International Society of Biomechanics
Gold sponsor

ISB NOW

We would like to thank all of you who attended the ISB/ASB 2019 conference in Calgary, Canada. It’s been a historic event for us, hosting ISB/ASB for the second time after 1999, and it’s been historic, we think, for ISB/ASB with almost double the number of participants of previous ISB conferences. The number of delegates required a programming and scheduling that was distinctly different from previous ISB and ASB conferences. Despite 11 parallel sessions for all four days, the number of oral presentations (n=834) was smaller than the number of poster presentations (n=1078). Because of the unpredictable nature of how many people might attend specific sessions, we had overflow rooms with live streaming. On the first day of the conference, this overflow arrangement came in handy when approximately 500 people wanted to attend the same series of sessions (on wearable technologies).

 

kl6vb5fa.jpeg esqxpzda.jpeg mlbb62kg.jpeg

 

A conference like this one cannot be handled by a single person. The core organizing team consisted of the biomechanics researchers of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Calgary. For the past 3 years, we met regularly for lunch to plan the 2019 event. These meetings were about once a month for 2.5 years, then 2 a month for the six-month preceding the event, and finally weekly for the five weeks prior to Aug. 4th, 2019 – the opening day.

My thanks go to Benno and Sandro Nigg who were responsible for the budget of ISB/ASB 2019, the venue, accommodations, food, exhibitors, sponsorship, in other words everything outside the actual scientific program. One key event that they organized and made happen was the support for delegates from economically developing countries (EDC). Through sponsorship and through their initiative, we could offer free registration and accommodation for the entire conference for all students and vastly reduced registration for delegates from EDC. These EDC grants were offered to 57 students and 43 regular member delegates. The EDC sponsorship monies exceeded $100,000 and came primarily from our main sponsor Delsys and the de Luca Foundation, selected faculties and laboratories of the University of Calgary, and ISB and ASB. Thank you all!

I would also like to recognize Darren Stefanyshyn who helped in the organization of social and special events at ISB/ASB. A particularly fun event was the “Calgary Alumni” evening with more than 200 people joining us for an informal event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. It was a pleasure to see so many former students and faculty members return to Calgary, be able to catch up with some who I had not seen in decades, and to reminisce about the old times, when the Human Performance Lab was comprised of less than a dozen people, including trainees, hidden in a single lab behind the service area of the faculty of Kinesiology. We have progressed!

My thanks also go to Brent Edwards and Art Kuo who organized the 46 invited symposia sessions and the 17 invited speakers’ program. Despite the early 8AM scheduling of the 4 or 5 invited speakers, these sessions were well attended, averaging between 1,000 and 1,400 people every day, indicating the great interest in these sessions. Similarly, all 6 keynote sessions were well attended with 1,200 to 1,760 delegates attending these presentations: Hugh Herr’s Wartenweiler Memorial presentation at the opening ceremonies taking the prize for best attended session.

 

kzgcj99a.jpeg  str6soug.jpeg gskwts9q.jpeg eua2tc6a.jpeg

 

Marco Vaz spent his sabbatical leave with us between August 2018 and August 2019. As the organizer of the Natal ISB 2013, I recruited him as the scientific co-chair. We spent many days (and some nights) sorting out all abstracts and organizing them into meaningful sessions. The principle we followed was that the oral sessions needed to be diverse in representation, but focused in topic. Unfortunately, even in today’s technological world, this cannot be done well with a computer algorithm, but requires knowledge of the area, and knowledge of the people attending and presenting at the conference. Marco brought all that knowledge to the table and was invaluable in helping in the organization of a unique and strong scientific program.

With approximately 100 volunteers helping, it is hard to acknowledge all by name. But among the helpers preparing the registration, the electronic and hard copy programs, the signage, the filming of all keynote, invited and tutorial sessions, I would like to recognize the following: Glenda McNeil, Barbara Holash, and Juliana Heinz Cyr (administration), Azim Jinha, Andy Pohl, and Seong-won Han (posters, programming, online activities), and Xiao-Yu Fu (for filming and overflow room arrangements). It is the exceptional contribution of these individuals, and the dedication and commitment of all volunteers, that made all the difference to the proper logistics and smooth functioning of ISB/ASB 2019.

 

Below, I am presenting some numbers on ISB/ASB 2019 that maybe of interest to the statistically inclined. Full details were copied to the president’s of ISB and ASB, and if you have further questions regarding numbers and information, we are happy to provide them to you.

Total number of fully registered attendees: 2145   Delegates (not including exhibitors and volunteers) by country/continent:  
Members of ISB or ASB 65.9%  

United States                                                            

860
Non-members        34.1%  

Canada  

340

Early bird registrants                                                

76.3%  

Europe  

320

Late registrants                     

23.7%  

Asia                                                                 

300

Student delegates                                                 

46.9%  

Australia/New Zealand         

100
Regular delegates                                                   53.1%  

Central/South America                  

60
      Other                               20

 
Thank you all for coming and making ISB/ASB a memorable event. I enjoyed the conference, the science, the meeting of friends and colleagues, and most of all, getting to know many of the new, bright students and trainees. The future of biomechanics is in great hands. And now, I can’t wait to go to Stockholm in 2021.

Walter Herzog   (on behalf of the organizing committee)