 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group The President's Pen Spen Ingamells |
Happy New Year
First let me take this opportunity to wish each and every one of our members and their loved ones a happy, healthy and prosperous 1992!
Sam Firouzian took a two week break from close of business on Friday December 20 1991. To thank Sam on your behalf for his efforts I battled the peak-hour Friday-afternoon-before-Christmas traffic to call into the office to buy him a Christmas drink. That's when he informed me its official - there are now more than 6,000 of us in the Group.
While we pondered the question over a pot of Cooper's Ale - I was born in South Australia you see - as to whether there can be any downside to this phenomenal growth of the last five months it came to me. There we were at 7.00 p.m. in the Sherlock Holmes bar in St. Kilda Rd., with Sam concerned about being late home, when it struck me that hotels don't keep spouses apart for as long or as often as computers.
Expanding the Group
That was it! That was the downside, if there is one. It means there's probably another couple of thousand computer widows and/or widowers out there now due to our membership drive. In spite of this we are currently developing plans to double this figure in the next twelve months. It really is quite sensational that our Group managed to retain a membership of 4,000 in 7½ years and a further 2,000 in less than 5 months. As Jimmy Durante would have exclaimed looking at the committee's new plans, "you ain't seen nothin' yet"!
Gratitude and Appreciation
Of course none of this could have happened without the assistance, support and dedicated efforts of many people. So many in fact space does not permit listing of their names, but each one of them knows who I mean. There are all those who assist at general and SIG meetings, the Committee members, staff and especially the volunteers who have worked so tirelessly to the discipline of a roster schedule.
Without these volunteers your PD/Shareware orders would not be copied and despatched and without their patient handling of the hundreds of telephone inquires much of the Office Manager's work would go undone. I will ask the Editor to give special recognition to the volunteer force by listing their names in the next issue of PC Update.
Thanks to the Industry Also
As was announced at the Annual General Meeting the Building Fund has been established. At the same time Borland, who gave an incredibly professional and impressive demonstration of their new Windows products, contributed by spontaneously donating the first $500 to the fund. Thank you again to Greg Joy and his enthusiastic and very professional team. Thanks must also be given to the dozens of companies who supported our Group with presentations, hardware and software. Let's hope they're not going to miss the opportunity of donating a few of the bricks in our new building.
1991 AGM and Elections
On behalf of the committee I apologise for the problems which so disastrously affected our Annual General Meeting and elections.
There was absolutely no reason for anything to go wrong, but it did. For three months prior the Committee had discussed the AGM and all of the arrangements pertaining to it. It was clearly decided, exactly what was to be the format, what tasks needed to be accomplished, by what time and by whom.
All doors were to be blocked, except at the rear, where three tables were to be placed. There was to be a person seated at each table with approximately a third each of the list of financial members, broken up into alphabetical groups with name, address and membership number. There were to be another couple of people at the door to ensure that no one gained entry unless they had received their ballot paper and had their names marked off the list. Sounds perfect doesn't it, but it didn't happen. When I arrived at 5.58 the hall was over a third full, but no ballot papers had been issued. There were no ballot papers and no voting rolls.
My displeasure was obvious! I just couldn't speak with anyone for a few minutes, so I worked it off by setting up the stage, which also hadn't been prepared as arranged. My anger was overtaken by embarrassment, as it dawned on me that something had to be done.
Perhaps, as chairman my correct action may have been to adjourn the election to another date, but I was dissuaded from so doing. I was assured "everything would be all right shortly". It wasn't Clunies Ross staff assisted by copying ballot papers for us, but they ran out of paper. Remember my having to ask members to tear the ballot paper out of their magazine?
Some of the assembled membership understandably became unsettled, impatient or agitated. As President I apologise to the members at the meeting for the time taken to conclude the business of the evening. It shall not happen again!
To the new Management Committee, the retiring Committee members, those who nominated unsuccessfully for committee positions and all members, I welcome support and assistance in all areas of the Group's activities. In this way each of us may contribute to the implementation of new ideas and the administrative procedures, which will ensure our Group operates more effectively for the benefit of all its members.
Reprinted from the Feb-Mar 1992 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
