International Society
of Inflammation and Allergy of the Nose.

INTERNATIONAL RHINOLOGIC SOCIETY BOARD MEETING

Monday, July 4 2016; 12:30 – 14:00

Stockholm

Minutes

Present: Drs. Kamel, Senior , Stamm, Lund, Sacks, Lee, Önerci, Xu and Tong, Kawauchi,
Apologies: Drs. Achal,

The meeting was called to order by Professor Stamm, Dr. Cecilia Ahlström Emanuelsson gave a brief summary of the ERS 2016 Stockholm meeting. She said that there were 1576 participants from 73 countries. They organised 10 workshops, 6 plenary sessions, 51 symposia sessions, 25 Instructional sessions, 21 round table sessions. There were 254 faculty members from all countries, They had good support from sponsors, she will give information about the financial status of the meeting later. Dr Stamm gave a brief summary of the current meeting in Sao Paolo. In total there were 1589 participants from 64 countries: 1222 delegates,334 residents, 33 medical students. Dr. Stamm pointed out that only 70% of the participants were paying participants. All speakers and their accompanying people as well as young otorhinolaryngologists had free registration and free participation in social events. He was able to give 8988$US to IRS. The Board thanked Professor Stamm for the success of the meeting.

Dr Önerci provided the General Secretary and Treasurer’s report. He said that IRS received 8988 US$ from IRS Saolo Paolo Congress. IRS paid Prof. Daniel Simmen 1480 US$ for hosting IRS headquarters in Zurich and for secretary expenses covering the last 3 years(each year 500 Swiss Francs). He also informed that the lawyer in Zurich will ask for money for offical work. The Board discussed the possibilities about having alternatives instead of Zurich with less expenditures. Dr Önerci will search for the alternatives and inform the Board. IRS has a total of 128287,55 US$; the money is in a 3 month certificate deposit account, with an average interest rate around 1%. Only a small amount(around 1000 US$) is in a savings account for general expenditures. The Societies who have not paid their dues yet were reminded to pay their annual IRS membership dues for 2015 and 2016.

Dr Dennis Lee representing Drs Xu and Tong outlined the plans for the 2017 meeting in Hong Kong. The meeting is progressing satisfactorily. It will be held between 1-3 September 2017(Friday to Sunday) at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center(HKCEC) with the name World Congress of Rhinology – HK 2017 with the slogan “When East meets West”. The organising committee is as follows : Chairman (IRS) Prof Geng Xu; Chairman (ISIAN) Prof Luo Zhang; Co-chairman Prof Michael Tong; General Secretary Dr Dennis Lee.

The congress will be organised by Swire Travel. Dr Tong stated that the organisation agency will give a better rate for the hotels than usual quoted rate. They will not take any commissions from the sponsors. He mentioned that the meeting will focus on five main headings:

• Rhinology
• Rhinology skull base
• Rhinoplasty
• Sleep apnea and snoring disorders
• Cadaver Dissection Demonstration

They will have a reduced registration fee for the otorhinolaryngologists from developing countries and for young doctors below 35 and residents. The decision on selecting the developing countries was based according to World Bank report, and the low and low- middle income economies in the World Bank report will be given reduced registration fee. Dr Senior said that it will be difficult for the residents to pay this registration fee. Dr. Tong suggested to give free registration to a limited number of residents (between 50-100) on first come first served basis. It was suggested that the early registration fee should be lower than 640US$. It was decided to change the deadline as 31st March 2017 instead of 16 Jıne 2017 and to reduce the registration fee to 595US$ from 640 US$ for ENT specialist. Regular standard registration fee will be 695 till 16 August 2017, and on site registration fee 795US$. Regarding the collaborative societies and giving them a time slot, it was decided to use the term “affiliative societies “ instead of collaborative societies. They should be grouped under regional organisations. In this way there will be no need for giving a time slot to the societies.

The location for 2019 IRS Congress was discussed Region 1 for 2019 is due including Africa, Europe (Eastern and Western), Middle East. There was only one application for this year Sergei Karpischenko from Saint Petersburg. He made a presentation. Everybody supported the idea. However since Saint Petersburg was a candidate for ERS 2020 meeting as well, it was decided to wait for the decision to be made by ERS Board. It was accepted unanimously that if Saint Petersburg is elected for 2020 year IRS Congress will be combined with ERS Congress and will be a joint meeting. If not elected Saint Petersburg will be the city for IRS 2019 meeting.

The Board meeting adjourned at 14:00.