Food Protection Trends - November/December 2017 - 490

The Executive Board met on July 7. Highlights from the
Executive Board Report include the fact that the number
of vendors exhibiting at the annual meeting continues to
increase, and this year there is a record number of exhibitors.
Membership also continues to grow, with approximately 4,400
current members throughout the year. Each year approximately 800 members are lost, but new members join IAFP to
replace the lost numbers. Reasons for leaving IAFP include
the fact that some members only register to attend the annual
meeting, and if these members do not attend the annual
meeting in a given year, they let their membership lapse.
Also, some members do not renew their membership by the
yearly deadline (though they do renew their membership at a
later date). This year 411 students registered for the annual
meeting, and significant discussion centered around the idea
that students represent the future of IAFP and the Association
needs to explore and find ways to actively engage the student
membership.
Old Business:
The Membership Committee discussed the Executive
Board's responses to two of the 2016 Membership Committee
Recommendations, and developed additional plans based on
those responses as follows:
1.

The IAFP should get a YouTube channel to add
content and help advertise.
Executive Board Response: Agree. The Board is
willing to review a proposal showing benefits to IAFP.

The Membership Committee discussed the fact that
a YouTube channel would potentially add value to IAFP.
Discussions centered on how to populate the channel, how to
develop guidelines for content, and the fact that all submissions would need to be vetted to ensure that they were appropriate (from legal, cultural, social, and topical standpoints) for
posting to the channel. This would likely require the formation
of a committee with legal representation, who would review
all submissions and make decisions regarding acceptance of
the videos. The Membership Committee realized that there
are a number of questions that need to be answered before a
proposal can be developed for the Executive Board. IFT has
posted a number of YouTube videos on the Internet, although
they do not have a dedicated YouTube channel. Lawrence
Goodridge agreed to talk with people at IFT and see how they
vet the videos for their YouTube channel and then report back
to the Committee. Potential content for a YouTube channel
could include, but is not limited to: invited posts, new technologies, new food processing methods, educational topics,
and food safety history. There was a film crew at the Annual
Meeting this year, and the final video that is made of this
year's meeting could also be posted. In addition, IAFP already
has content on YouTube that could be reposted to a specific
channel.
1.

A survey should be developed to capture metrics on
why members are staying with IAFP and why past
members have left.
Executive Board Response: Staff will contract with
a third-party vendor to conduct a membership survey. The Membership Committee can provide suggested questions to be included.

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Food Protection Trends November/December

The Membership Committee discussed the length and
format of a survey. It was agreed that it should be short (not
longer than 5 minutes) in order to ensure maximum participation from the membership, and this led to questions regarding whether a short survey could adequately answer all the
questions needed to gain a proper understanding of IAFP
membership. A suggestion was made that once questions for
the survey are developed, the survey could be broken down
in several parts and sent to the membership at several times
during the year.
It was also discussed that there is a science to developing survey questions and such expertise does not exist on the
Membership Committee. It was agreed that the Committee
would come up with some questions that could then be
transferred to the Executive Board, who could contract with
a third party to properly develop the questions. The final survey could be done using an online system such as Survey
Monkey.
Generally, questions would center on the benefits of
membership, how membership could be improved, and how
value could be added to membership. This last statement is
in response to the potential perception by several members
of the Committee that some people join IAFP only to attend
the Annual Meeting. If that is the case, there is substantial
opportunity to add additional value to their membership during
the rest of the year. The Membership Committee will have
conference calls in the coming year to develop questions for
the survey.
Finally, the Membership Committee discussed how
additional members could be added to the Committee, to
ensure a diversity of opinions regarding IAFP membership.
By the conclusion of the 2017 Annual Meeting, four new
members had already been added. It was agreed that current members on the Committee who have not attended the
Membership Committee meeting for some time should be
contacted to confirm their ongoing interest in contributing to
the Committee.
It was also discussed that while membership is growing, there needs to be more effort at understanding why the
growth is happening, including, from which countries and
regions, and which disciplines and sub disciplines within food
safety. To this end, the Membership Committee discussed
a number of questions related to IAFP Membership growth
including:
1.

Why is IAFP continuing to grow?

What can IAFP do to continue to generate increased
membership?

How do we recognize student achievements?

Can we increase IAFP awards or recognition for
young IAFP members?

Since the Annual Meeting is the meeting that most
North American members attend, can future IAFP
annual meetings be held in other North American
countries (i.e., Canada and Mexico)?

Based on these questions, the Membership Committee
generated several recommendations for the Executive Board
to consider.
Recommendations to the Executive Board:
1.

There should be increased recognition of student
achievement. This may be facilitated through PDGs,
who would give awards to students who present

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