Hello Last week, I attended Wikimedia France General Assembly, which was followed by some interesting discussions. And the Offline UserGroup was actually nominaly mentionned as one of the contentious UG for the future WMF board elections. Contentious because it is a transversal thematic organisation, where most members are also likely to be members of other UG and/or chapters. There are also such UG, such as WikiWomen, Art and Feminism, Whose Knowledge etc.  though a strong minority in the 100 UG. So, what's the deal.... Recently, the WMF has approved the fact all UserGroups will participate in the election of WMF board seats. The next occurence will be in a few weeks. This include our UserGroup. As part of the currently discussion, it is suggested that it would be highly inappropriate that people vote or even discuss in several UG, when they are members of several UG/Chapters. It is also considered that the UG should have a public clear process to make decisions as it would not be okay that contact groups choose nominees and vote nominees without getting members feedback. It also raises the issue of why contacts are contacts precisely and what their roles and responsibilities are. It is also suggested that UG could also decide not to vote on the WMF board elections if they chose not to participate. But on one hand, group members should decide that, and on the other hand, offline UG could provide a relevant input to the discussion (the largest majority of UG are defined by their geographies, and there are not so many UG that are defined by their activity focus... so strategically speaking, I think the Offline group should speak up). I'd like to note that, at this point, Offline has two parallel membership lists... not a big deal, but probably something to clarify at some point. Additionaly, at some point, our UG will have to submit an annual report. This is mandatory to stay a UG. I do not know when the deadline is... perhaps our current group contacts do. And last, I'd like to raise the issue of our contacts precisely. The UG was created nearly a year ago, using the opportunity of the Berlin Conf. Thank you for those who made it happen ! Yet, the UG contacts were self-appointed, rather than selected by the (vague) members (that was completely logical given the situation, I do not criticize this process). Today, it would probably be more appropriate to have contacts who are chosen by members and to have contacts that are actually *active* in the UG. At the moment, one contact is active, whilst I have never heard anything from the second. Well, I met him once at Wikimania, but I have never seen him active either on this list, or on the wiki (he did not even list his name himself, Sj did it for him). Being an affiliate comes with some obligations (even if they are very very light). And it also comes with some benefits (even if it is not entirely always clear which they are). I know we are part of this group mostly because we are simply sharing a belief that offline is part of our mouvement and benefit the global community. Some are mostly observers and supporters, whilst it is a daily job for others. We can not meet very often (contrariwise to geographically-based UG), and we have to thank those who made it happened that offline members meet, such as after Wikimania Montreal. And I am sure most of us would agree that this is what the role of the UG should be. Sharing info, common opportunities, and so on. Yet... an WMF affiliate has some obligations... so how should we deal with that in the least time-consuming, least-bureaucratic, least-expensive way, yet playing our role in representing, recruting and promoting offline in the mouvement ? Flo