IIW History 1990-2015

FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION The initial steps to communicate with young people to encourage them to participate in IIW were put in place in 2009 through the creation of a special registration category for IIW events. This was done with the support of DVS which already played a significant role in the encouragement of young professionals to attend IIW Conferences and Annual Assemblies, particularly for the 62 nd IIWAnnual Assembly and Conference in Singapore in 2009. 36 As a result of encouragement by IIW and through the organisers of IIW events, the representation of young professionals increased significantly to such an extent that the first Young Professional International Conference (YPIC) was held in Hungary in September 2014. It was presented under the auspices of the Hungarian Welding Society which showed great initiative in staging this conference to communicate and establish a dialogue with young professionals. Supported by IIW as an associated event, it also encompassed an international welding competition for young persons involved in the practical side of Corporate Brochure and the revisions were to achieve great success and were given to Member Societies for distribution among their members and to local organisations and governments involved in decision making in the region. Extensive use of best practice and guidance documents by IIW also indicated the fundamental shift in how IIW was seeing itself in a rapidly changing world. IIW stated its Mission as ‘To act as the worldwide network for knowledge exchange in joining technologies to improve the global quality of life’. By doing so, one of its principal objectives was to identify, create and transfer world’s best practices for sustainable development in a sustainable environment, very much an integral part of IIW’s latest Business Plan. 33 Marquis, IIW President 2014-17, in expanding on the importance of this, commented that ‘Many units pursue ambitious programmes to develop IIW Best Practice Documents and IIW Guidelines. These documents are in great demand to industries who view the IIW logo as a symbol of quality and scientific and engineering excellence. They also serve as a key starting point for new international standards and new research fields.’ 34 In line with the continuing success of these initiatives a novel communications survey was conducted at the Denver Annual Assembly in 2012. The results of the questionnaire were overwhelmingly positive and expressed a need to engage the wider community in attracting young leaders and people to become members of the IIW family. Earlier, identifying the means of attracting young engineers to IIW was raised in the preliminary discussionsof IIW’sBusinessPlanat theFlorenceGeneralAssembly in2000. 35 Consideration was given to the application of lower registration rates and better promotion to universities where many prospective young welding engineers originated from. At the time, many members of IIW were known to subsidise young professionals to attend IIW Annual Assemblies, conferences and congresses, either directly or through sponsorships with welding companies.