Seattle is known for Starbucks and software… and now also for statisticians, as over 6,800 people attended the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings, held at the Washington State Convention Center from August 8–13, 2015.

IMS invited program co-chairs Antonio Lijoi and Igor Prünster, said of their involvement, “The experience as IMS invited program co-chairs at the JSM in Seattle has been highly rewarding. Indeed, all sessions had large audiences and included talks of the highest quality that stimulated lively discussions. The whole organization procedures in the run up to JSM were quite smooth. Although putting together a program consisting of 30 invited sessions has not been an easy task, our work has benefited from helpful support from Judith Rousseau (IMS Program Secretary), Elyse Gustafson, previous IMS invited program chairs and members of the JSM organizing team at ASA who promptly replied to all our queries.”

Kathleen Wert, ASA’s Director of Meetings, said this JSM was the biggest yet. There were 702 sessions (including roundtable discussions). Over 3800 abstracts (paper, panel and poster presentations) were submitted, and there were more than 400 poster presentations (including invited posters), and 183 Speed presentations. New at JSM this year were the “Spotlight Seattle” feature in the exhibit hall, with food, coffee, popcorn and beer and wine tastings; the opening mixer held inside the exhibit hall Sunday evening; and the live Social Media wall with selfie station.

Propose an invited session for next year’s JSM

Next year’s JSM will be in Chicago, July 30–August 4, 2016. Organizers have issued a final call for invited session proposals: see below.

This a final call for high quality invited session proposals sponsored by the IMS for the 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) to be held July 30–August 4, 2016 in Chicago. Keep in mind that the selection of invited session proposals is a competitive process due to the limited amount of invited sessions.
The theme of JSM 2016 is “The Extraordinary Power of Statistics” but sessions need not necessarily adhere to this theme. Sessions are 110 minutes in length and can take a variety of formats. Please reference the article “JSM 2016 Invited Session Proposals Sought” for details. Traditionally, IMS has favored invited sessions with four speakers, or three speakers and discussant. The ideal session involves fresh, important work that many JSM attendees will find interesting. Many of the most stimulating sessions present diverse viewpoints and strategies on a common topic, with speakers coming from different institutions and taking different approaches toward similar problems.
The deadline for submitting invited session proposals is 11:59pm EST on Thursday, September 3, 2015. All proposals must be submitted via the online system by the due date.
We look forward to your proposals!