[Wikimediaau-l] Membership, regional participation and other things

[Craig Franklin]

Hear hear!

 

I'd like to add some of my own to cents to this discussion.  The turnover in
Queensland isn't quite as bad, but based on the secretary's report and my
own observations of who's been showing up to the AGMs, we had a forty
percent turnover of membership in the last year.  As Andrew says, that sort
of statistic is simply not sustainable in the long term, and it *must* be
addressed by the committee in 2010.  As Andrew says, a lot of this is due to
the fact that a lot of the chapter activity to date has been concentrated in
Sydney and Melbourne, while things have been fairly quiet everywhere else.  

 

To a degree, in the case of Brisbane at least, this has partially been our
own fault; events and perks for members simply are not going to materialise
out of this air for us.  At the same time though, there has to be a
realistic commitment from those in the southern/eastern states to assist us
in the northern/western in growing our local communities and membership.  I
note with satisfaction that those I've spoken to in the committee seem to
"get it", so hopefully there can be some real progress on this front.

 

In closing, I think Andrew's idea is an excellent one, and I'd encourage
everyone (particularly those of us in Queensland) to get aboard and start
brainstorming.

 

Cheers,

Craig F.

 

 

 

 

From: wikimediaau-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:wikimediaau-l-bounces at lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Sent: Sunday, 13 December 2009 7:41 PM
To: Wikimedia-au
Subject: [Wikimediaau-l] Membership, regional participation and other things

 

Fellow members and supporters,

A key priority for 2009-10 has to be building the chapter and make it
successful. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

kindest regards
Andrew Owens
(WM-AU committee general member)

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