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<< back to the 1999 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Views From Your President, January 1999 1998 in review During our daily hustle and bustle of life, we often lose sight of all the small, incremental changes that are happening around us. It is only when one stops to reflect that one realizes how much has actually happened. As many people do at the beginning of a new year, I often tend to think back on events of the past year as well as plans for the upcoming new year. Whenever I do this, I am always amazed how many changes have occurred and how much progress has been made. Of course, one also realizes the many goals that are left unachieved. Although this is often the case for our personal lives, the same is true for organizations such as IAMFES. 1998 was a great year of accomplishments for IAMFES. Everyone has their own ideas of what constitutes noteworthy milestones or accomplishments. Some are obvious and other less so. In this first President's Column of the new year, I wanted to share my selection of the most noteworthy events and accomplishments of 1998. - Undoubtedly, the 1998 Annual Meeting was a major accomplishment. Our Nashville Meeting broke all records for attendance, attracted a wide international audience, and allowed attendees to hear some of the best presentations on food protection possible. This past Annual Meeting also attracted many new attendees and Members who have since asked to be involved in our Committees and Professional Development Groups. - 1998 was the first full year of iMIS. I know that at this point many of you are probably thinking, "Huh, what in the world is iMIS?" For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, iMIS is the new Membership management computer program. Why do I think that iMIS is such a big deal? Because iMIS is the focal point in IAMFES' goal to provide its Members with better, faster, and more professional service. It does this by consolidating in one place, information that used to be scattered among several different computers, old 3 x 5 cards, paper files, or even memories of staff members. As you can imagine, this situation led to inefficiencies in the IAMFES office. Those of you who are long-time Members may have encountered a scenario like this: You call the IAMFES office to inform them that you haven't received the most recent issue of Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation and, as long as you have IAMFES on the telephone, to check the status of the manuscript you previously submitted for publication in Journal of Food Protection. Simple request, right? Not before iMIS! In order for your friendly IAMFES staff member to help you, he or she would have had to check one set of records to see that your Membership was current, another to see when the journals were sent, and perhaps another to obtain your address. Then, an entirely different set of people and another computer system were used for Journal of Food Protection submissions. So, it was conceivable that as many as 4 people and 3 computers may have been needed to answer that simple request. In the meantime, you are left to wait, wondering what is going on. With our iMIS system, one person has all the information available in one place. iMIS will also benefit Members by allowing staff to more easily maintain useful statistics on Members as to their interests, geographical location, length of Membership, and similar information. Such information will enable IAMFES to better tailor services to the needs of the Membership.
Of course, there were many other significant events that occurred in 1998, but limitations in space prevent me from listing them all. However, the above sampling should give you a feel for the changes going on in IAMFES. What's in store for 1999 can only be imagined but the future looks bright for the Association. IAMFES will continue the process for changing our name and improving our professional image. We will also work to increase international involvement, seek new affiliates, and improve services for Members. Our past accomplishments were possible only with the active involvement of our Members. The future will require no less. |