Fellow members and supporters,<br><br>A key priority for 2009-10 has to be building the chapter and make it successful. <br><br>Before being elected to my present role, I heard lots of people saying they felt this chapter was
overly Sydney- and Melbourne-focussed not just in activity but in
priorities. There was also a fair few people saying (both among those
who stayed/newly joined, and some who lapsed) that the chapter was overly
focused on central or headline priorities and, in their view, gave insufficient support to members.<br><br>Using the figures from the secretary's report at the AGM, in regional terms our numbers were stable, here in WA we
went from 5 to 3 members (I am in fact the only original WA member left)
and, even more concerningly, nationally we lost 2/3 of our initial
intake although we actually gained a fair number of people. We need to do *far*
more to retain members, and to give those outside the two biggest cities
reasons to join and ways to participate - otherwise this chapter will fail. I ran on a platform to that effect and got support for
it, so I'm hoping that means the members trust me to find ways to act
on those concerns.<br>
<br>
I am happy for people to
approach me privately with project ideas they want feedback on or
support for. I think peer support is vital to keeping people's
enthusiasm up, and I understand not everyone wants to go public with
projects before they're ready. I would note in saying so that I can't give "official chapter approval" to anything although I can certainly seek it on your behalf from the committee if you wish me to.<br>
<br>
On the wiki I've been working on an early draft for a regional
participation drive, and I'd also appreciate comments on that. I'll be
adding more to it after the first committee meeting on the 20th as I'll
know then what I have support for.<br><br>kindest regards<br>Andrew Owens<br>(WM-AU committee general member)<br>