Minutes of last meetings in Ischgl 19th March 2010 The minutes were accepted as a correct record of the meeting
Matters arising from the minutes No matters arising were raised
Report from Executive Committee The Chairman reported that, after many years service to the AIVS Executive, Jacques Bleyn had decided to stand down as National Representative for Belgium. The meeting showed their appreciation for all that Jacques had done for the group. Philippe Gutwirth was elected as the new National Representative for Belgium. Juan Guilleuma was elected as President for the 2013 meeting in France, to be organised by Philippe Gutwirth and most likely to be held in Tignes, pending further investigation on costs and facilities. Andrew McIrvine had agreed to be the local organiser for the 2014 meeting, at a venue outside the UK. Although the 2010 Ischgl meeting had been a great success, in the finest tradition of AIVS, the conference organiser engaged to run the meeting had put in final accounts showing a loss on the meeting of ?8500. The Executive felt that the conference organiser had a responsibility to run the meeting to budget and should be responsible for this loss, particularly as the turnover on the meeting was substantially higher than in previous years.
Report on I2010 meeting in Ischgl Thomas Schmitz-Rixen reported that the Ischgl meeting had attracted over 140 members and guests and had provided a strong scientific programme. The finances had suffered from a lack of commercial sponsorship, as European companies had signed a concordat not to support meetings in sporting venues earlier in the year and promised income of around ?16000 from sponsors had been withdrawn after this concordat was signed. Despite the financial loss on the meeting, he hoped to make this up to the conference organiser by engaging him to run a couple of local one day meetings in Germany.
Report on 2011 meeting in Andorra The President, Mehmet Kurtoglu, congratulated Juan Guilleuma and Alex Kantarovsky on the success of the current meeting. Attendance was around 115 members and guests. The hotel facilities and catering were excellent and all activities had been contained within the hotel complex without detriment to the success of the meeting. Despite the lack of sponsorship, the increased registration fee agreed last year had been successful and the meeting was predicted to break even
Report on next meeting in Davos, 10th – 17th March 2012 Marcus Furrer reported on arrangements for the meeting in 2012, to be held in Davos from 10th to 17th March, with Mark Adelman as President. The meeting would be held in the Steigenberger Hotel from 10th to 17th March 2012. Cheaper accomodation would be available at Hotel Sunstar, with dinners taken at the Steigenberger at additional cost. Davos could be reached easily from Zurich Airport, either by car (2 hours) or by train from the airport, changing at Zurich main station and again at Landquart. The town is also around 4 hours by car from Munich Airport. Registration fees were discussed – for delegates this would be CHF350 rising to CHF450 after 1st January, NRs and seniors would be CHF200 rising to CHF300 and Finlandia Prize entrants and accompanying persons would be CHF100 rising to CHF200. The hotel room prices started at CHF199 per person in a double room for half board, or CHF225 for a single room. Sunstar hotel prices for bed and breakfast were CHF130 per person in a double room and CHF150 for a single room, with a proposed CHF40 daily charge for dinner in the Steigenberger. Ski pass prices had not been fixed yet, but were likely to be in the region of CHF300. Marcus Furrer was congratulated on his progress with the meeting.
CME Approval Although the group had rejected application for European CME credits (also recognised in the USA) at the last meeting because of the expense involved, the price structure had recently been changed to one depending on the number of delegates rather than the number of credits. The current meeting would represent around 15 credits, similar to many other European meetings and the cost may be around ?300. The group agreed that the Chairman and local organiser would explore this further for 2012.
