MW-SIG Annual General Meeting 2007

MW-SIG Annual General Meeting 2007

Records Chair: Suzy Conner

Minutes of the NPO Materials Writers Special Interest Group Annual General Meeting 2007
Held on Saturday November 24 09:50-10:50 Room 311

1. Points of Conduct
i. 2006 Minutes approved
ii. Kristofer Bayne assigned as Recording Secretary
iii. Kristofer Bayne assigned as Co-ordinator-At-Larger being a current MW member but not a current MW Officer

2. 2006 AGM unfinished business
i. MW SIG Constitution finalised to read

Article 1.
The name of this organisation is (Kyouzai Kaihatsu Kenkyuubukai) in Japanese and the Materials Writers Special Interest Group in English and its abbreviation is MW-SIG.

Article 8. d.
TERMS OF OFFICE: Officers are to be selected at the AGM. Terms of office are to be for one calendar year, beginning following the parent body JALT's AGM and continuing through to the next JALT AGM.

3. Officer reports for 2006
i. Programme Officer Greg Goodmacher informed the Meeting of the "Principles" event at the 2007 JALT Annual Conference, stressed the need to get MW members involved with their local JALT Chapters through presentations, and pointed out that we must decide on a JALT event for 2008.
ii. Membership Officer Cameron Romney informed the Meeting that the MWSIG membership remained largely the same at around 100. He suggested that there has been a drop since the ending of the "free SIG membership" offer by JALT.
iii. Treasurer Officer Scott Petersen informed the Meeting that the MWSIG is in the black as a result of money from the 2007 PAN-SIG and printing costs saved by the electronic Between The Keys.
iv. Publications Officer Jim Smiley said that that Between The Keys was released electronically to members mainly due to a lack of money for printing. It was also clarified that that any communication with members would satisfy the JALT requirement that SIGs conduct at least three public communications with members per year.
v. Coordinator Jim Smiley informed the meeting that the MW-SIG was now is a healthy financial state, particularly due the 2007 PAN-SIG.

4. Other Business
i. Officer elections
All officers were elected with acclaim.
a. Programme - Greg Goodmacher re-elected
b. Membership - Cameron Romney re-elected
c. Treasurer - Scott Petersen re-elected
d. Publications - Kristofer Bayne elected
e. Coordinator - Jim Smiley re-elected
f. Records - Suzy Conner elected
ii. Motion:
To limit access to the Yahoo Group to current members only.
Rationale: Communications about the MW SIG via the Yahoo Group count towards fulfilling the requirement to produce 3 correspondences with members per year. As a member service, this should be limited to members in principle. Discussed with the motion then withdrawn.
iii. Letter of Thanks to Derek Di Matteo Approved. Derek Di Matteo stood down as Newletter Layout Editor. This non-voting position will be filled by Jim Smiley.
iv. The TLT Special Issue Kristofer Bayne reported that while the initial response to the concept of a Special Issue was both "light" and perhaps confused, the idea is still very much alive.
v. Online BTKs. Jim Smiley informed the Meeting that the electronic Between The Keys was greeted very well and that it has also saved money that could be used for Featured Speakers and thus strengthen the MWSIG representation at main JALT conferences.

5. Unfinished Business
i. The 2008 Pan-SIG
ii. TLT Special Issue discussion