After the break of course.

If you’re at the Ceremony, I’d like to apologise for taking all of the nice biscuit things with the chocolate topping, that resided on the middle buffet table.

Who is this, eating a cake on the sly? It’s Chiara Di Benedetto, from the organising committee.

Hello, Chiara Di Benedetto, from the organising committee. She was very helpful in getting my wireless internet up and running, so in many ways she is directly responsible for this LiveBlog. So now you know who to blame. (Chiara Di Benedetto, from the organising committee).

Pedro is rather good at these talks. But come on, no tie? A conference-provided lanyard is no replacement for correct neckwear.

We’ll forgive you though, because a) you’re the boss of IYA2009 and b) you’ll fire me otherwise.

Pedro talked about his top ten highlights of IYA2009:

#10, proclamation resolutions. There was the IAU proclamation, then one from UNESCO, and finally in December 2007 a UN Resolution was passed declaring that 2009 would be the International Year of Astronomy. Yesss!

#9, Community engagement. It was very important to engage not only professional astronomers but also amateurs, educators, and science communicators.

#8, (Old and new) media coverage. IYA2009 featured in the media throughout the year, and Pedro gave examples such as magazine covers and special editions. Social networks were mentioned, such as the Facebook page and Twitter feed.

#7, figures. Pedro gave numbers… a lot of numbers. 1 IYA2009 patron, 3 global sponsors, 33 organisational associates, 40 organisational nodes, 12 Cornerstone projects, 16 Special projects, 11 special task groups, 8 official products, 22 media partners, 28 press releases, 219 news features on the official website, 710 news updates (709 of which written by me) and 122 weekly newsletters.

#6, non-traiditonal projects. IYA2009 inspired lots of weird and wonderful events, such as music concerts, pictures on trains, floral exhibits and, my personal favourite, space-themed art in prisons.

#5, engagement in developing countries. 17 countries have been awarded grants to stimulate astronomy, used to help pupils and teachers.

#4, formal and informal education. Astronomy is an excellent way to educate about not just space but many subjects. IYA2009 has been used as a platformto boost education.

#3, intra-community building. IYA2009 has helped to bring people together that don’t normally work together. Now, thanks to IYA2009, bridges (metaphorical ones) have been built.

#2, 100 Hours of Astronomy and Galilean Nights. These global astro-fests were huge projects which saw literally millions of people look to the skies. So, just #1 left. That’s got to be the Cosmic Diary LiveBlogs, right?

#1, global network. Oh suuuure, like that’s more important! Ooh, the final official count is that 148 countries have been involved with IYA2009. That’s a lot of countries.

Then there was an IYA2009 photo slideshow. This one stars EurAstro and Jean-Luc. Yay!

Huge points to Pedro for using the fan-made IYA2009 song to accompany the slideshow.

IYA2009 and a great roof: two ingredients for happiness.

Impressively for a ceremony, no-one has fallen asleep. If you see anyone who looks asleep, rest assured they’re simply deep in thought.

And now Lars’ turn. He’s the Secretariat Manager, which means that any glib caption comments really will mean I get fired. Lars talked about the recipe for creating a successful international year. He ran through the various stages, which should be very useful for any groups planning future initiatives.

He talked about what went well and what didn’t. The network and enthusiasm were definite positive points. Starting with a good idea, in IYA2009’s case by Franco Pacini, it was a long but ultimately successful journey to get here today. He flagged up funding as an issue that caused some problems, with the end budget being two-thirds of what was initally planned. Still, even with this lower figure a great deal was done. Astronomy enthsuaists know how to stretch funds!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Closing Ceremony. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.