The twenty-sixth annual North American Symposium on Bat Research met at Jumer's Chateau in Bloomington, Illinois, from October 23-26, 1996, sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan University. Co-hosts were Tom Griffiths of Illinois Wesleyan University and Margaret Griffiths of the University of Illinois. Tom Griffiths also served for the first time as Program Director. There were 201 registered participants. Eighty-six scientific papers were presented at the meeting. Three prizes of $250 each were awarded to Johanna M. Bloss of Boston University, Lisa Comeaux of the University of Tennessee, and Matthew V. Rockman of the American Museum of Natural History for their outstanding student platform presentations. Two prizes of $100 each were awarded to Carlos Iudica of the University of Florida and Mark Nebzydoski of the University of Scranton for outstanding student poster presentations. Generous donations from Bat Research News, The Lubee Foundation, and SPELEOBOOKS made the prizes possible. Pat Morton and Jackie Belwood organized and ran a special workshop on Saturday morning of the conference entitled "Education Symposium on Bats of Illinois." Thanks to support from The Lubee Foundation and Bat Research News, the workshop was open to the public free of charge. It was very well attended by Illinois teachers, park and conservation workers, and other local persons interested in the conservation of bats. Special thanks to Tom Kunz, who attempted to teach a reluctant audience the steps to the macarena, and to Brock Fenton who good-naturedly helped demonstrate the proper method of ascertaining quality in a chocolate mousse. The banquet would not have been the same without them.

The twenty-seventh annual North American Symposium on Bat Research met at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tucson, AZ, from October 8-11, 1997, sponsored by the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, and Arizona Game & Fish. Dr. Ginny Dalton was the conference host, assisted by the members of her Local Committee: Debbie Buecher, Cartographer and Bat Specialist; Roger Carpenter, a Bat Biologist of some renown; Sandy Ditty, a Wildlife & Fisheries graduate student at the University of Arizona; Kim Duffek, of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum; and Sarah Schmidt, also a Wildlife & Fisheries graduate student at the University of Arizona. There were 269 registered participants. One hundred and two scientific papers were presented at the meeting. Twenty-six of these were poster presentations. A special committee headed by Roy Horst judged sixteen student papers and posters. Four cash prizes of $250 each were awarded at the Friday evening banquet to Claudia Coen of Cornell University, Lisa Comeaux of the University of Tennessee, Susan W. Murray of Eastern Michigan University, and Moritz Weinbeer of the University of Würzburg in Vaihingen, Germany. A special SPELEOBOOKS merchandise prize was awarded to Theresa Cabrera Menard of the University of Hawaii. Generous monetary donations from Roy Horst at Bat Research News, Roger Haagenson and John Seyjagat of The Lubee Foundation, and Emily Davis Mobley of SPELEOBOOKS made all of the prizes possible. The Friday night banquet, a medley of Southwestern cuisine, was very well attended. Three special awards were presented at the banquet. Fred Anderka of Holohil Systems, Ltd. received an award for his contributions to the development of superb bat detection equipment. Jim Findley was made the first Lifetime Member of the North American Bat Research Society. And Gary McCracken received the society's highest honor, The Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. Award, joining a very distinguished group of bat researchers honored through the years for their contributions to bat biology. Sandy Reith, Heidi Vasiloff, and other Arizona Game & Fish personnel organized and ran a special bat education workshop on Saturday morning of the conference, attended by Arizona teachers, park and conservation workers, and other local persons interested in the conservation of bats. E. Lendell Cockrum very graciously donated some of his scientific reprints to a "Take what you want -- Pay what you think they are worth" table, which generated nearly $30 for student prize money at future meetings. The late Karl F. Koopman, who attended every bat meeting from the second to the twenty-sixth, was honored by contributions from his friends to establish an annual Karl F. Koopman Prize, to be awarded for the best student paper presented at the meeting in the areas of bat systematics or zoogeography. Special thanks to Dave Dalton (Ginny's husband), Margaret Griffiths (my wife), and Roy Horst (Head Honcho Emeritus) for all the hard work they did to make this meeting a rousing success.

The twenty-eighth annual North American Symposium on Bat Research met at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, Convention Center and at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs from October 28-31, 1998, sponsored by the United States Forest Service, Ouachita National Forest. David Saugey was the conference host, assisted by the members of his Local Committee: Robin Vaughn, Randy Nichols, Lori Short, Lydia Wilborn, and Samuel Larry. There were 231 registered participants. One hundred and two scientific papers were presented at the Hot Springs meeting. Thirty-five of these were poster presentations. Four cash prizes of $250 each were awarded at the Friday evening banquet. Maarten J. Vonhof of York University won the Bat Conservation International prize, Bryan Chruszcz of the University of Calgary won the Bat Research News prize, Suzanne Nelson of the University of Illinois won the LuBee Foundation prize, and Susan M. Davidson of the University of Maryland won the first Karl F. Koopman prize. For the second year in a row, a special SPELEOBOOKS merchandise prize was awarded to Theresa Cabrera Menard of the University of Hawaii for the best poster (nice going, Theresa). Generous monetary donations from Roy Horst at Bat Research News, Roger Haagenson and John Seyjagat of The Lubee Foundation, and Emily Davis Mobley of SPELEOBOOKS made the first three prizes possible. Donations from a number of individuals (many requesting anonymity) made the Karl F. Koopman Prize possible. Pat Knighten of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Pat Morton of Texas Parks and Wildlife, and Janet Tyburec of Bat Conservation International organized and ran the special bat education workshop on Saturday morning of the conference, which was well attended by Arkansas teachers, conservation workers, and other local persons interested in the conservation of bats. I thank Pat K., Pat M., and Janet for their efforts which made the workshop possible. Finally, let me extend David Saugey's and my special thanks to Dianne Saugey (David's wife), Margaret Griffiths (my wife), and Roy Horst (the Founder of our "feast") for all the hard work they did to make this meeting a success.

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