Closing Report – March 2013
Membership & Finances
As has already been reported, the interim committee has succeeded in its main goals of regularising the finances of the association and repairing the membership system.
A report on the association’s finances will be presented by the Treasurer.
The membership system is once again up and running and we are happy to report that those members who had been left without membership cards have now received their cards. We are also happy to report that new members have been signing up since the relaunch of the membership system, especially in the run up to the AGM. We are also committed to providing membership cards as soon as possible to any new members who sign up to the association in advance of the AGM. With the legacy system restored we have moved on to building the new system on a consolidated platform, this will be launching before the AGM, and will be an important modernisation and standardisation for the incoming committees.
AGM
The AGM has been called for March 13th, at which time the interim committee will step down and a vote of members present at the AGM will be taken in order to elect a new Executive Committee.
The choice of date was decided upon by the committee in the hopes of attracting greater numbers of members to the meeting so as to ensure that as many members as possible could take part in the vote for the new Executive Committee. This decision was based on feedback that Saturday and Sundays are not optimal for people to attend due to family and actually being out playing Airsoft itself.
The deadline for nominees and for motion proposals was set at 5pm, February 1st, and at that time three nominations for executive positions and a number of proposals had been set forth. These were largely received via email and entered on the IAA forum at the soonest possible time.
A process for winding up the association was also developed and put in place should nominations not be received by that deadline. Thankfully, this process was not needed, but is now contained in the Associations operations manual for future committees.
The nominees for the 2013 committee are Kieran Brady for Chairman, Graham Read (of the outgoing interim committee) for Secretary, and Bryan Roche for Public Relations Officer. Empty committee positions can be filled by the Exec at a later date by co-opting volunteers as per the rules set out in the IAA Constitution. People interested in these positions should make themselves known to the new committee after the AGM.
Debate on Nominations and Motions for the AGM
A sub-forum has been set up for the discussion of new committee nominations and the proposed motions which will be presented to the membership at the AGM. Any questions on the plans which the future committee members would like to pursue in the coming year should be addressed through that channel in order to allow all members to take part in any debate.
The committee would like to ask that as many members as possible who have questions get involved in this debate so as to ensure that they understand the plans of the association in the coming year.
Website
As previously reported, Daniel O’Connor has volunteered his time to develop a brand new website for the IAA and this project is very near completion.
IAA App
Vice-Chairman of the interim committee, Alan Elmes, has been working on the development of an app for mobile devices which will be used to promote airsoft and will be freely available through the relevant app stores.
Administrative Guide
The guide to running the association has been completed and will serve as a very useful document for subsequent committees. The guide explains how the various areas of the associations work should ideally be conducted from the accounts and finances to addressing queries from the public and members and dealing with media issues. The guide will be made available, along with the IAA’s digital archive, to the incoming committee.
Operations
The day to day operations of the IAA over the last couple of months of the interim committees term have included some very positive queries from people interested in setting up new airsoft sites and retail outlets, suggesting that there is a very positive attitude towards the sustainability of airsoft as an industry in Ireland. Where possible, the IAA provided advice to those who were seeking information on how to go about the setting up of these businesses. We wish each of these people the very best of luck with their plans.
The interim committee was set on one goal, fix the structural issues in the IAA. Our objective was to remove the legacy barriers and obstacles that take up a committee’s time and distract it for actually moving the sport forward. Future volunteers can get involved and dedicate their time to tasks the association should be doing, not tasks to simply keep the lights on in the association.
The following list details the projects taken on by the interim committee:
Wave 1 – “Operational Operations” – 7th September 2012
System access – Done
Exec committee established – Done
Regular exec meetings – Done
Communications online – Done
Committee access to email and Doc’s – Done
Basic communications process with exec SO in effect – Done
Membership address – Done
Membership equipment – Done
Membership process operational with dedicated admin – Done
Access to accounts – Done (with delays)
Basic site and retailer “approved register” established – Done
Re-establish communication with government departments – Done
Wave 2 – “Operational Improvement” – 22nd September 2012
Basic adjustment to current website to better promote airsoft – Done (limited scope on current template)
Begin website project that includes new membership system – Done
Create operation manual for association – Done
Create new affiliation process – Out of scope
Resolve open accounts issues – Done
Wave 3 – Long term stability – 28th Feb 2013
Publish new website – In process – to be completed
Launch new membership system – to be completed
Hold AGM – Called
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