 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group At the Helm Lloyd Borrett |
 |
The Interim Committee Is About To Go
By the time most of you read this page the August 1992 Annual General Meeting of Melb PC will be a week or so away, which means that the interim committee is soon to be replaced by a committee elected by you and your fellow members.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank George Skarbek and Giuseppe De Simone who had no hesitation in coming forward and taking up the positions of secretary and treasurer respectively on the interim committee. As I write this Giuseppe will be spending his weekend trying to finish a full reconciliation of the financial records of the group. George will be taking a break in the mountains skiing before returning and turning his efforts to organising the AGM election. I expect to be devoting most of my remaining time as your interim president to meeting with those who will be standing for election and writing the Presidents Report.
United They Stand?
As I write this column I'm receiving calls from various members who say they intend to nominate for election. Many are telling me they would find it difficult to work on a committee with certain other members. Some have told me that they are standing because they couldn't tolerate certain other members being on a Melb PC committee. All of this is hardly a satisfactory recipe for a workable committee being elected at the AGM.
During the coming weeks it is my intention to talk to all members standing for election at the AGM and convene meetings to resolve some outstanding personality and political conflicts.
It is my hope that by getting everybody face to face and discussing the issues the majority of those nominated can agree on the structure of a new, workable committee combining the best talents available. I would hope that those in agreement but not a part of the new committee will withdraw their nominations. Thus at the AGM we may have fifteen members standing as a united block against any remaining dissenters.
Proxy Forms and Postal Ballot Papers
I'm told by George Skarbek that he has already received forms from many members granting the chairman of the AGM, yours truly, proxy votes. I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand I can understand why many members may feel that I am in a position to be better informed on the state of the group, and thus be better placed to decide what the outcome of the AGM should be. On the other hand, voting within Melb PC is not compulsory. You don't have to vote. Maybe Melb PC would be better served by a smaller number of informed voters. By reading the President's Report and the Treasurer's Report accompanying this issue of PC Update I hope you will become better informed and thus confident enough to cast your own vote. This edition of the magazine includes a postal ballot paper for use by those who cant attend the AGM. However, if you still decide to give your proxy to me as chairman of the AGM, I will not be the only one deciding how your vote is used. It will be a joint decision of the independent members of the interim committee, George Skarbek, Giuseppe De Simone and myself.
If the goal of getting a group of fifteen members to stand for committee as a united block is achieved then a large number of proxies held by the interim committee merely improves the chances of that outcome.
Special Resolutions
It is only reasonable that since a large number of members seem prepared to give me their proxy votes that I declare my position about the special resolutions that will be decided on at the AGM.
On the issue of Melb PC buying a building, I'm against the proposal at this time. As you will see by reading the President's Report and the Treasurer's Report, it can hardly be said that Melb PC currently has adequate financial and business management practices in place. The Melb PC committee needs to demonstrate to the membership that it has control of its finances, and that it has a good track record in setting and achieving the goals presented to the membership in annual business plans. Only then, with a sound proposal before it, should the membership grant the committee permission to proceed towards the purchase of a building. Note that refusing permission to proceed at this time should not rule out a building fund being established in a separate trust account and the group calling for donations to the building fund or diverting a percentage of profits into the building fund.
I'm also against Melb PC operating a members' buying service along the lines seen in the last twelve months. When I started Melb PC back in 1983, there were many who believed that the group should operate such a service. Indeed the fastest growing groups in the USA were merely group buying schemes. I wanted much more than that for Melb PC and so did the majority of other members at that time. None of the overseas groups survived, but Melb PC has gone from success to success.
Certainly allow properly vetted special offers from manufacturers or distributors to be promoted to the Melb PC membership and taken up. But don't allow Melb PC to become yet another discount PC store with all manner of dubious merchandise being touted to members. Melb PC receives a great deal of support and respect from the local computer industry. Much of this support would vanish if the perception of the local computer industry became that Melb PC was a group buying service in competition with them
Since the very beginning my vision of Melb PC has been that it should become to Victorian computer users what the RACV is to car drivers. The RACV won't sell you a car, service your car, or sell you anything but minor car accessories, but it will offer advice and support in doing these and many other things, and provide the assistance you need in an emergency.
Changing Your Proxy or Postal Ballot
I am told that certain enthusiastic members have been out on the campaign trail seeking proxy forms from those in attendance at SIG meetings. I am deeply concerned that members who have already handed over proxy forms will have done so without being aware of the details contained in the President's Report and the Treasurer's Report I ask all members to carefully read these reports.
At the time of writing this column the interim committee is still investigating allegations of misconduct, which if true could be extremely serious, which have been made against some members of the previous committee. It is to be hoped that the interim committee will end up simply dismissing these allegations. However it is also possible that the interim committee may be required to formally reprimand some members, or suspend some members, or even expel some members. If the last two possibilities occur then the proxy forms held by such members will become invalid.
If you have already given a proxy form to another member, or the chairman of the meeting, and now after reading the President's Report, the Treasure's Report, and my comments in this column, wish to cancel that previous proxy form you are perfectly entitled to do so.
Firstly, turning up at the AGM and registering to vote cancels any outstanding proxy form or postal ballot. Secondly, you may send to the returning officer a new postal ballot paper or proxy form upon which you state that you cancel any existing postal ballot or proxy form and date and sign this statement
AGM Voter Registration
Yes, I know this issue was covered in last month's column, but it is important enough to be repeated.
We intend introducing new arrangements for voter registration at the AGM. All members are asked to bring their membership card. There will be a number of tables at which you can present your membership card or PC Update magazine mailing label in order to be registered to vote and receive your voting papers. Those who fail to bring their membership card or a PC Update magazine mailing label will have to queue twice: firstly in a queue where proof of identity will be needed in order to be given your membership number, and then in the other queue to register to vote.
If at all possible please try to be early, say 5:30 pm so as to allow sufficient time for voter registration. Random access will begin at 6:00 pm. as usual, and IBM's presentation on OS/2 will then follow. The AGM will be held after that. Thus latecomers will miss out on the really worthwhile part of the meeting!
Almost Done
As you can see from the above comments, the interim committee still has a lot of work to do before the night of the AGM. However, I am confident that common sense will prevail and that the outcome of the AGM will be a united committee keen to face the challenges before it.
George Skarbek, Giuseppe De Simone and myself all wish the incoming committee well, and look forward to returning to our previous roles as relics of an earlier era in the history of Melb PC. We also wish to thank all of the members who placed their trust in us. Without the ongoing support from the huge cast of loyal Melb PC activists and volunteers the whole concept of an interim committee could not have worked.
To the majority of members who have probably found all of the recent committee goings on totally bewildering I offer the following thoughts. You joined Melb PC because you already thought it had much to offer you. The high membership renewal rate Melb PC enjoys proves that Melb PC delivers on that promise. So tell others about what you have gained from being a Melb PC member.
The Future
As this will hopefully be the last time I will have an opportunity to address all members for quite some time, I would like to sign off by reminding you of my vision of Melb PC becoming to Victorian computer users what the RACV is to car drivers.
I look forward to the day when I enter the city centre Melb PC headquarters, walk past the high school class waiting to enter the Melbourne Computer Museum, and receive a friendly greeting from the receptionist. My membership card enables me to go upstairs and enter the Melb PC library. I look up some magazine articles and scan some books about a topic of interest. I then go down the hall to the "Test Laboratory" where I read the manuals of a couple of related software packages and on choosing "Package x"load it on an available computer system and work through the demonstration and tutorial. That night I attend a regional SIG meeting in Broadford and enjoy the warm companionship of other computer users. Ten o'clock the next morning I'm in Ballarat and my notebook computer breaks down. I've got an important demonstration that afternoon. One phone call and I've got the name of the nearest Melb PC approved service centre. The next night I call the Melb PC BBS and discuss what I learnt about "Package x" with other members online. A week later at 1 am when I strike a problem with "Package x", which I've since purchased and installed at home, I again call the Melb PC BBS and access the problems and faults database for "Package x". Problem solved and I'm back in action, but I call back the BBS and place an online order for Melb PC's training kit for "Package x", and get the details of the next SIG meeting for "Package X" users. Because I need an upgrade to run "Package x" properly (I doubt that will ever change) I also use the BBS to book my system in to a Melb PC approved service centre later that week.
I have had a vision of Melb PC delivering such services since 1983, and I believe that most days since then Melb PC has taken another step closer to making all of those services possible. I think most members would agree with the vision, they just need a committee in agreement on how to make the vision reality. Hopefully the new committee you elect at the August 1992 AGM will get Melb PC back on track to delivering on that vision by the turn of the century.
Reprinted from the August 1992 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
