FISA admin staff get inundated with last minute requests by members to have their attendance of regional meetings changed from “in person” to online.
These requests have several consequences for FISA on a practical and a financial level:
- The FISA staff have to leave everything else and attend to these requests in order to make the requested change and ensure that the member receives the necessary meeting links;
- The requests create unnecessary re-work of work already done;
- When planning the in person meetings, numbers have to be supplied to the venue and to caterers. A substantial amount of money is wasted if provision is made for the, e.g. sixty members who indicated that they will attend in person and only thirty-five show up on the day because the rest decided at the last minute to change to online attendance. The numbers quoted here are not farfetched.
- Sponsors who contribute to the cost of hosting these meetings also waste time, effort and cost to provide enough of their marketing material.
As a non-profit association which strives to minimise the financial impact of membership on members, FISA cannot afford the wasting of money and time resulting from these last minute requests.
Therefore, as from the fourth quarter of 2024, the FISA admin staff will no longer react to requests for a change to online attendance received on the day of the meeting unless the member in question can show that the request is as a result of illness.