JUNE 2004

Dates & Location Announced for Dimensions.05
Dimensions.04 was just two months ago, but planning for next year is already well under way. Dimensions.05 will be held March 8 through 11, 2005 at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Opinions and comments from this year’s conference evaluation form were taken very seriously in determining the dates, location, and format of Dimensions.05. The majority indicated a preference for returning to Walt Disney World, so we’ll be back at Coronado Springs Resort “one more time!”. Many people suggested the program be entirely on weekdays, rather than encroaching on weekends as it has in the past, so next year’s days are Tuesday through Friday. And finally, there were requests to make the conference more time-efficient. We’re exploring ways to compress the overall length without compromising the essential content. We’ll keep you fully informed in the months ahead, so please stay tuned...

Who You Gonna Call?

When you contact Headquarters, it’s most efficient to know which staff member can best handle your question or request. There have recently been some changes in responsibilities, with new assignments in several areas. Here’s the line-up:
                          Lisa        Meredith        A.J.          Kathy          Barb           Steve          Bill              Ed

• Lisa Sabala (lsabala@ista.org)
     Education support, Dimensions support, CPLP Program, order fulfillment, E-Market.

• Meredith Young (myoung@ista.org)
     Member Services (including web access), Lab & Package Certification Program,
     prospective Members, technical questions.

• A.J. Gruber (ajgruber@ista.org)
     Test report submission & processing.

• Kathy Joneson (kjoneson@ista.org)
     Marketing, advertising, publications content & graphics (order publications from Lisa).

• Barb Church (accounting@ista.org)
     Accounts receivable and payable.

• Steve Pierce, Director of Testing and Certification (spierce@ista.org)
     Overall responsibility for Projects, Procedures, and Testing; Lab and Package
     Certification programs.

• Bill Kipp, Director of Education (bkipp@ista.org)
     Overall responsibility for Education programs including CPLP; ISTA Project 4AB.

• Ed Church, Executive Director (echurch@ista.org)
     The Big Kahuna, responsible for everything.

The phone number at Headquarters is 517-333-3437 and the general email is ista@ista.org.

Individual and Student Memberships Now Available
ISTA is announcing the availability of two new membership classifications. Individuals and Students may now join ISTA to gain benefits that were formally exclusive to member company employees only.

Member benefits include:
   • Online access to all ISTA Procedures, Projects, and updates
   • Regular subscription to the iNews (electronic) and the PreShipment Testing newsletter (printed)
   • Participation in ISTA committees, including work groups that determine new Procedures,
     Projects, or changes
   • Discounts on all ISTA merchandise and conferences
   • Access to the online member directory and lab directory.

Student Memberships are available to people currently enrolled at an accredited educational institution in an undergraduate or graduate packaging program. Cost for a yearly Student Membership is $30.

Packaging professionals wishing to join as Individual Members must be retired from the packaging industry, self employed, or employed with a company that does not satisfy the requirements for the other ISTA member classes (Shipper, Carrier, Supplier and Testing Labs). Also, Individual Members cannot certify a laboratory or use the ISTA Certification Mark. Individual Memberships are available for an annual fee of $175.

Click Here to find out more.

Dr. Jorge Marcondes
Herb Schueneman reports that Jorge’s health continues to deteriorate. He suggests communication with the family regarding individual relationships with Jorge and the good times.

As many of you know, Jorge Marcondes is a Packaging professor at Clemson University, a long-time ISTA participant, winner of the R. David LeButt award (for outstanding contributions to the continuing education and future of packaging) at Dimensions in 2003, and a very well-liked and respected member of the packaging community. Click Here to see Jorge’s complete résumé. About 3 years ago, he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, and has been valiantly battling the disease ever since. Unfortunately, his condition has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks and he has recently been moved into a hospice facility. Herb Schueneman of Westpak, Inc. and San Jose State University (where Jorge was formerly Packaging Program Coordinator) has kept in constant touch with Jorge and his family, and recently shared the following:

“Two weeks ago, some of Jorge's former students at San Jose State got together and sponsored a blood drive in his honor, which was a great success. Kerry Hamilton (a former student) had a fantastic suggestion that I want to share with you. Her idea is for everyone to write a description of what Jorge Marcondes has meant to him/her individually. In this way, Jorge's children (Alex is about 9 and Alice is about 7) may be able to understand his significance in our lives when they are more mature and able to absorb the information. For the past few years, they have only known a father who is ill and unable to participate in their young lives. By putting together a collection of memoirs, we may be able to tell his children what a wonderful man he is and how he touched us individually and as a group.

“Thank you in advance for helping with this effort. I know you feel as helpless as I do in this situation. Please remember Jorge, his wife Pat, and their family in your prayers.”

If you'd like to share a story about Jorge, please contact Herb Schueneman. His e-mail address is herb@westpak.com.

Advertise on the ISTA Web Site! 

The ISTA web site is visited daily by our members and many other packaging professionals. Starting this month, you can place banner ads to promote your company’s offerings to this select audience.

Banner ads will appear on the most popular website pages, as determined by our traffic audits (sorry, banners will not be available on the ISTA home page). Placement will be on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

Several ads will “rotate” in the same spot, so the motion should attract additional attention. Permitted formats include static gif/jpeg or animated gif, with up to a 25K file size. Rates range from $70 to $100 per month depending upon number and duration of ads placed. For more information, contact Kathy Joneson.

Your News in iNews
If you have an upcoming seminar, open house, or similar newsworthy item, we’d like to help you publish and promote it through iNews.

As a free service for ISTA members, we’ll put your announcement in an upcoming iNews edition. Be aware that iNews is sent the middle of each month, and that we’d need your request a week or so before that, so please plan accordingly. We can’t promise that every submitted item will be published, and ISTA will make the sole determination of what is or is not suitable, but we’ll do our best to help make your events successful. Contact Bill Kipp for further information.

Old ISTA Procedures Anyone?
A.J. Gruber at Headquarters is researching the older ISTA test procedures, for documentation purposes and also for their historical value. Our records are good back to about 1990, but before that there are lots of gaps. You might be thinking that there were very few procedures in the “old days”, so what’s the big deal? Well, we know that there were a number of different versions over the years of even the basic tests – and remember that ISTA history can be traced all the way back to 1948! So if you have any old ISTA procedures in your files, A.J. would like to know about them. Contact him by phone (517-333-3437) or e-mail.