ISBA 2016 in Banff???

Scott Schmidler, Steve Scott and myself just submitted a proposal for holding the next World ISBA Conference in 2016 in Banff, Canada! After enjoying the superb environment of the Advanced in Scalable Bayesian computation workshop last week, we thought it would be worth a try as a potential location for the next meeting, esp. when considering the superlative infrastructure of the Banff Centre (meaning we really do not have to be local to be local organisers!), the very reasonable rates for renting the site and securing two hundred rooms, the potential for a special collaboration with BIRS, the scarcity of alternative proposals (as far as I can fathom) and the ultimate mountain environment… I remember fondly the IMS annual meeting of 2002 there,  with a great special lecture by Hans Künsch and, exceptionally, an RSS Read Paper by Steve Brooks, Paulo Guidici and Gareth Roberts.  (Not mentioning en exhilarating solo scramble up Mount Temple and another one with Arnaud Guillin up the chimneys of Mount Edith!)  Since the deadline was this Saturday, March 15, we should hear pretty soon if we are successful in this bid. (Good luck to our Scottish friends from Edinburgh for their bid for holding ISBA 2018! Moving from the feet of Mount Rundle [above] to the feet of Arthur’s Seat would make for a great transition.)