any news about Dr. Mlinar yet. As soon as he turns up, we will reschedule his talk of course. 

I had the honor of opening the welcome reception, therefore, mine was the most anticipated talk of the day – because as soon as I stop talking, the party would start..... :-)  I tried to make it short, hope that it was OK:

One of the nicest things about SIWAN is that it makes it possible for us to meet old friends and make new connections. I certainly hope to enjoy both of these activity types in the forthcoming days a lot!

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By the way, photos from the conference will be uploaded daily to our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Siwan2012?fref=ts
Day 1 is already available, make sure to check for updates every day please!