Minutes of the 3rd Organizing Committee Meeting

      The 3rd organizing committee meeting for the 12th International Congress on Rock Mechanics (ISRM2011) was held in the morning on 24 October 2008 in the  meeting room, 2nd storey, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan. The meeting discussed important issues regarding organization of the 12th International Congress on Rock Mechanics (ISRM2011). Professors Qi-hu QIAN, Xia-ting FENG, Chun-an TANG, Zhong-kui LI, Mei-feng CAI, Man-chao HE, Bing-jun FU, Li-xing HUANG, Yu-yong JIAO, Shu-cai LI, Jin-an WANG, Yu HUANG (representing He-Hua ZHU), Qiang YANG, eslie George THAM, Wen-li XU, Ju WANG (China NG), Yingxin ZHOU, Jun-gang CAI (Singapore NG) attended the meeting. Mr. Shuang-liang ZHENG, deputy secretary-general of CSRME, Ms. Ting FENG and Mrs. Cheng Hoon KHOO (Singapore) sat in the meeting. The total number of the organizing committee members is 22. Among them, 18 were present, which constituted a quorum.

 The meeting was chaired by Professor Qi-hu QIAN, the chairman of the Organizing Committee. Professor Qian stressed that the central theme of this meeting was finance, publicity and conference preparation, cooperation between China NG and Singapore NG, and coordination with Korea NG. The representative of each sub-committee reported work progress since the 2nd Organizing Committee meeting in November 2007 to October 2008.
 
Professor Xia-ting FENG introduced the report on ISRM2011 preparation work to be presented in the 5th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium to be held in Iran, i.e., ISRM Annual Meeting 2008. Meanwhile, he introduced the successful experience from the Muller’s 100th anniversary. He pointed out that keynote lectures and special lectures are very important and have to be fixed in advance. He proposed that the Chinese advisory committee members for ISRM2011 Congress should include influential veterans, experts and CEO of large enterprises in rock mechanics field. He also reported the work progress by the Communication Sub-committee.
 
Dr. Yingxin ZHOU and Dr. Jun-gang CAI introduced the work by Singapore NG over the past year, mainly on paper publication and oversea fund-raising. Taylor & Francis Group Publisher is tentatively selected as the publisher for congress proceedings. The proceedings include two volumes, with about 500 pages per volume. They also introduced the preliminary scheme for oversea fund-raising and gave constructive suggestions on congress website construction and brochure design.
 
Professor Man-chao HE introduced the work progress for the past year by the Finance and Fund-raising Sub-committee. He presented the detailed fund-raising program and budget scheme, and proposed the detailed reimbursement procedures.
 
Professors Chun-an TANG, Zhong-kui LI, Wen-li XU, Yu-yong JIAO and Li-xing HUANG reported work progress by Scientific and Publication Sub-committee, the Secretariat, the Conference and Reception Sub-committee, the Publicity Sub-committee and the Sub-committee for Technical Visit and Post-conference Tours, respectively.
         Subsequently, the meeting discussed the work to be carried out by the organizing committee from November 2008 to Year 2009, including:

1.     Adjustment of the organizing committee members;
2.     The contents for report during ISRM Tehran conference;
3.     ISRM2011 brochures and promotion materials to be distributed during Tehran conference;
4.     The information to be exchanged with Korea NG during Tehran conference;
5.     The targets to be achieved by sub-committees in Year 2009;
6.     Discussion on work load division and cooperation model between China NG and Singapore NG;
7.     The name list of the International Advisory Committee and Scientific Committee members for the ISRM2011 Congress;
8.     The time and venue for the 4th organizing committee meeting in Year 2009;
9.     Edition of handbook in Year 2009.
 
The attendees discussed the work progress reports. Professor QIAN made the concluding remarks and the following resolutions were made:
1.         The congress is not only for rock mechanics, but also for rock engineering. The rock engineering and technology in China shall be highlighted.
2.         The organizing committee members who do not attend two organizing committee meetings consecutively will be disqualified.
3.         To learn lessons from Dunhuang conference, good simultaneous translation shall be guaranteed. To select a good simultaneous translation service company. To look for a few good conference organization companies. Conference organization service schemes shall be proposed by 20 November 2008 and the organizing committee will select the best one.
4.         Beijing secretariat shall be responsible for the Congress website construction. The preliminary scheme shall be proposed by early 2009.
5.         Singapore NG proposed a modified layout plan for announcement no.1 for ISRM2011 congress. The secretariat and publicity sub-committee is responsible to print the brochures and distribute them during the 5th Asian Rock Mechanics Symposium in November 2008 in Tehran.
6.         Each sub-committee shall submit the working plan and budget for Year 2009 before the Tehran conference.
7.         The next organizing committee meeting will be held on 17 May 2009 at The University of Hong Kong, during the Sinorock conference.
 

The Organizing Committee
 for the 12th International Congress on Rock Mechanics
28 October 2008