The role of Industry Associations Paul Wynne International Irradiation Association

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 1966 Italian spaghetti western starting Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach Some Associations excellent, Some are pretty bad

Types of Association Formal v Informal Professional v Self Help Large v Small International v Local Members v 3rd Party Funding Formal Professional Large International Informal Self Help Small Local Other - Well financed v poorly financed and long term or short term

Role of Associations Providing Leadership Influence or advocacy Communication Education

Membership Large Companies Small Companies Individuals Regulators Academia Area of interest

Resources Full time staff Part time staff Voluntary staff Administration v output orientated activities Area of interest

The Best Associations Clear purpose Change to reflect changing environment Professional with member engagement Where size and finance is appropriate to meet the stated purpose Achieve respect Area of interest

The Way Forward Irradiation community needs to engage more effectively with existing Associations Associations need to be prepared to change Associations need to work together to achieve objectives All professional business sectors require a means of working together. A business sector without Associations or Newsletters either has no sense of common purpose, no unifying concept or is very young. Like a business an Association will only exist so long as it meets the needs of its members (customers). The industries that are served by Irradiation Technology are well established and diverse. As we have heard during this conference our industry is also international. We need to work together and to engage, to support and to influence our Associations. This afternoon members of the International Irradiation Association will meet. I look forward to hearing their thoughts the changes that we need to make to improve the services that we offer.

The Way Forward All professional business sectors require a means of working together. A business sector without Associations or Newsletters either has no sense of common purpose, no unifying concept or is very young. Like a business an Association will only exist so long as it meets the needs of its members (customers). The industries that are served by Irradiation Technology are well established and diverse. As we have heard during this conference our industry is also international. We need to work together and to engage, to support and to influence our Associations. This afternoon members of the International Irradiation Association will meet. I look forward to hearing their thoughts the changes that we need to make to improve the services that we offer.