Discussion journal of the Mössbauer Community

[drkuzmann <kuzmann AT caesar.elte.hu>]

Dear Frans,



I am sorry for my delayed answer, but I was out of the office in a holiday
excursion in the last 8 days, where   I did not use internet connection.

I was shocked when I received your letter.

I fully agree with the all content of Prof. Reisner ‘s letter.

I ALSO CANNOT ACCEPT  YOUR DECISION TO CANCEL THE ISIAME 2016 CONFERENCE.

First of all, because by this decision you might kill the continuation of
the series of ISIAME conferences which is  one of the most important forum
of the Mössbauer community.

I cannot accept your standpoint that “ a successful conference or symposium
is based on sound sponsorship”. This type of conference should stand on its
own leg financed by the participants.  The sponsorship is only the icing on
the cake.  The conditions should be selected according to the budget.

There was an excellent ISIAME held in Parma in the rooms and corridors of a
bank. We do not need luxury conditions, if  not enough funds.

The keypoint of a conference is rather the good and attractive scientific
program, the announcement of list of the talks of the invited speakers and
the topics in due time.

The relative few number of participants can be related that you started
with the organization very late.

You had four years for this organization.  Conversely, the first flyer was
emitted about one year before the conference, and the utility of website
had also difficulties. You have not accepted sufficiently the advises,
critics  and recommendations of the Executive Committee. The late
information could lead to loose a number of potential participants who used
their project money to participate at another conferences even within the
field of Mössbauer spectroscopy (where there are a number of competitive
conferences in this year).

I do not understand why you are not able to organize participants from the
industrial people, as was excellently done by Prof Pollak in 1996 in
Johannesburg. This would be good partly to show up for the industrial
people what the Mössbauer spectroscopy could contribute to solve their
problems, and partly to learn from the industrial people their problems
where the Mössbauer spectroscopy might or might not be applied. On the
other hand the participation of a number of industrial participants should
considerable improve the financial balance. This can work even in domestic
conferences in countries which have much less developed industry than South
Africa.

Another problem that many of the participants (including me and my wife) had
bought their non-refundable air tickets even from project or own money,
which is a considerable loss (and a lot of problem at cost accounting of
the project) for those who undoubtedly believed in this conference.

I STRONGLY SUGGEST TO YOU TO ACCEPT THE HELP OF PROF BARUTH-RAM AND FIND AN
APPROPRIATE  WAY TOGETHER TO HELD THE ISIAME 2016 BETWEEN 4-8 SEPTEMBER IN
SOUTH AFRICA.

With best regards

Erno

2016-06-16 20:57 GMT+02:00 Frans Waanders 
<Frans.Waanders AT nwu.ac.za>:

> Dear all
>
> It is with regret that I have to cancel the upcoming ISIAME2016 symposium
> that was to be held in the Lagoon beach Hotel Cape Town
>
>
>
> The main reason to me is the lack of interest;
>
> We have at the deadline for abstracts (today) only received 27 abstracts
> of which 7 are to be presented as posters. I have extended the deadline for
> abstracts with a month and only a few extra abstracts were submitted,
> mainly in the last 2 days.  Some of the Invited speakers have not yet sent
> any abstract and others have sent more than one but due to financial
> constraints only one person can come and 2 Invited speakers have canceled
> their contributions due to legitimate reasons. I used the mix email as well
> as some 180 names I had on the lists of persons that attended ISIAME in the
> past of which only a handful responded and I am trying to answers each
> person that has sent an email regarding ISIAME2016
>
> At this stage we only have 11 paid registered persons for the conference.
>
>
>
> The next problem is funding:
>
> Some people suggested that the conference venue is very expensive but the
> request was made  in China that we should hold it in Cape Town and both
> Raquel and myself looked for the cheapest option and clearly from the
> registration fee it is not that expensive.  For the Pittsburgh Coal
> Conference (to be held in August 2016 in Cape Town) the registration fee is
> $800 and we have over 200 participants already from all over the world.  We
> wanted more than 300 for this conference but clearly the economic
> atmosphere must play a role.
>
>
> Sponsorship:
>
> A successfull conference or symposium is based on sound sponsorship.  I
> have obtained sponsorship from my own university (euro800) and from Sasol
> the same amount and I used some euro3000 from my own research funding and
> did not receive any sponsorship from overseas or Moessbauer industrial
> persons.  I paid the initial deposit with this money and today was the
> deadline of paying the next deposit or we will incur fines. We spoke with
> the people from the venue and they were prepared to not charge us a fine
> for cancellation and even suggested we reduce the amount of delegates to 40
> without additional costs and cheaper rates - thanks to all the efforts by
> Raquel.
>
>
>
> I had many discussions with Raquel who assisted me on the whole
> organization of the symposium and it is her experience and my believe that
> with 11 registered delegates to date we will not have even have 40 people in
> the next month or so to have the symposium going further - let alone in the
> next day!
>
>
>
> I am thus very sorry for people who have already payed or booked flights
> but the registration fees will be paid back as soon as possible
>
>
>
> I am very sad to have made this announcement but I am not prepared or able
> to carry any extra costs and I trust that everybody will understand my
> reasoning and final decission
>
> Frans
>
> *Prof Frans Waanders **Pr Ing. **Pr Sci. Nat.*
> Professor en Direkteur
> Skool vir Chemiese en Mineraalingenieurswese
>
> NWU
>
> Tel: (018) 299 1994
>
> Faks: (018) 299 1535
> www.nwu.ac.za
>
>
>
> Vrywaring:
> http://www.nwu.ac.za/it/gov-man/disclaimer.html
>
>
> *Prof Frans Waanders **Pr Eng. Pr Sci. Nat*
>
> Professor and Director
> School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering
> NWU
>
> Tel: (018) 299 1994
>
> Fax: (018) 299 1535
> www.nwu.ac.za
>
>
> Disclaimer: <http://www.nwu.ac.za/it/gov-man/disclaimer.html>
> http://www.nwu.ac.za/it/gov-man/disclaimer.html
> <http://www.nwu.ac.za/it/gov-man/disclaimer.htmll>
>
>
> Vrywaringsklousule / Disclaimer: *
> http://www.nwu.ac.za/it/gov-man/disclaimer.html
> <http://www.nwu.ac.za/it/gov-man/disclaimer.html>*
>
>