Newsletter Issue 19

Chair's Column

Harry N. Giles
Washington, DC

During 1996, the association continued to gain new members and attain further recognition among the world's technical and scientific communities. We also gained a significant level of recognition among conference and visitor's bureaus (CVBs) from Adelaide to Zurich. This latter recognition is important to us as a volunteer, non-profit association, because of the free resources the CVBs provide organizations considering their respective cities as potential destinations for conferences. These resources include site inspections and a variety of promotional materials which, in the past, have enabled IASH to stage world-class conferences at a fee well below that charged by many other associations for much smaller meetings.

This latter recognition is due in large part to the Union of International Associations, and ICCA, the International Congress and Convention Association. Both have freely publicized IASH and our international conferences, and have provided us more visibility than many trade journals. Advertisements in the latter are expensive and usually exceed the limited financial resources of the association.

The single most important indication of the high repute IASH has achieved was having the Japan National Oil Corporation become a sustaining member. Their support will help ensure the continued viability of the association.

Our Internet home page has also been a significant factor contributing to our increased recognition recently. This page has been enhanced during the last few months, and will continue to be "a work in progress." If you have any suggestions on how you feel the page can be improved, please do not hesitate contacting me.

Despite the recognition we have achieved, there are still numerous companies and individuals worldwide concerned with handling and fuel stability that are seemingly unaware of our existence. I am open to suggestions on how we can improve our visibility among them and gain new members.

I am confident that IASH provides the world's foremost forum on issues of stability and handling of liquid fuels. I am committed to the future of IASH and our international conferences, and will strive to maintain our association as the world's leading forum on fuel stability and handling issues.