This issue highlights the large annual M&M meeting attracting over thousands of attendees and the Topical Conference attracting about 100 attendees. Both types of conferences are popular among microscopists and microanalysts.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the first meeting of the electron microscopy group that eventually became the Microscopy Society of America. That 1942 organizational meeting grew into the annual Microscopy & Microanalysis conference we know today. The M&M meeting is co-sponsored by the Microscopy Society of America and the Microanalysis Society, with regular participation of the International Metallographic Society and occasional participation by the Microscopical Society of Canada. With over 1,000 presentations distributed among more than thirty symposia on a wide variety of microscopy topics, this is the most comprehensive annual microscopy meeting in the world. The M&M meeting is complemented by the world's largest annual microscopy exhibition. As evidence that this is a successful show, even before the opening of exhibit booth sales for 2012, 93% of the exhibition hall has been reserved.

This year will also see the 11th and 12th Topical Conferences sponsored by the Microanalysis Society. Begun in 2002, this series of small workshops has covered topics ranging from variable-pressure SEM to hyperspectral imaging, particle analysis to metrology, and quantitative X-ray analysis to cathodoluminescence. This year's Topical Conferences will be on microanalytical reference materials (May 15–17, Colorado School of Mines) and electron backscatter diffraction (June 19–21, Carnegie Mellon University). In fact, the EBSD conference has been so popular that this will be the third Topical Conference on this topic. These specialized Topical Conferences have two clear advantages: a single-topic workshop atmosphere and, always, a low-cost venue.

Large and small conferences each have their place. Experience the world of microscopy and microanalysis through these interesting meetings.