From the President
The Ups and Downs of Operating Online
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way AAIR engages with you as a member, and this has created both challenges and opportunities.
We have all been driven to use technology in new ways and to increase our knowledge of online communication tools such as Zoom, online breakout rooms, and online polls. We all know that while it looks easy to communicate online there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that needs to take place to make sure it happens smoothly. However, the opportunities are far outweighed by those challenges. The big opportunity from virtual meetings and online webinars is accessibility. The traditional barriers of cost and time lost in travel disappear as online meetings and webinars are bought to you at your desk, or to wherever you chose to participate.
To date, one of our biggest challenges has been to hold the AAIR annual general meeting (AGM) in an online space, and for all intents and purposes, the same processes must be followed as if we were in a face-to-face meeting. We needed to ensure that we had a quorum of financial members to be present, online, for the AGM to proceed, and that there were processes in place for members present to vote to pass motions. And to make it just a little bit more complex for ourselves we made 11 special resolutions including amendments to our rules that all needed to be voted on.
Photo of Zoom call with coffee by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
The changes to our rules were largely intended to modernise them by introducing, for example, section ‘15. USE OF TECHNOLOGY’ into our rules, and to align them more closely with the Model rules for an incorporated association published by the Consumer Affairs Victoria under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012. AAIR is incorporated under the regulator, Consumer Affairs Victoria.
Our Immediate Past President Kathie Rabel, worked closely with our Secretary Pam Rayner and Executive Officer Liesha Northover to review and prepare the 11 amendments to the rules, along with the many other edits deemed appropriate to be included in this new version of the rules. This was an enormous undertaking that now brings our rules into alignment with other incorporated societies and provides more clarity when we need to apply those rules.
You can view the approved changes to the rules and other papers from the AGM on the Annual Statements and Reports page on our website.
AGMs and rules are not the most interesting activities for many of our members, however, they are the foundations that ensure we continue as a well-functioning and strong organisation that provides recognition, professional development, and advocacy for our members across Australasia.
Ngā mihi (with thanks)
Stuart Terry
President, AAIR
Newsletter
Read the January/February 2021 AAIR newsletter Right Here, Right Now!