 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group CPU (Club President's Update) Charles Wright charles@melbpc.org.au |
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The end of the financial year confirmed another successful performance by the group. In fact our record surplus of more than $90,000 makes it our best year yet.
The figures are even better, when you consider that during the year we invested more than $100,000 in projects like the Internet, did not increase our membership charges, and decided to price our Internet connection far lower than any competitor.
That approach led to record membership growth, despite some stagnation at the beginning of the year, and a retention rate at renewal time of 75 per cent - which we believe is the best in our history.
By the time you read this, we'll have close to 9000 members. The number of Internet accounts will be somewhere around 2000.
The new lines are in place, although we are still experiencing major, intermittent, mystifying problems with line drop-outs, on which we are working. But our logs indicate that the days of constant busy signals are over. If you are still having trouble getting a connection, you should check what number you're dialling. If you're dialling 9645 8614, you're on our express line, which is perfect for a quick check of newsgroups and email, but you're going to be cut off after 30 minutes. You should be trying 9645 7844, which will give you 90 minutes online, and a better chance of getting on.
The committee intends to allocate funds to keep adding resources - more lines, modems and additional bandwidth - to try to avoid any repetition of the shambles that arose from being overwhelmed by sudden, accelerated, unexpected demand.
This isn't quite as simple as it looks, however, because our first responsibility is to preserve the club's finances, and there's a distinct element of uncertainty in the Internet.
If the price of Internet links increases next year, and we have to pass on the costs to members, can we be sure of retaining our customers, and not ending up with a lot of expensive, redundant equipment?
In some ways it's easier to make the decision to commit your reserves when your back is against the wall and you're facing financial disaster, which is basically where we were just a couple of years ago.
Those times called for an entrepreneurial approach, and fortunately we made the right decisions - something that's never been acknowledged by the critics and would-be seers who made, and continue to make, some highly unflattering accusations every time elections come round.
In the foreseeable future, I think the committee's view is that we need to continue to consolidate the position we worked so hard to create. We've rebuilt our finances to the extent that we have more than $250,000 in reserves. As much as possible, our approach now is to fund any growth out of revenue.
But we are also going to face additional costs from other areas. We've taken a conservative budgetary approach for 95-96, assuming growth won't be quite as strong as this year's, and allocating more funds for staff.
Unfortunately our membership growth has not been accompanied by a growth in volunteers, and there's no alternative but to pay for more of our services.
The committee has taken the decision to employ an executive officer, or in the terminology of some committee members, a "superman" - which is not to preclude us finding a "superwoman."
We're going to take time to find the right person, because this job is going to be critical for our future development. The aim is to have this person take on a lot of the jobs that we know should be done, but which are simply beyond the committee's reserves.
We're also going to have to pay for technical support to keep our communications links up and running. Some things can't be left to volunteers.
In my view all this means that we are going to have to seriously consider increasing the annual membership fee this year. Compared to groups like London, the $40 we charge is ludicrously small given the services we offer. One member suggests the value he gets out of the Internet alone is $250 to $300.
I don't believe we should impose a major increase, but a $5 or even $10 rise would allow us to provide the increasing level of service that members demand, without endangering our long-term future. Nor do I believe the vast majority of members would begrudge that sort of fee. We are, without doubt, the best value-for-money service in the computer world.
Another recent development concerns the administration of our Special Interest Groups.
Tessa Melland has taken on the job of liaising with SIGs as we finalise a policy that will formalise their powers and responsibilities.
The committee has already developed a draft policy which has been distributed to all the SIG leaders for comment and negotiation.
There seems to be a view among some SIG leaders that because Colin Lovitt did not specifically mention SIGs when he redrafted the official constitution, there is some hidden agenda to withdraw support for their activities.
None of these views has been expressed to me or the committee officially, and we haven't been invited to some of the meetings that have been held by some conveners, presumably to discuss what the committee is perceived to be doing.
This is never, in my view, a particularly productive way of proceeding, and inevitably cements misunderstandings, particularly if someone has a personal axe to grind. I'd like to think we've come a long way since the days of divisions and secret meetings.
I have no doubt at all that Colin always intended to create a SIG policy, and would have done so by now, had not the personal circumstances which led to his resignation arisen.
The fact is, this committee is intent on creating a framework for reporting and financial accountability under which SIGs can achieve a greater level of autonomy and self-support.
The draft policy, among other things, provides for petty cash floats, for SIGs to retain a portion of all funds raised from sales of group services, and to purchase equipment for their own use. It allows them to invite non-members to up to three meetings before requiring them to join the group.
It also requires proper financial accounting, budgeting and reporting, to meet the standards that the group itself has put in place, and which have given us a solid foundation for our growth.
The aim is to support and foster SIGs, but not at too great an expense for the majority of members who do not benefit from these activities. I've made it very clear in the past that I don't believe the membership at large would want its committee to support a situation where their funds are being used by some SIGs to pay for meeting halls and other facilities that are consistently used by non-members. In some cases the permanent non-members of Melb PC in a SIG heavily outnumber the members. That situation can't be allowed to continue.
The new policy aims to recognise the problems that some SIGs face, and help deal with them. Under this committee, SIGs are here to stay. I commend them highly to all members.
I also highly commend the Waffle SIG, which arranges dinner and drinks for the more sociable elements of the group after every monthly meeting. The new coordinators of that SIG - Tessa now has other things on her mind - are
Vince Thornton and Andrew Callaway. They've been enthusiastic Wafflers since its foundation. I have no doubt it's in very good hands.
Reprinted from the August 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
