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Executive Director's AGM Report 1999 (Members only)

The 1998-99 year has been one of constant evolution in both the nature of the work I do for the Society and in the volume of it. I'd like to chart the course of the past year in the evolutionary terms I mentioned above.

THE OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATIVE AREA

At the last AGM in November 1998 we had just found "temporary" office space - and we're still in it. This means that carpet is still not tacked to the floor, the color scheme is a wild mix of orange, white and blue, and proper storage for files and documents doesn't exist. What we do have is an effective communications centre from which to reach out to the world - it's all a matter of priority (this will change in the new year).

In December, with the unparalleled assistance of Beverley Irvine, a part-time contractor, we performed the migration of previously contracted-out financial and membership services into our office. This meant bringing our PC and printer back from the NZ Computer Society and transferring membership records out of their professional membership management system (where we nestled in a small sub-corner of the database) into an Access database which I created from an Excel spreadsheet import. I am still looking for an Access programmer to iron out the last kinks. In the process I discovered that no member had been invoiced since February of 1998 - not a situation designed to improve membership levels or records (see Membership Section below).

We also migrated the Financial system and have struggled through the year with an accounting package which did not meet our needs, especially in generating reports intelligible to non-accountants. Again, Beverley's work and skills were invaluable. Unfortunately we did not have the budget to employ her even half time, and so we lost her to a full-time position elsewhere. Beverley continued to do our 'after hours' from February until August, when Lyudmyla Arkhypova took up an 32 hours per month contract to provide Financial Services for the Society. Lyudmyla has done excellent work, especially in preparing all the documentation required by the Treasurer, the Accountant and the Auditors for the end of year financial reports. In addition she is performing the migration to the new accounting package which will produce useful financial information for people like myself to work with.

Actrix Networks have been very supportive, providing access to their high-speed network (I can get all that email very quickly <g>), so I put the office PC, laptop, and printer onto a hub, and we are connected to the world!

As I flagged at the last AGM, the public relations company we were using was not delivering what the Society needed, so I ended the relationship. We were fortunate to have the services on Don Corban for a couple of projects, where his extensive contacts in the radio industry expanded our working relationships there. I would like to note that when we had six weeks to organise the Summit (see Chair's report) our former agency asked for the opportunity to work with us again. They performed extremely well, and we have used occasionally since, though I handle the majority of the communication with the media now.

I also organise, attend, and record the minutes of the Council meetings, and convert them for the web site.

COMMUNICATIONS

The final migration was the move in February 1999 from our former ISP to Actrix Networks. Being in the same building undoubtedly helps (!) but I have found them to be unfailingly willing to give time to ISOCNZ needs, which are of course, always urgent! I have learnt a lot in the process, and feel that I could almost claim "half a propeller-head" now and much of that due to Actrix management and staff. The interim web-site upgrade has proven worthwhile, and gaps in design are clearly identified for the full revamp. Under discussion is the idea of making the web-site more of an information clearing house, meeting the needs of a range of internet users, from "newbies", through E-commerce issues and on to breaking technology news. It is not intended that we create all the content, but that we provide links to it. Much as I enjoy maintaining the web-site, this takes a lot of time and is one area I plan to pass on to the new assistant, if the budget is approved.

The Mailing lists are the arena for the democratic process, and as such need to act as a vehicle for as much information passing to members and interested others as possible. The evolution of this form of communication has seen the non-council lists go from one (isocnz-l) to six: -l, -members, -announce, -intl, -cop, and -pacfis. The idea was to give members their own forum for discussing ISOCNZ business and to allow a more formal consultative process to be set up. The volume on the members list just before and after the 1998 AGM saw many members unsubscribe from that list. I conducted a poll of the members and the result was the establishment of a low-traffic announce list which we ask all members to remain on, and the public can subscribe as well. This has worked fairly well, though the last two weeks have seen a number of members unsubscribe from the members list because of the volume and the "tone" of the postings. This concerns me deeply, and confirms that the alternative web-based system will be my priority for 2000. I've been investigating such interactive, web-based systems as slashdot since mid-year, but have been unable to "clear the decks" enough to spend the time needed to recommend to Council an integrated solution/s which will meet all the Society's needs - communication, information, consultation, and ease of both creation and access. It is not intended to do away with mailing lists, simply to provide an alternative.

MEMBERSHIP

Last week we completed the purge of out-of-date and uncontactable members - dropping our membership by forty individual members and four corporate members in one swoop. At the same time there has been a steady flow of new members, including one Corporate Platinum member, over the same period leading up to the AGM. I believe that we will end up with a net membership of around 200 paid up members by Christmas, the position where we were before cleaning out the database, and this without the somewhat unusual method of gaining members by including the membership fee in the registration for the Annual Conference (postponed until 2000 because of the change to the financial year and Y2K pressures in potential attendees) as was the practice in previous years. I note that we gained approximately 20 members at the Summit - attendees were given the opportunity to join with no premium on registration fees for non-members.

As part of the Business Plan I prepared for the Council last November I recommended introducing four levels of Corporate membership, with a scale of membership fees to allow smaller businesses to become Partners. The new category of "Corporate Bronze" membership has proven popular, with six businesses taking up this option since it was introduced in May. The AGM needs to ratify the subscription levels, and I recommend this to the members as it is proving worthwhile.

Maintaining up to date contact details for members remains a vexed issue - I can understand forgetting to update physical addresses, but I fail to understand how members of the an i nternet society can forget to notify change of email addresses. This not only adds to my work as list owner on behalf of the Society, but it means that members miss out on receiving information from the Society.

RELATIONSHIPS, EVENTS AND PROFILE

I place these all together as they are inseparable. I brought to the Society a range of networks, local and international, and have spent a lot of time developing new, and extending old, networks for the Society. Apart from the obvious benefits, one of the advantages of this has been a reduction in travel costs where I have been able to either share costs or make use of already scheduled travel for other purposes to do ISOCNZ work. Full details are in my regular Council reports, but the relationships and events include:

  • APEC Women Leader's Network Meeting (Kuala Lumpur,Sept '98, Wellington June '99) - workshop participant, remit writing, drafting group
  • NZ Computer Society - Dunedin and Christchurch branches, March '99 - guest speaker
  • UniForum- Rotorua, April '99 - attendee, workshop presenter
  • BPW Wellington - April '99 - guest panel speaker - Y2k preparedness for small business
  • NZ National Internet Summit - Auckland, April '99 - Organiser
  • ISOCNZ Internet Code of Practice Launch - Wellington, July 99 - Organiser
  • TUANZ Conference - Wellington, August 99 - attendee
  • International Federation of Business and Professional Women Triennial Congress - Vancouver, Sept 99 - delegate, resolution writer and presenter
  • Joint EU/US International Conference on Combating Child Pornography on the Internet - Vienna, Sept-Oct 99 - highly vocal delegate
  • FCC (Federal Communication Commission) Seminar on the Internet into 2000 - Washington DC, Oct 99 - attendee
  • NZ Police Electronic Crimes Unit Conference - Auckland, Oct 99 - attendee and guest speaker
  • ICANN Meeting - Los Angeles, Nov '99 - delegate (and official NZ government advisor to the NZ representative at the Government Advisory Committee [GAC]

In addition there have been the briefings of all Parliamentary Parties IT spokespeople on the Summit issues; attendance at a variety of Beehive functions; networking or work with: UNESCO, NZ Computer Society, TUANZ, (E)-Vision, the National Council of Women, the Pacific Islands Internet Interns Project, Statistics New Zealand,Maori Women's Welfare League, The Consumers Institute, BPW NZ, Zonta, ThinkQuest International, the Media, Telecom and allied Ministers meetings over 0867. I'm the ISOCNZ representative on the NZ Public Key Authorisation Framework(PKAF) Working Group (an NZCS initiative with the Ministry of Commerce), the chair of an APTLD ICANN Equitable Funding Working Group, and I read (and send!) seemingly endless email.

CONCLUSION

The position of Executive Director has evolved over the course of it's first year of existence from a largely administrative role into an strongly pro-active outreach position. I find myself ten days out from the AGM tired, enthusiastic, anxious for the future of the Internet, excited about the possibilities of the ever expanding Internet, frustrated by email volumes, and passionate about the value of electronic communication. If it sounds like a recipe for burn out, it is. Apart from the assistance noted in the "Office and Administrative" section above, and a few hours of "Temp" work, I have worked on my own. The Council has recognised that this is no longer sustainable and has included funding for a full time personal assistant in the Budget which is before the AGM.

THANKS

It must be obvious by now that this job could not have been done without a lot of 'moral' and practical support. I want to acknowledge the Chair, Jim Higgins, for putting the time in to get me started, and then trusting me to 'get on with it'. All of the Councillors have been strongly supportive, and put a great deal into the Society in spite of their already heavy commitments to work, family, and occasionally a "life outside" of here.The crew at Actrix, have, amongst other things,made mailing list nightmares into a more pleasant part of my daily routine.Beverley and Lyudmyla have made it possible to have the efficient systems we now have. The members of the Admin Committee (a changing group including Crs Higgins, March, Harris, Jackson, Davidson, and Farrar) have tackled the ongoing development of, and support for, the role. Councillor Frank March in his dual roles as Secretary and Admin Committee Chair has been an invaluable support, and without his mentoring role I would not have been able to perform as well as I have for the Society. Finally - I want to thank the members for your commitment to the preservation of the Internet as an open and accessible medium for everyone - without you I would, quite literally have nothing to do.

Sue Leader
Executive Director

© 1999 The Internet Society of New Zealand
Last updated 2 December 1999

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