It has been a while since I posted on my blog due to pressure in other areas. And although summer in the UK is not quite over and done with, what a summer it has been (and no I am not referring to the indifferent British weather than has made it one to forget).
Of course my colleagues and I are now heavily involved and focused on the build up to the IIMS London Conference 2015, dinner and AGM, our showpiece annual event. Numbers for both Conference and dinner are looking excellent and I am looking forward to what will be a full on two days – the culmination of many months planning. There is an excellent mix of speakers who will, I am confident, inspire and engage the delegates. Anyone who has ever put together such an event will know the sheer amount of work that goes in to the organising side of it. So I thank my colleagues at head office who have done a great job. Look forward to seeing those of you who are coming.
Replacing staff and recruiting is never an easy job and often a thankless task. Sadly it has been a necessary requirement recently. Chloe Bruce, one of the lynch pins of the IIMS education department leaves today on maternity leave. Good luck to her and her new baby (due soon). After nearly 8 years with IIMS, Anne Liversedge (the other education department lynch pin) has decided to head for pastures new and will leave on 11 September. For many students studying with IIMS over that time, Anne has been the smiling and helpful face of the Institute. We shall miss you both. So, we have a new education administration team. Elle Hardham has been appointed and a further announcement will be made soon about another addition to the team.
Our activity with the Marine Surveying Academy has been very busy. As we rolled out the new CMID vessel inspector accreditation programme for IMCA at the start of the summer, so applications for accreditation rolled in. Hilary Excell, who manages the MSA business, has had some very hectic weeks as we bed the scheme down. There are always teething problems with any new scheme and this has proven to be the case with this one too. Currently we have received around 100 accreditation applications and over 60 have been assessed and successfully accredited so far.
In other news, the first four new books in the soon to be launched series ‘What a marine surveyor needs to know about’ went to press yesterday. Initially available in paperback format, these self help guides will soon also be available in e-book format via the website and also via Kindle too. They are:
What a marine surveyor needs to know about working in enclosed spaces available at £25
What a marine surveyor needs to know about imaging techniques available at £27
What a marine surveyor needs to know about small craft metal hulls and ultrasonics available at £25
What a marine surveyor needs to know about small craft, ship and boatbuilding terminology available at £30
I am personally very excited about this publishing programme and believe that these (and other books to follow in the series) fill a gap in the market place that needed filling. These four self help guide books will be available to view and purchase at the Conference next month. My thanks to the authors for their inspiration and to Craig for his design skills. We already have another dozen manuscripts to start work on after Conference, so this will be a rolling programme and IIMS members will be notified as and when new titles come on stream. Who knows how many titles we will have by the end of it, but from what I have seen so far, the first four titles are simply excellent and I recommend them to you. A press release and formal announcement about the publishing programme will be made soon.
OK so my final Conference presentation needs my attention now.
Successful surveying!
Mike Schwarz
