An informal meeting of several GEOS members took place on May 16, 2004 at the Palais de la Découverte in Paris. This gathering was organised coinciding with the presence in the Paris area of Ennio Poretti and Juan Fabregat, who were attending a scientific seminar in Orsay, near Paris. Taking advantage of this opportunity, a small group of GEOS members met for an extended working session.
Participants included Jacqueline Vandenbroere, Ennio Poretti, Juan Fabregat, Serge Kuchto, Michel Dumont, Nicola Beltraminelli, Jean‑Claude Misson, Joseph Remis, Roland Boninsegna, Patrick Wils and Paul Vedrenne, member of the AFOEV and at that time the most productive observer in France. The meeting began around 11:00, was interrupted between 13:00 and 15:00 for lunch, and resumed until 18:00, corresponding to the closing time of the Palais de la Découverte. The participants expressed their sincere thanks to Denis Savoie and to the staff of the Astronomy Department of the Palais de la Découverte for their hospitality.
Unlike a traditional GEOS symposium, this meeting did not follow a formal programme of scheduled presentations. Exchanges were informal and wide‑ranging, focusing primarily on organisational matters, ongoing observational work and future orientations of the group.
The main decision taken during the meeting concerned the distribution of GEOS publications. It was agreed to transfer the regular dissemination of GEOS publications to electronic distribution via the Internet. Members wishing to continue receiving paper copies by postal mail would need to make an explicit request; in the absence of such a request, publications would be distributed by e‑mail. This new system was scheduled to be implemented from January 1, 2005. Joseph Remis was entrusted with the practical implementation of the electronic distribution of publications by e‑mail. Membership fees were adjusted accordingly, with a reduced fee for members choosing electronic distribution.
It was also decided to make past, present and future GEOS publications available on the GEOS website. Serge Kuchto, Michel Dumont and Roland Boninsegna undertook to examine their archives in order to identify older circulars suitable for digitisation, noting that some documents, particularly certain technical files, no longer had practical relevance.
Several scientific points were discussed during the meeting. Jacqueline Vandenbroere proposed the inclusion of V779 Cas in the GEOS Priority Research Programme, while Michel Dumont suggested that a review of the existing literature should first be carried out. Serge Kuchto reported on difficulties encountered in the observation of a minimum of an Aurigae variable and mentioned exploratory tests of binocular observations using colour filters. Juan Fabregat commented on the potential interest of multicolour observations, particularly for Cepheid variables. Ennio Poretti briefly presented results concerning the multiperiodic star GSC 0144‑3031, which were to be developed later in a dedicated publication.
This informal meeting, organised opportunistically and outside the framework of a traditional GEOS symposium, provided an opportunity for direct exchanges between observers and professional astronomers and led to several significant organisational decisions affecting the future functioning of the group.