by Dave Evans
On Thursday, July 29th, 2021, ORSSA held what was probably the first Special General Meeting in our fifty year history. It was held online, on Zoom, and attended by 35 members, indicating the level of interest in what was a very significant motion being proposed. For a Special General Meeting, a quorum is the members present, so the meeting was duly constituted.
The motion was that the Society do away with geographical chapters, and adopt a structure for the Executive Committee (EC) with fewer members: 12, down from the current 23. Membership Relationship and Event management roles will replace the chapters.
This new approach will allow the Society to more readily address the virtual requirements of a digital, post-pandemic world. Regional face to face activities will resume as soon as the lockdown level allows this.
There was considerable positive discussion about several aspects, and several additional ideas noted. When a vote was taken, the new structure was approved by 27 votes to 2.
The new structure requires some alterations to the Constitution, which will be tabled at the AGM in September. Assuming this is passed, it will come into effect from 1st January 2022.
The new structure, a more detailed analysis of the implications, and some typical ‘job descriptions’ for new EC posts are to follow.
One of the reasons for this change is that we have increasingly struggled to fill the posts in our chapter committees in recent years, and doing away with them removes the need for their secretaries, meetings, minutes, etc. On the other hand, the new structure below does have a lot of other, ‘non-EC’ positions. The current chapter chairman activity, for instance, is likely to become a regional event host type of role.
Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the opportunities to support the Society by serving in any of these positions is invited to contact the president, vice president or secretary, as we will be nominating people for them to be elected at the AGM in September. The Executive Committee will obviously be grateful for all the support we can get, to get the new structure up and running effectively as quickly as possible.
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