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Online Association Management / Conference Management Systems

We are currently using three (3) different association management systems depending on the unique needs of our clients.

My favorite is www.x-cd.com for societies that are able to fully integrate iall their membership, meeting registration, abstract submission, awards applications, abstract and award review and online programming into one online database. Current clients that are fully integrated are isdp.org and 2018.tularemia.org. Please feel free to visit those websites and click on the Member Login buttons.

The strength of X-CD is on the conference management side, and because International Cytokine & Interferon Society has a long standing contract with an outside meeting planning company, we are using www.internet4associations.com for our association management system. This system’s strengths are on the membership management side, although it includes an excellent event registration system which we are not able to utilize, it currently does not offer abstract management or programming. We are able to set up Awards Applications and Nomination Forms but there is no built in review system. Please visit the Login button on www.cytokinesociety.org. The cost for this system is $99 a month, no extra transaction fees, plus a $1500 set up/data migration fee.

Then, for small associations with a limited budget, we have been using www.membee.com for the Cell Stress Society International. The cost is just $49 per month (no extra transaction fees & no set up fees) and the system works hard, also includes a surprisingly powerful, integrated event registration for multiple events. Again, the online abstract are not included so we’ve setup a simple online database for abstract submissions using a free WordPress plugin (Participants Database), which has been working great, see (www.oldtown.cellstressresponses.org).

Executive Director Experience

Since December 2016 – International Cytokine & Interferon Society (formerly ISICR and ICS), Joan, and her Virtual Office, have replaced the staff at the FASEB campus in Bethesda, MD which has managed the ISICR and then the merged society since 1996. By transitioning to a Virtual Office, the society will save on administrative costs and can focus its resources on promoting the fields of cytokine, interferon, and chemokine biology, and growing as a network to facilitate research communication to ultimately translate discoveries to improve human health. The International Cytokine & Interferon Society, (ICIS) is a non-profit organization of close to 1,000 scientists devoted to research in the fields of cytokine, interferon and chemokine cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry and the clinical use of these biological response modifiers. Bringing together scientists across many different research disciplines, the International Cytokine & Interferon Society is the premier organization promoting the field of cytokine biology, impacting all aspects of medicine, from cancer to autoimmune disease to neural development and function. A common ground where scientists interested in all aspect of cytokine biology can join and work together to better human health. Please visit the website we recently designed for more information: www.cytokinesociety.org

Since December 2017 – International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP), Joan Oefner has been appointed the Managing Director and is transitioning the society from their previous management company in Texas to her Virtual Office in New Jersey, USA and Regensburg, Germany. Please visit the website we recently designed for more information: www.isdp.org. The first order of business is to set up a new online association management system using www.x-cd.com for membership, meeting registration, abstract submission and online programming. The International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP) is an international non-profit organization which encourages research on the development of behavior in all organisms including man, with special attention to the effects of biological factors operating at any level of organization. The society holds annual meetings to facilitate communication of research results and theory in the area of Developmental Psychobiology. The ISDP strongly supports and encourages young scientists with travel awards, networking and meeting events designed specifically for the students.

Society for Molecular Imaging, (2002 – 2006) Served as the founding Executive Director as the society’s membership grew from 200 – 1,250 full, student & industry members and meeting attendance grew year on year from 650 to 1,250 participants. Organized their annual meetings in San Francisco, St. Louis, Cologne, Germany and the Big Island, Hawaii with each meeting drawing increased attendance, abstract submissions, support from industry and adding to the Society’s financial reserves while becoming the “internationally renowned platform for reporting on the most important advances in molecular imaging” (Christopher Contag, PhD, President of SMI from 2002-2003). Managed the society with a Virtual Office, with both a German and Texas base, until the society began having joint meetings in 2007 with a clinically oriented affiliated society. As of 2011, the two societies merged to become the World Molecular Imaging Society, WMIS.

North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging (NASCI), (1993-2005) NASCI was founded in 1972 and had never had a professional staff until hiring me as their first Executive Director in 1993 to help achieve the Society’s goal to revitalize the field of Cardiac Imaging. By 2005 the membership grew to 450 members and annual meeting surpassed 550 participants. NASCI is now managed by the American College of Radiology.

CASSS (1996 – 2001) Provided full-service association management and meeting planning for 2-3 international symposia per year as the society’s annual budget grew from $20,000 to over $800,000. The growth of this society, from what was once known as the California Separation Science Society (CaSSS), to their current standing as CASSS, an International Separation Science Society, is what fueled the growth of Rhema Association Management, enabling me to hire three full-time employees, including an experienced meeting planner and a CPA who are still working for the Society, which we transitioned to a freestanding management model in 2001. Since moving to Germany, I have had the pleasure of planning CASSS’s first two European CMC Strategy Forum meetings (Brussels in 2007 & Paris in 2008) as well as the 21st International Ion Chromatography Symposium in Dublin in 2009. They are now holding meetings all over the world in support of their mission to enable a global community of industry, academic and regulatory professionals to work together to resolve scientific challenges in the field of bio-pharmaceutical development and regulation.

San Francisco Neurological Society (2002 – 2005) Provided full-service association management including planning an annual weekend CME conference and 4-5 dinner meetings per year. Set up their website and converted the society’s membership & registration to an online system that is still in use today.

Southwest Chapter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (1993 – 2000) Provided full-service association management and planning for the annual CME meeting and exhibition, 400-600 participants. The trick with this society was to keep up the industry support and meeting attendance when the society met in unpopular cities within the Chapter, or in a city that was far away from the membership base in Texas. Meetings in Houston, San Antonio, Austin and to a lesser extent, Dallas, were always successful, but every other year the meeting had to be in one of the other states in the Chapter. We managed to have successful meetings in Albuquerque, New Orleans, and Santa Fe, by negotiating really good rates at excellent venues and emphasizing the unique aspects of those venues in all marketing materials. Our key employee, Charles Metzger, who moved first to Santa Rosa, CA, then to Texas, is still managing the society which is now the SW Chapter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.