AAPG Getting 'Worldly’ As We Grow

In making preparations for this month’s International Conference and Exhibition in Barcelona, Spain, I began to think about the changes AAPG has experienced over the past 20 years.

Most of these changes have been positive, and AAPG continues to expand and improve. This is largely due to the activity and support of AAPG volunteers.

It’s also the direct result of how the AAPG leadership listens to members’ concerns, and then directs AAPG staff to adjust to their needs. The recent all membership survey (see June EXPLORER) is a good example.

Currently, over 30 percent of AAPG’s membership is outside the United States. During the recent Membership Enhancement and Development program over 70 percent of the applicants were non-U.S. The top recruiter for AAPG was Yusak Setiawan with Unocal Indonesia. He recruited 48 members.

For the first time since 1995 the total membership of AAPG was over 30,000 on July 1. Membership was actually 30,178 on June 30, 2003. But each year on July 1 we drop unpaid members from the previous year. In recent years we have had more new members than dropped members.

Most of the positive changes in member statistics are due to increases in non-U.S. Active members, as well as significant increases in Associate and Student members.

As AAPG membership continues to diversify, so do the needs of the members.

AAPG’s operations continue to expand and develop outside of the United States.

One of the primary services AAPG members receive is in the form of conferences. Our second-largest meeting each year has been our now yearly international conference and exhibition. During the last 20 years we have had 15 international conferences from Nice to Rio to Bali.

Last year’s Cairo conference was the first joint international conference involving five societies.

The Barcelona meeting, set Sept. 21-24, combines an excellent technical program with a great venue. I encourage all members who have the resources to consider attending the conference (see related story).

Information about on-site registration for Barcelona is available on the meeting's Web page.

The International Regions continue to grow.

AAPG is working with members to develop programs for the regions, and those members are starting to develop their own programs.

(For an example of regional activities, turn to the International Bulletin Board for a report on Africa.)

Next March AAPG will hold its third annual APPEX London Prospect and Property Exposition. Both the Energy Institute and the Geological Society of London endorse this event. IHS will sponsor another Perspectives Forum with the exposition, which will be held at the Paragon Hotel, West Brompton, March 2-4, 2004.

The Europe Region is planning a conference during the fall of 2004 in Prague, Czech Republic. This will be one of the first conferences initiated primarily by one of AAPG’s regions.

The Geological Society of America is planning to participate in the conference.

AAPG’s Distinguished Lecture series continues to be one of the best programs we have for reaching AAPG members. The program’s international portion has grown during the past several years and plans are under way to search for funding to increase the number of AAPG Distinguished Lecturers (related story).

AAPG is planning to expand continuing education resources through our new Training Partners program. We also are expanding the AAPG-AGI Internet Online Learning courses with several new Web-based carbonate online modules.

Speaking of the Internet, AAPG is using this technology more and more -- and in new ways -- to deliver our products on a global scale.

A good example of this would be the ongoing development of our DataPages offerings, where all members have access to such services as "Search and Discovery" and the BULLETIN archives at no additional costs.

Region officers, and super and service team leaders, AAPG committees and AAPG staff continue to work together to plan new projects and benefits. President Steve Sonnenberg, has asked past-president Dan Smith, the new chairman of the Advisory Council, to consider long-range planning this year.

AAPG is already an international organization. The new long-range plan will include designs to improve and develop AAPG services worldwide.