[Eurchap] News from ASIS&T AM in Montreal

[Diane Sonnenwald]

Dear All,

It was a pleasure seeing so many of you at the Annual Meeting (AM) in
Montreal.

Those of you who were there already know that our chapter won the Chapter
of the Year Award for the second year in a row! Congratulations to
everyone, especially the officers and others who organized and had lead
roles in activities throughout the year. Well done!

There was discussion at the AM regarding the location for the AM in Europe
in 2016 and with which other conferences might be held in conjunction with
the AM. The latter was also discussed at the International Relations
Committee (IRC) as a strategy to increase membership, which is a priority
for the current president, Harry Bruce.

At the Board Meeting on Wednesday, a committee/task force was established
to advise the Executive Committee and headquarters (HQ) regarding possible
locations for the AM in Europe in 2016. Katriina Bystrom, Jens-Erik Mai,
Sanda Erdelez and I are on the committee. Dick Hill will be sending us HQ's
criteria/requirements for the AM in the next two weeks to the committee. I
anticipate that the committee will review them for clarity, share them with
you, and encourage you to provide proposals that show how the city/location
you are proposing for the AM meets (and perhaps even exceeds) the criteria.
It may be that several members may wish to collaborate together on a
proposal.

The cities Dick mentioned that he was considering before the committee was
established include Madrid, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin.

Many European cities have organizations that put together proposals for
organizations such as ASIS&T to hold conferences in their city. And local
and national governments and businesses also may provide funds and special
discounts to attract conferences to their location. Please consider taking
advantage of such things as you develop your proposal.

At this time I don't know when proposals will be due, but we will let you
know as soon as we learn this from HQ. For now, I just wanted to share with
you what we know at this time.

In other news, the Board also approved lower membership fees for students
and transitioning professionals in developing nations. Specifically:

(a) Students from countries categorized as "medium" or "low " human
development in the most recent United Nations Human Development Report may
join ASIS&T at $20 per year.

(b) When a group of 10 or more students from these countries join at the
same time and their membership fees are submitted with one payment, the
membership fee is $10 per student.

(c) The early/transitional membership fee for individuals who have been
student members or are new and transitioning information professionals in
countries categorized as "medium" or "low" human development in the most
recent United Nations Human Development Report may join ASIS&T at $30 per
year. (As before, there is a 3 year limitation to this membership category.)

These changes should be reflected on the ASIS&T web site shortly.

A number of members discussed with me the possibility of establishing a new
chapter in Africa or possibly a joint Africa - Middle East Chapter over the
next 1-2 years as relationships with individuals in these regions are
further developed.  Does anyone see this as problematic for the European
Chapter?

My term as "Immediate Past President" ended on Wed, and this concludes my
service on the Board, etc. I very much appreciate everyone's energy,
dedication to ASIS&T, and willingness to work with me and support during
the past three years! Thank you.

Best regards,
Diane
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