President’s Report - AGM 2008
Lucy Sanderson-Gammon reflects on IABC Wellington’s achievements during its first year.
In November 2006 our first board meeting was held with the aim of establishing a local chapter of IABC. We wanted to provide communicators in the Wellington region with access to:
- the latest research and thinking in terms of good practice globally,
- quality professional development opportunities locally, and
- access to a network of communications colleagues, both here and overseas.
It’s fair to say we achieved everything we set out to.
Membership growth
Within a year, membership had grown by nearly 400%, four times the goal we set for ourselves. We had a total of 72 members by November 2007, including three corporate memberships – Ideas Shop, Bank of New Zealand and Department of Internal Affairs.
By March 2007 our professional development programme of events was up and running, with a promise of providing members with one event every second month in the first year. We delivered on that promise, and also made the most of our IABC connections by bringing international experts to New Zealand for three of those events.
Events programme
There were challenges in establishing the events programme in our first year, particularly as we are a volunteer board with limited finances and people resources for organizing the logistics of events, and we were simultaneously getting our chapter management processes in place. It was also a challenge to find a balance and meet the needs of a broad membership base with a range of development needs and experience. However, the feedback we received indicates we got the balance fairly well right.
As an establishing chapter, we were in the unenviable position of having to begin an event programme with no budget. This required careful planning so we could gradually raise revenue from events, while at the same time being fiscally responsible. We did this by securing free or low cost venues for initial events, and the board put significant effort into securing sponsorship. Media Monitors became our principal sponsor, Breathe Communications and One Squared designed and hosted our chapter website, and Melcrum provided sponsorship for two of our international speaker events. We are incredibly grateful for this support.
Finances
In terms of finances, the chapter opened a bank account in February 2007 and by 31 December 2007 had a net asset position of more than $16,000. Registration fees made up the significant part of our income which confirms our pricing strategy and communications about events successfully attracted registrations while ensuring the chapter generated revenue to support future events.
This was a good outcome, considering we had to establish financial management procedures rapidly, and in tandem with developing and planning our organizational and professional development infrastructure. We are now in an excellent position to expand our professional development programme and offer additional services to members. (See the Treasurer’s Report for more detail).
Communications and website
In terms of communicating with our members, again, we began with no budget so our communications utilized free or low cost tools such as email (i.e. initial newsletter and event notifications) and phone calls to individual board contacts. Event flyers and handouts were covered by registration fees, and our media coverage in national media and on websites was also free (see Appendix 2 for examples).
Naturally we were thrilled when Breathe Communications and One Squared offered to design, build and host a chapter website for us. For a struggling new chapter, we had expected to manage without a website for some time. It meant we could publish event details and registration forms online, link through to IABC research and also improve our bi-monthly newsletter by linking back to detailed information on the website. It was, and is, a huge bonus.
Management and the Board
On the chapter management side of things, we were granted ‘developmental’ status by the IABC Executive Board in January 2007. We established the necessary chapter framework quickly, which meant that we were able to be declared a full IABC chapter in June 2007 – well ahead of the two year mandatory development period. This required the rules to be amended for the first time in the association’s 37-year history.
This, and the achievements outlined above, is a measure of the dedication and commitment shown by the members of the inaugural board of IABC Wellington. There is no doubt that the chapter establishment phase has required a huge amount of work and, as President, I am grateful to have had such a professional group of people to work with. They all have extremely busy lives with full time jobs, companies to run and families to be with – and fitting voluntary board membership amongst all of that is no small ask.
Special thanks to Simon Pleasants (Vice President and Sponsorship Director), Anna Kominik (Communications Director), Paul Rayner (Membership Chair), Shona Brown (Treasurer), Julia Napier (Professional Development Director), Luke Thoms (Administrator – from June 2007) and Zena Groom (Administrator ¬– until June 2007).
I’d also like to thank Zena and Amy Stapleton who have agreed to be on a new sub-committee to help with future events.
Just as the establishment of this chapter relied on the hard work of dedicated volunteers, so too does the future depend on volunteers. It also relies on the support of generous sponsors – thanks again to Media Monitors, and also Breathe Communications and One Squared.
Last but not least, thank you to those of you have supported the association by joining. After all, without members, there would be no chapter. So thank you.
Lucy Sanderson-Gammon
President, IABC Wellington
28 February 2008
IABC Wellington President Report for 2008
Speech from Simon Pleasants - incoming President
March 28th, 2008 at 10:00 am
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