An update from WMS Executive Officers

The fees for being a WMS Member and attending the Congress or Pre-Congress Teaching Course have substantially changed over the last year.

The good news is that this change is not driven by a willingness to increase the fees, on the contrary in fact.

The 3 main objectives for changing the fees, apart from the need to adapt to the Covid-19 situation, are:

1. To promote WMS Membership

There are discounts for in-person and virtual attendance at the congress if you are a WMS Member. Please have a look here: https://www.worldmusclesociety.org/page/membership as there are many other advantages to being part of the community.

We encourage all members to be involved, perhaps taking on an active role in the Society. We want to open up the committees and more generally the organisation of the Society to all members who wish to get involved. There is no need to be elected, just let us know how and if you wish to help in your application form.

2. To be more inclusive

Anybody who wishes to join, should be able to join. Finances should not be an issue.

This is the reason why the student membership and congress registration costs have been dramatically reduced. It is also why we have introduced the membership grant.

We want to reassure anyone who feels they cannot afford membership to benefit from reduced congress fees that regardless of where you work, the stage of your career or any other personal reason you can contact secretary@worldmusclesoiciety.org, (currently Prof. Laurent Servais, Oxford, UK) and briefly explain why you wish to join and why you feel you should apply for a membership grant. Please be assured that your request will be dealt with in full confidentiality.

3. To promote sustainability

Sustainable options are generally always a better deal for everyone involved. Online attendance at the congress and the positive choice to receive your WMS Journal online rather than a printed version of the journal will also be cheaper for you.

Regarding in-person/virtual attendance : Please note that in-person attendance includes access to the virtual platform. We have a clear cancellation policy as set out in our terms and conditions here.

We are all conscious of constantly changing rules for travel, and completely understand the challenges of planning whether or not we will be able to travel six months down the line.

WMS cannot cover all this risk, and we also cannot dedicate huge administrative resources process lots of reimbursement requests.

We have therefore made the choice to ask members to cover this risk, taking into consideration that if you are ultimately not able to travel, we will be sad not to meet you face to face, but we will nevertheless be happy to interact on our ever-improving platform.

Let's not forget also that WMS is a non-profitable association. All benefits must be reinvested into the objectives and activities of the WMS Community.

If you wish to know more about projects that are supported by WMS, click here. There is no lost money. Only money re-invested in Myology...

Thank you for your support

The WMS Executive Officers