Minutes for LAC – IASSIST 2003

Tuesday February 25, 2003, 9:30 – 11:00, U of O

In Attendance – Susan (Chair), Marie, Sage, Wendy, Marilyn, Nancy, Ernie, Yvette, Jane Regrets – Anne, Mike

1. Minutes from last meeting - minutes were passed around - please give all amendments to Susan

2. Action List - Susan passed around the Action list from the last mtg for all to check off their progress

3. Registration - There is great news here. CCS at U of O has a new secure server up and running so we will be using it. This means that there will be a bit of a delay getting registration going, but in the long run it will be much more efficient and easier. So the forms are now in the process of going from the Excel format we all tested to a web-based format. It will be on-line registration with off-line payment. The only difference with the Excel format, Nancy explained, is that the monetary summary is not as detailed but the grand total is still there. There will also be a submit button to hit at the end of the registration which is superior to the method used with the Excel registration, ie, saving the file and then sending it as an email attachment. There will also be a tabbing feature to go from entry to entry (as per Sage’s suggestion). The phone number for registration will also be there and it will be correct (as per Wendy’s suggestion). - Non-member’s form – Marilyn suggested that there be a line or a link on the form suggesting that registrants who want to become an IASSIST member should use the member’s registration form. This will also cost them less money and will allow them to register for the workshops before April 9. - Marilyn gave the changes she had for the registration forms to Nancy. - Susan will let everyone know when the new registration system is up and running so we can all test it before it goes live. If it is ready, we will all test it tomorrow at 10am (except for those who will be at the airport!). Wendy mentioned that this means that she will be registering for the 3rd time and Susan said that is ok – it will all be taken into account how many times we have registered and Marie will fix it up when the system is ready. Wendy suggested getting one of her students to test it. Jane said this is a good idea as these students know nothing about the conference and have never seen the registration forms so it would be a good test. - Ernie mentioned that he just had a briefing from DPI who don’t charge for membership but all costs are passed through the conference fees. The difference with IASSIST is that you can pay to be a member but you don’t have to come to the conference. - Susan and Nancy are meeting with CCS administration this afternoon and they will be setting up our registration on the secure server. Susan will send an email out to us when it is ready. If all goes well today, it will go live on Thursday. When it is ready to be tested, Nancy will call Gaetan so he can also test it. - Ernie questioned the process for refunds if a workshop was paid for but was full. Marie said that she will be monitoring the workshop registrations closely and when it is full, Nancy will change the webform to read ‘FULL’ and people will not be able to register for it. Marie reiterated that she will keep close tabs on the workshops. - Sage promised that she and Mike would be recruiting lots of Atlantic Canadians for the conference when they are down there later on this week.

4. Conference Inquiries - Marie received an email from a fellow in Nairobi who is interested in attending. This inquiry is a result of Marie’s name and email being in the 2nd Conference mailout.

5. Budget - Susan has a mtg with Manon next week and this will enable her to confirm various budget details, including the payment frequency to Conference Services. Susan will also be able to get confirmation on all the different space requirements for the conference.

6. Business Arising 6.1 CCHS - Susan mentioned that Michel Seguin wants to do a session on the CCHS (Canadian Community Health Survey). He originally wanted to do it on the Sunday between the IASSIST business mtg and the CAPDU business mtg. Susan suggested to the committee that it would be better to hold the CCHS presentation on Wednesday afternoon during the poster sessions for a number of reasons: it would reach more people because not everyone will be there on Sunday; people will be more attentive because they won’t be trying to absorb information about a new dataset between business mtg; and people will be able to examine it more closely and have more opportunities to ask questions. She will check out the space being giving to us for the poster sessions to make sure there will be room for him. And Michel will be asked to bring his laptop. Once Susan has confirmed the space, she will inform Wendy who will liaise with Bill Block about Michel. 6.2 Poster Sessions – We do have the space for the poster sessions but no technical support yet. Susan is checking into this. Wendy inquired about monitors. At Storrs, few laptops were needed but monitors were required. She will look up the requests from last year’s poster sessions and let Susan know. Wendy will also ask Bill how many are not

2 bringing their laptops. She inquired as to whether the walkabout in May will include the Poster session location and Susan assured her that it will. 6.3 DDI Alliance - Ann Green wants some space for the DDI Alliance for an open house in a classroom setting. There is no space yet, but Susan is looking into getting space near the poster sessions. 6.4 Concurrent Sessions – Susan will confirm with Chuck the time of the 7th block of concurrent sessions. It looks like it will be on the Thursday afternoon 6.5 Catering – Since we will be having a 7th block of Concurrent Sessions, see 6.4, we will need a coffee break that afternoon. Marie will add it to the list of catering requirements. She asked about having a quickie coffee break on the Friday afternoon, after the Concurrent sessions and before the wrap-up. There is only 15 minutes between the two, so it was suggested to have only beverages – coffee/tea, water, pop. Wendy mentioned that people on the admin committee will be flying in before Sunday so will be flying out on Friday and will miss the wrapup. So the coffee break on Friday afternoon only needs to serve 100 people. - Marie is in the process of drafting a letter to U of O for a waiver so we can use a caterer other than Aramack. Once the registration is up and running, she will concentrate more on the catering. 6.6 Action Items from the minutes – Susan apologized for not getting the minutes up on line from the last mtg. Other commitments (including the registration form) have kept her busy but she will get the minutes up as soon as possible and revise the list of committee members and have it put up on the web. 6.7 Cancellation Policy – Susan raised the issue of the cancellation policy in light of the fact that there may be a war which could affect travel to Canada. Yvette mentioned that after September 11, US govt employees were not allowed to travel outside the country for a time. Wendy said that we should let the registrant’s employer’s insurance company cover the cost. Ernie agreed that the cost should be put back on the employer. Susan asked about students and it was suggested that they be handled on a case-by-case basis as there won’t be too many international students registering. Wendy is concerned about the block of rooms reserved at the Novotel if there is a war and we do not fill up this block. She will look into the contract and what happens in event of a war – do we still need to fill the 80 rooms? Susan mentioned that we are not committed to fill any number of rooms in the U of O residence. 6.8 LAC wrap-up – Susan mentioned that there will be a wrap-up LAC mtg after the conference is over. Marie was surprised to hear this but did understand the reasoning for it. 6.9 Other War Concerns – Wendy mentioned that we should not be sending stuff by mail with a war looming so everything should be done by phone or fax. Jane mentioned that the registration form would have to be changed because cheques and money orders

3 are listed as methods of payment. Wendy said that they could do a bank transfer, use the phone or the fax. Yvette pointed out that a long distance phone call from Nairobi would be expensive and you can’t expect everyone to have a fax. Marilyn suggested that if worse came to worse, the registrants could bring the cheque with them or have the money deposited directly into the IASSIST bank account. Susan will look into the feasibility of this after registration is up and running. 6.10 Outreach Program – Marilyn wondered if David from Nairobi could take advantage of the Outreach Program. Wendy and Ernie said that the deadline for this is passed and David had not inquired about funding. Susan mentioned that we currently have 2 people taking advantage of the Outreach Program for IASSIST 2003 – from South Africa and Slovenia. - Next week, Sage will check with customs re: regulations for our internationals. She will put the link on the webpage. The committee thinks that if David does not fly through the US, he will not need a visa. 6.11 – the Conference Schedule – Susan will make changes to it next week, once registration is up, at which point Sage will incorporate them and pass them on to Vince. 6.12 the Conference Webpage – Ernie and Wendy reviewed the Conference webpage in depth last night and had some suggestions for Sage. 6.12.i Social get-togethers – Even though these may be a highlight for many, they have been given too high a priority on the webpages. The priority should be the Preliminary Program, followed by the section for registration. Headers can be put in with links so the different parts of the program (workshops, plenaries, concurrent sessions) can be seen at a glance. The social events should be after the registration fees. 6.12.ii Registration Telephone number - Will there be a telephone # for registration? After some discussion, it was agreed by all that registration will not be by phone but payment will be by phone, which is what is currently on the registration form. 6.12.iii Conference Schedule - There is a link in “complete overview of the conference, go to”, that should take us to the .pdf ‘placemat’. The word ‘conference’ should be replaced by ‘schedule’. – Will the schedule be amended? Susan replied in the affirmative. 6.12.iv Plenaries – In the title for Fraser Taylor’s plenary, “New Frontiers, …”, the word “life” should be taken out. 6.12.v FAQ – The Registration Link currently goes to the Conference Schedule so this needs to be changed. - Under “Where is the nearest fast food court”, some of the ones at U of O are closed in May so the section needs to be amended. 6.12.vi Maps

4 – There should be an email link to an annotated map of the campus (with the bldg that will be used in the Conference). Susan mentioned that U of O maps will be put at the hotel. Wendy suggested that they also be put in the conference bags. Susan suggested that we use DMTI for the map. And once the registration is up, we will have a maps page. - Sage is off to the Atlantic tomorrow morning so she will work on the changes to the webpage next week and will try to have them done by Tuesday. 6.13 Friends of IASSIST – Sage wondered if we were going to put up a page for FoI. Ernie thought this was a good idea so he will get their logos, do up a small blurb on them and pass them on to Sage. 6.14 Conference Mailout #2 – Yvette mentioned the reason for her request for a change re: the National Archives Reception. They received notice that they may be leaving their present location within the next 12 – 18 months. This will be the “new” NA location GPC opened in 1997 and is no longer referred to as “new”. 6.15 Restaurant List – Wendy is back from a good holiday and is now open for business so people can send their restaurant suggestions to her. Wendy will send the current list to Susan who will have Nancy put it up on the Dataservices website so the LAC can look at it and make comments, suggestions, … 6.16 IASSIST Money – Ernie inquired as to the disposition of funds as we receive them from registrants. We have to make sure that the registration money is accounted for so it can go to the appropriate locations. He reminded us that we also have to repay the $10,000 loan to Gaetan at some point. 6.17 SSHRC Grant - Yvette wondered if we had heard back from SSHRC yet as to the reason for their refusal. Susan has not heard back yet.

7. Future Meetings 7.1 Regrets - Ernie and Yvette give their regrets for the next mtg. 7.2 Meeting Dates – Tuesday March 4, 9:30 am, rm 043 (Jane = refreshments) - Tuesday March 11, 9:30 am, rm 043 (Yvette = refreshments)

8. Agenda for Next mtg - Registration Update - Conference Services - Budget - Conference Webpages - Business arising

5 Action List

Please note – the items on this list are not cumulative and do not necessarily have to be done immediately.

Anne - test registration after receiving Susan’s email

Ernie - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - put together logos and blurbs on FoI to pass on to Sage

Jane - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - go thru previous minutes and make a comprehensive list of action items still outstanding - update the ‘to do’ list for the conference (the one started by Susan)

Marie - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - once the registration testing is done, delete the doubles, triples, quartupples in registrations that we have done - draft a letter to U of O for us to not use Aramack - catering – add a coffee break for Thursday afternoon - add a liquids-only coffee break for Friday afternoon at 3:45pm

Marilyn - test registration after receiving Susan’s email

Mike - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - recruit LOTS of Atlantic Canadians for the conference

Nancy - iron out kinks in secure server for registration - email Gaetan to test registration before going live - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - put lots of stuff up on Dataservices webpage, after receiving from Susan

Sage - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - recruit LOTS of Atlantic Canadians for the conference - changes to registration form – non-member’s form – a line/link to members form with an accompanying line that states: If you want to become an IASSIST member, please fill out the form for IASSIST members. - make changes to conference webpages (see 6.12) and pass revised pages on to Vince

6 - pass updated list of committee members from Susan on to Vince (after getting from Susan) - find out about regulations from customs for Nairobi, South Africa, Slovenia and others - put a link on the webpage for this - pass revised Conference Schedule on to Vince (after getting from Susan) - put together a FoI page after Ernie passes on logos and blurbs

Susan - iron out kinks in secure server for registration -registration – email LAC when you are ready for us to test it - to be put up on the U of O Dataservices website - LAC minutes – Feb 11, Feb 25 - B and B minutes – Feb 17, Feb 25 - revise the list of Committee members, and pass on to Sage - make changes to Conference Schedule and pass on to Sage - check room for Poster Sessions to see if there is room for a CCHS demo, and once space is confirmed, email Wendy - find a classroom near the Poster Sessions for Ann Green to use for the DDI Alliance open house - confirm with Chuck the time of the 7th block of Concurrent Sessions – is it Thursday afternoon? - feasibility of direct deposit into IASSIST bank acct - who is putting together the maps page? - pass list of Wendy’s restaurants to Nancy to put up on Dataservices webpage, after receiving from Wendy

Wendy - test registration after receiving Susan’s email - after Susan confirms the space requirement for the poster sessions, liaise with Bill Block about Michel Seguin and CCHS - also check with Bill re: requirements for this year’s poster sessions, eg., laptops, monitors, … - look up requests from last year’s poster sessions, eg, laptops, monitors, … and email them to Susan - look into contract with Novotel to see what our commitment is in case of war - email list of restaurants to Susan so she can put it up on the U of O Dataservices website for all to peruse

Yvette - test registration after receiving Susan’s email

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