I would like to take this opportunity to communicate to SRS members who were unable to attend the annual business meeting at the 1998 APSS meeting in New Orleans the highlights of my President's report. My goals for the society have been to democratize society decision making, to expand participation of membership in the society's business, and to plan for the future by proactively addressing the society's needs. As to future planning, the Vision 2020 Task Force held a series of meetings in the spring and presented an interim report to the business meeting. A Financial Planning Task Force has also been formed and will begin its function this fall. The charge to this task force is to establish an annual budget process for the society, to assess the future financial needs of the society, to project the future income of the society and explore additional revenue sources, and to establish a stable funding basis for the training of future sleep scientists.
Future planning is critical to the long-term health and viability of our society.
The training activities of the SRS have been organized and expanded extensively by the Trainee Chair. Two persons will be offered for each position on the ballot. This is to facilitate transfer of duties between outgoing and incoming officers. To facilitate wider membership participation in the society's business a number of committees and task forces have been established, for example the two mentioned above. I believe we are making positive steps to reach these goals.