just to answer what chris has just said i missed the earlier post, but to my knowledge, but i may be wrong even when the ndas was around we never at any agm had to put a proposal in writing and get it seconded.

I would feel that this would be off putting and way to formal, this is my opinion only, but if the members feel the other way better thats fine.

01.12.07

Dear Member,

Annual General Meeting


The AGM will be held on the second Tuesday of the month, on January 8th 2007 in the upstairs meeting room of Rosy O’Gradys Pub, Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6. It will begin at 8.30pm. There will be no meeting in December this year as the meeting room is not available in December due to seasonal commitments.

The AGM is important as it gives all members the chance to propose changes to the club and its structure. It also gives each member the chance to exercise their vote to implement these changes. A club is only as strong as its members so it is vital that you attend and have your voice heard.

To make a proposal you must put it in writing and have it seconded by another member. The proposal must contain both your signature and the signature of the person who seconded it. These proposals must be sent and received by me the Secretary by the Friday the 4th of January at the latest. If they are not in writing, seconded, signed and received in adequate time they will not be included in the Agenda and they will not be up for discussion and vote.

A proposal can be anything from election of Committee members eg Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary etc right down to changing the time and date of the monthly meetings and everything in between.

As I have already said it is vital for you to attend this meeting to forward the hobby of Fishkeeping in Ireland. I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Looking forward to seeing you all in January.

Yours in Fishkeeping



Nessa Duffy

To make a proposal you must put it in writing and have it seconded by another member. The proposal must contain both your signature and the signature of the person who seconded it. These proposals must be sent and received by me the Secretary by the Friday the 4th of January at the latest. If they are not in writing, seconded, signed and received in adequate time they will not be included in the Agenda and they will not be up for discussion and vote.

Again you didnt post or show how this proposal can be sent.I have no proposals myself as I think things are running fine but some of the newer members may have?

The AGM is important as it gives all members the chance to propose changes to the club and its structure. It also gives each member the chance to exercise their vote to implement these changes. A club is only as strong as its members so it is vital that you attend and have your voice heard

I dont mean to have a pop Nessa,its quite the opposite but how can each member have a say if they have to have a suggestion seconded?Also how can your voice be heard if you didn't submit a proposal.

I am aware you need to have a structure and you owe it to members to discuss the most important issues to the club and its future,but I feel this is too formal and will deter members from submitting useful suggestions.Just my 2 cents worth,I wouldnt bother posting if I didnt feel I was helping.

This was something that came up at our last meeting. Any Other Business will take care of any proposals that may arise and are not in writing.

Any member can now come along and make a proposal on the night, verbally and it can be verbally seconded and recorded as such at the meeting.

Sometimes formal is for a good reason. The main reason for the AGM is to get some formal structure put in place to promote the recreation on the Irish Federation of Aquarist Societies and to move the hobby along to accomodate the creation of new clubs as they are born. This in turn allows for judges to be trained so that show can be held so that people can show fish and that in turn will promote better fish keeping standards across the board.

We are not trying to stop people getting involved quite the opposite. We want to make it as easy as possible so that children right through to adults can contribute. Young blood is the main stay of any club. So if the letter comes across as too formal come along on the night and just use your voice.

See you there.

nessa

Would you like me to recommend to LFKS members to attend?

most of them are already ITFS members and so they would have already received a letter in teh post so its up to them if they want to come or not, your self included

Any Other Business will take care of any proposals that may arise and are not in writing.

sorry to throw in my 2 cents as I'm not a member. but AOBs usually tend to kill meetings as out of nowhere you are confronted with poor and messy proposals and discussions that go all over the place.

written proposals have a great advantage:
- the proposer thinks it through, spends time on formulating the proposal and gives a reason
- also quiet and shy people have the chance to propose instead of being brushed over during an AOB. also, I experienced many times that unsound proposals during AOBs were used by "strong voiced" people to surprise a meeting and abuse the situation.
- the proposal can be circulated in advance so that members with a vote can think it through as well and can prepare for arguments/the discussion
- if it is important members will write up a proposal, no problem. 2-3 sentences usually is all that is required. if that is not possible than it probably is not important enough.
- I personally use to allow initiative proposals that are circulated to the voting members directly at the start of a meeting in case something urgent came up after the deadline. the meeting however first votes whether the individual proposals will be added to the agenda or not.

from my experience of chairing meetings and conferences over the years both at work as well as in hobby, all I can say is: get rid of AOB

s180de
A very interesting and constructive post, and good points for consideration for future agm's, but the upcoming meeting is vitally important towards the continued progress of the hobby in general, re federation, website, forum, future shows etc. Therefore i believe we need to have some flexiblity on this particular night.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our current commitee officers, Nessa, Darren and John for their exceptional service in the past groundbreaking year, and i sincerely hope that they can be persuaded to continue. It has been a great year for the ITFS with the successful show, new projector, Hayling island and increased membership as some of the highlights.

Derek Doyle

Firstly would like to agree with everything Derek has said.

I only came back to the club after the show in May which I really enjoyed. There is a fantastic buzz around and we have to try and build on this.

S180de made some valid points and they should be taken on board in the future for both the Club and Federation.

Thanks again to everybody for all their hard work during the year and hopefully a few more people can be moved into action this year, with all we hope to achieve in the fishkeeping arena a lot of hard work is going to be needed, and not just from the usual few.

So this will be a year for us all to get our Fat A***s off the comfortable stools and give a helping hand.

And Happy New Year to Everybody.............................Tom.