Food Protection Trends - September 2008 - 650

“COMMENTARY” from the executive director T his month, a little about a number of different things. It is hard to believe that when you read this column, IAFP 2008 will be completed! I am writing today, just one day prior to travelling to Columbus for the meeting. Needless to say, it has been a stressful few weeks leading up to our largest meeting of the year! Many additional groups now try to schedule meetings at our Annual Meeting because “all the right people” are already going to be there. This is good for IAFP and good for our Annual Meeting. More than one company now uses our meeting as the place to gather their worldwide food safety team for annual training and update meetings. There are still requests coming to our office for small to medium meetings people are trying to schedule in Columbus! What appears to be plenty of meeting space today turns out to be somewhat limited three to four years later when our meeting actually takes place. Because of that, we have had to turn down a few requests for these ancillary meetings. Recently, we were reviewing cities and locations for our 2012 Annual Meeting. It is difficult to project growth in the Annual Meeting and this year proves one of the reasons why. The economy in the United States has affected many industries and the food industry in general, and food safety specifically is no exception. Earlier in the year, our registration numbers were tracking very well By DAVID W. THARP, CAE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR “Our new Member dues structure made a huge impact on increasing our Membership base” in comparison to prior years and even to last year when we met in Disney World. Of course the final outcome for registration will not be known for sure until the October issue goes to press, but right now, we are tracking at our 2006 and 2005 levels for attendance. Based on the economy and other factors involved, we will be very happy to see similar attendance to those years! So, we want to protect ourselves with ample meeting space, but not “purchase” too much space which causes us excess charges. Much of IAFP’s financial success is pinned on the Annual Meeting. It is a revenue generator that can assist us in keeping our Member dues and additional fees for journals to a minimum. Having said that, our new Member dues structure made a huge impact on increasing our Membership base. We have now increased our Member base by 200 since introducing the new structure and there are more joining each month. Review the new Member listing on page 664 to see evidence of IAFP’s growth! Many of these new Members joined to take advantage of a lower registration rate for IAFP 2008, but that is one of the great benefits of being an IAFP Member! We want to point out the S t u d e n t Tr ave l S c h o l a r s h i p recipients this year. There were six students selected for this honor with two studying in the USA, one each studying in Australia, Sweden, Korea and Ethiopia. There were close to 70 applicants for the 2008 scholarship, which helps to generate extreme student interest in IAFP. Fortunately, the IAFP Foundation sees the direct benefit of this program to the long-term health of IAFP. The last item I wanted to cover this month is the change in IAFP Officers. Stan Bailey now becomes our President, while Gary Acuff moves to Past President. Isabel Walls joins the Board as Secretary 650 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | SEPTEMBER 2008

Food Protection Trends - September 2008

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