Abstract

As you can imagine, planning the GCAGS convention in any year is a major undertaking. We actually started our planning much later than a normal year due to the unfortunate withdrawal of our Mexican colleagues from the 2020 slot, with no fault on them but rather due to political turmoil and loss of key financial support. Despite our late start, we were on a roll in early 2020 with a successful open call for papers, progressing to our invitational phase, a couple of Sapphire level sponsors, etc. And then the coronavirus hit and the world went crazy—hysteria, economic crash, negative oil prices, social unrest, and so on. Thank goodness we didn’t choose a clichéd Vision 2020 or 2020 Vision as a motto as it would have quickly evolved to a Vision Blurred. We could have thrown in the towel but would have lost substantial monies already expended—and we don’t think any one would have faulted us had we just quit. One by one other conventions cancelled outright or postponed, ultimately opting to go virtual. We realized however that time was on our side—the convention was still months away and we wouldn’t incur any further major financial commitments until end July. Unfortunately by mid-late June, coronavirus numbers in the U.S., including Texas and Louisiana, started surging and we realized that our original vision of a typical sized GCAGS event at our original venue was no longer possible. We needed to find a corrective lens for the blurry vision and therefore opted to plan for a smaller convention at the Petroleum Club of Lafayette. The very next day we were contacted by AAPG asking if we were proceeding forward as they wanted to schedule their postponed Annual Convention & Exposition in a virtual format partially overlapping our original dates. We were able to negotiate a mutually beneficial deal with them—they would not have to choose a different date which would have required a different virtual vendor at very significant additional expense and we were able to secure for our registrants, exhibitors, and sponsors complimentary registration (for our physical attendees) for, exhibition at, and sponsorship of AAPG’s event. We were also able to secure complimentary virtual exhibition booths at AAPG for GCAGS, GeoGulf 2021, and all 13 of our member societies, each including a complimentary full AAPG registration. AAPG also supported GeoGulf 2020 with a Platinum level sponsorship. As stated, GeoGulf physical attendees get a complimentary AAPG registration, and AAPG registrants get our premier Business Side luncheon and afternoon session live and the remainder of GeoGulf presentations (speakers permitting) in on-demand format post-convention (as do all GeoGulf attendees, whether physical or virtual).

As if we didn’t already face significant metaphorical head winds, we faced literal head winds, as the Atlantic hurricane season went to record levels in terms of number of storms—with 5 impacting the Louisiana Gulf Coast region, Cristobal (earliest C) storm, Laura (earliest L storm which tied the Louisiana record for highest sustained winds at landfall [145 mph]), Marco (earliest M storm), Sally (earliest S storm), and currently Beta (earliest and only second Beta storm). In particular, initial Laura and Marco projections had Lafayette in the middle of a hurricane sandwich. After a thankfully weak Marco right hook, Lafayette unfortunately took a hit on the cheek with the left hook Category 4 Hurricane Laura whereas Lake Charles took a brutal hit on the chin, with the devastation weeks later still causing effects in Lafayette with hotel availability and rates. As we write this however (Sept. 23), the forecast for GeoGulf 2020 is calling for sunshine with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s—fingers crossed!

We personally felt like an optometrist flicking all those little levers to find the right corrective lens to fix the blurriness from all the things 2020 threw at us and we think we found it! We never changed our dates, we are the last physical convention standing (while also the first one back so to speak), we are hosting the 1st AAPG Gulf Coast Student Expo as part of our overall event, and we added a virtual component including four simultaneous, fully live (not recorded) streams. We have ∼100 oral and poster presentations, including two special guest presentations, multiple keynote presentations, eight luncheon presentations over a wide range of topics, and a special forum on Louisiana legacy lawsuits.

First and foremost in terms of thanks is to Jill Willis, who has served GCAGS over many years, including this year as GCAGS Vice Chair. Jill and our good friend King Munson were effective sounding boards and valuable checks to our optimism over many core quad board meetings. William Hagan deserves special mention for his efforts in coordinating with the Petroleum Club and for his sponsorship. Mark Miller spearheaded the legacy lawsuit forum and got us the Honorable State Senator Sharon Hewitt, a former deepwater engineer, as our All-Convention Luncheon speaker. Other key persons on our broader planning committee included Joe Morris (LGS President), Trevor Casper (LGS Past-President), Brian Brennan, Christopher Guidry, Jamie Rhymes, Tim Bennett, David Sturlese, Frank Harrison, and Chris Rader.

We hope you enjoy our primary corrective lens which made this a reality—Chez Gulf Geo au Club Pétrolier de Lafayette. We are effectively operating as a full-service restaurant and as such you are going to be fed well, with all attendees receiving complimentary lunches, a feast at the Icebreaker, break food, and other food-oriented events. All the rest—presentations, exhibits, etc.—is as we say here in Cajun country lagniappe (a little extra).

Our attendees presence, however, either physically or virtually, is what really made this work! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Collectively, we think the best motto for GeoGulf 2020 is simply “We Did It!”