Welcome to the second IAOS Executive Committee update

In keeping with my promise to keep you informed of what the Association is doing, I hope this note will give you a taste of what the Executive Committee have been up to and will also encourage you to dip into our website for more information.

The Executive Committee and the Work programme

We are increasingly using the website as a place to record our activities, and as a basis for future communication with you, the members. You will find the Minutes from recent Executive Committee meetings there, details of our membership and also our income and expenditure accounts and projected budget for the year. 

The aims of the IAOS are set out on the website, see Foundation and Objectives, and these have not changed, but we have now adopted a Work programme which shows the strategy for taking forward our aims over the next two years. The work programme sets out four priorities for the two years of my presidency:

• delivering successful conferences and workshops;
• developing and supporting the membership;
• delivering successful publications and communications; and
• improving our effectiveness.

The work programme is organised according to these priorities. It is a living document, updated as our work progresses, and I would be interested in any feedback from you.

Delivering successful conferences and workshops

The big event this year is our biennial IAOS conference in the Ukraine in September, on getting our messages across, focusing on statistical reporting and dissemination. Please have a look at the conference website and register as soon as possible.

Members Meeting

We are planning a members meeting during the Kiev conference and details of this will be published shortly.

Statisticians’ Training Event

Young statisticians from the region will be invited to attend a training session on ‘good practices in dissemination and communication of statistics’. Further details will be advertised on the website soon.

Governance Workshop

A Governance workshop is being arranged for national statistical institutes in the Eastern European and CIS region to precede the main conference in Kiev. The aim of this workshop is to enable senior statistical leaders to discuss and exchange experiences with each other on good practice and the challenges in governing and sustaining a modern statistical system. More details of this workshop can be found on the website.  Attendance is by invitation.

Developing and supporting the membership

In the last update we told you of our intention to use the website as a more active way of communicating with you, and also that we’re aware that this will require a greater effort to keep it up to date. We asked for volunteers and more help is still needed.

We currently have 290 individual members, which is quite small when you think how many people have an interest in official statistics (and the Association is not only for producers, it is also for users and others with an interest). Nancy Gordon is updating our current membership literature ahead of a campaign planned for later in the year.

Delivering successful publications and communications

While thinking of the benefits of membership, did you know you get free access to our journal - the statistical Journal of the IAOS. Have a look at the Journal web page and see if any articles interest you. Better still, write an article and send it to the editor in chief Frank Nolan.

Next year is to be the International Year of Statistics and IAOS are considering how best to mark this, with a joint event together with the IASE during the WSC in Hong Kong. How are you planning to mark this event in your country? Let us know.

Improving our effectiveness

We will be taking a look at our statutes over the next few months to see if they need updating, and also setting up a nominating committee for the next Executive Committee. Our thanks to Herman Habermann for offering to help and volunteering to chair the nominations committee.

An invitation to get involved

You have demonstrated your interest in official statistics by joining the IAOS. If you want to help us take forward our programme of work and help us make the Association more relevant to your needs, then please contact me and get involved.

Stephen Penneck

President IAOS

Contact names and email addresses:

Stephen Penneck This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dr Frank Nolan †

Shigeru Kawasaki This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Nancy Gordon This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.