EGM: Time to discuss where and when

damien

Ok, roughly the EGM is going to be in September, around Mid-September was suggested.

Having the EGM on a saturday is probably crucial.

The following are the saturdays in September

04th Sept
11th Sept
18th Sept
25th Sept

We need to decide what date is suitable for most people and also what location is best. (Adam is keen for Athlone after we saw De Rebel's and Elanas hotel. The Prince of Wales is a quite a fancy place with it's 8 foot wide beds. The Royal Hoey hotel was a bit of a kip and as Xian said it looked like the hotel from The Shining. )

When we get a few suggestions for location and for date we'll have a poll created and another for the date.

So now it's down to you.
Suggest a time.
Suggest a place.

shinzon

im not griping or anything, well yes actaully i am, why does everything with ioffl have to held somewhere around the midlands.

Wouldnt make a statement if some of the meeting were held in areas that are less able to gain access to BB

I suggest Waterford in september for the EGM, has easy access by bus and rail, plus excellent conference facilities, and just the right mix of people who have BB and who are deperate to get access to BB

After all theres some problems with the MAN down here as regards funding being pulled etc

Thats just my 2 cents


Shin

Asok

Well the midlands are convenient for alot of people, I thought all the previous agm's were held in dublin??
Waterford is a bastard with at least 6 hours travel to get there if your from the other side of the shannon.

dahamsta

Originally posted by Asok
I thought all the previous agm's were held in dublin??

Well, yes. But isn't ('all' == 2)?

Ye're all welcome down here if ye want. But of course the main aim is to get as many people there as possible. Much as I'd love to have ye down there, I hate the idea of 5 or 10 or 15 people not turning up because it was too far to travel.

adam

KinSlayer

Waterford from sligo take about 5 hrs by car through the middle of the country
By public transport it takes 8

somewhere in the midlands would be better

mullingar/athlone/tullamore area

De Rebel

Originally posted by dahamsta
Well, yes. But isn't ('all' == 2)?

Ye're all welcome down here if ye want. But of course the main aim is to get as many people there as possible. Much as I'd love to have ye down there, I hate the idea of 5 or 10 or 15 people not turning up because it was too far to travel.

adam

Adam's right. Nice and all as it would be to have ye all down to Cork or Waterford, it makes it difficult for anybody West of the Shannon, and particularly Sligo/Donegal.

I think there are two practical locations - Dublin, being about the most accessible place in the country, or Athlone again. Its much of a much from my pov.

Date wise, the earlier in September the better - it will allow the incoming committee to get started well before Christmas. If the EGM is late Sept, then there are in reality only 8 or 9 working weeks before the end of the year.

jwt

Originally posted by damien.m
. The Royal Hoey hotel was a bit of a kip and as Xian said it looked like the hotel from The Shining. )

When we get a few suggestions for location and for date we'll have a poll created and another for the date.

Seemed more like the ballroom of romance to me, all we needed was Elana on one side of the room and everyone else on the other and we would have been set!

Anytime in September is good for me but that may change closer to the date, and I suspect the same goes for everyone else too, so the sooner we set this the better.

Location wise.......... Dublin, Cork, Athlone, PortLaoise (for pure geographical reasons) .

Anyone want to bet that the poll will split 50/50 so the maximum number of people are upset

John

DonegalMan

Originally posted by damien.m
When we get a few suggestions for location and for date we'll have a poll created and another for the date.

This is a major crossroads for IOFFL and I don't think a poll on this forum is enough, I think we need to consult the membership at large, many of whom don't participate here.

Could we sent out a survey to all members asking something along the lines:

I would be likely to attend an IOFFL EGM in mid September if it was held:

Midweek Evening Dublin Yes/No
Saturday Dublin Yes/No
Sunday Dublin Yes/No

Midweek Evening Midlands Yes/No
Saturday Midlands Yes/No
Sunday Midlands Yes/No

Questions could also be asked whether people feel in principle that IOFFL should continue and if so, what issues it should focus on.

I'm jumping ahead now to something that I wanted to include in an overall submission about the future of IOFFL but I think it would also be useful to survey our own members on the status of their own Internet access, which could be combined with above suggestion, something along the lines:

Do you currently have Broadband?
If so, what type:

1. Telephone Line
2. Wireless
3. Cable
4. Satellite

If not, why not:

1. I either don't want or don't need it.
2. I want it but it's not available in my area
3. It's available in my area but I failed the line test
4. It's too expensive for me
5. The caps make it unsuitable for my needs.

We have something like 2000 members across the length and breadth of the country, a good response could give us some very useful statistics of our own.

If you like, I will put together a draft overall questionnaire and post it here for people to comment on.

Martin

P.S. Could I suggest that people point out here if there are any dates in September that would clash with other significant events, like All Ireland Finals for example

dahamsta

Martin, I'll be sending out a newsletter early next week, I'd be happy to include things like that; although I think I'd prefer to keep the survey separate in some way, because there's plenty more to say and cover. Perhaps we could put it on the website and link it?

On location, as Damien said I'd be quite happy to go back to Athlone, if only to try out the other hotel and go to that bloody gorgeous restaurant again.

On dates, I'm going to London in late August so I'd favour mid- to late-September. And no, I'm not trying to extend my chairmanship.

adam

Dangger

Could we for this meeting consider a live audio link, or stream of proceedings if possible? I know that may limit hotels etc., but it would be nice to enable interaction with those who genuinely cannot be there on the day.

DonegalMan

Originally posted by dahamsta
I think I'd prefer to keep the survey separate in some way, because there's plenty more to say and cover. Perhaps we could put it on the website and link it?

I have no problem with you doing it as a separate exercise but I would not rely on just putting a link to the website. I think you might get higher response from an email.

Or why not a bit of both? Include the questionnaire in an email but state our preferred option for members to complete it online to make the analyis easier, if they prefer to do it by email, however, that's ok too?

Martin

DonegalMan

I like David's idea about a live audio link or streaming of the meeting.

Here's another idea to get more people involved.

We've talked a lot in the past about getting more regional activity. What about inviting people to organise regional meetings before the EGM where people who cannot attend the EGM could come along, express their views and perhaps appoint proxies to represent them at the EGM?

Martin

DonegalMan

Originally posted by damien.m
The following are the saturdays in September

04th Sept
11th Sept

The 4th for sure and the 11th possibly are right in the middle of "getting the kids back to school" so people with kids could be otherwise distracted (mentally and financially ) at that time.

Martin

dahamsta

Originally posted by DonegalMan
I like David's idea about a live audio link or streaming of the meeting.

If we're in a location that can handle it, we'll give it a go. However, knowing how technology like to show us up as often as possible, I can give no guarantees that it will work. Unless Elana organises it of course... *koff*

We've talked a lot in the past about getting more regional activity. What about inviting people to organise regional meetings before the EGM where people who cannot attend the EGM could come along, express their views and perhaps appoint proxies to represent them at the EGM?

The Cork contingent of the committee is meeting up next week and we were thinking of asking the membership along for a bit of a casual chat about the state of things to come. I don't see why the other members of the committee couldn't do the same. And of course there's no reason why members around the country couldn't organise meetings themselves. If we get positive feedback here on the idea - since the people here are most active - I'd happily add the item to the newsletter.

adam

damien

*Bump*

Just to remind anyone that they can leave thoughts and views about the EGM here.

MarVeL

After doing the survey I figured a decision had already been made? Wasn't it asking about attendance in Dublin mid September?

damien

MarVeL wrote:

After doing the survey I figured a decision had already been made? Wasn't it asking about attendance in Dublin mid September?

I meant more discussion on what you'd like to see covered at the EGM. Thoughts on what areas you'd like IrelandOffline to concentrate on.

jwt

MarVeL wrote:

After doing the survey I figured a decision had already been made? Wasn't it asking about attendance in Dublin mid September?

The question was put here and in the newsletter, with varied responses but no definite answer.
So the decision was taken for Dublin and September 11th with a view to changing it if there was vocal opposition.

So far the balance of comments appears to be for either Athlone or Dublin and for purely logistical reasons Dublin is it at the moment.

Why 9/11 I'm not quite sure apart from the fact that it is a weekend

John

damien

Suggestions please:

Anyone want to suggest a Dublin City Centre location for our EGM ? We need a room to ourselves in a pub or possibly hotel function room. We need space for a projector and all those other fudgies for presentations. From the feedback on the survey about 60 of you have committed to coming to the EGM so we need a room to handle that size.

So start suggesting !

Mr_Man

Is there a budget for this as that will have an impact on the hotel you can get and thus the recommendations....

M.

damien

Mr_Man wrote:

Is there a budget for this as that will have an impact on the hotel you can get and thus the recommendations....

A member who wishes to remain anonymous has offered a very generous amount of money for room rental so I think we're covered. Thank you whoever you are.

Mr_Man

I'd suggest the Camden Court . It's central, close to the new Luas stop at Harcourt St, and also adjacent to some fine watering holes/restaurants. I've used it in the past for corporate events and found the staff to be helpful and reasonably on the ball.

Hope this helps

M.

MarVeL

Are we still looking into the possibility of streaming the meeting? If so does anyone know of a hotel that would have facilities for that (although maybe if someone could bring a ripwave along )

De Rebel

Mr_Man wrote:

I'd suggest the Camden Court .

Good suggestion. Unfortunatly no availibiliity on the 11th.

Trying to think where else is reasonable and central......

Anybody used Stakis (the hilton as was?) or Jurys Inn ? Any other thoughts? The preference is for boardroom rather than theatre style, so a larger room is required if we get an attendence of 60 or so.

Mr_Man

A company I used to work for used the Stakis and was happy with the service provided. Since I wasn't directly involved I could not comment on the staff etc. Another possibility is The Herbert Park . It is near the RDS and so not too far from the centre of town.

Of the two the Stakis is better located.

M.

De Rebel

Mr_Man wrote:

Another possibility is The Herbert Park .

A Dublin hotel with Herbert in its name scares me ever since someone once booked me into some tee-total kip called the mount herbert. One of the scariest experiences of my hotel visiting times. Some reall horror stories about that place!

DonegalMan

damien.m wrote:

A member who wishes to remain anonymous has offered a very generous amount of money for room rental so I think we're covered. Thank you whoever you are.

That is indeed a very generous offer but I think we should do the usual voluntary contribution per attendee to cover most or all of the costs.

I have two reasons for this. Firstly, I think we should try to be as self sufficient as possible!

Secondly - and more importantly - I would like this great offer to be held in reserve for something else!

One of the things I would like to see discussed at the EGM is the possibility of running some event that would put IOFFL back onto centre stage with the media. The seminar we ran in Dublin 3 years ago [size=-1](God, that is depressing)[/size] played a major role in putting IOFFL on the map and I think we should seek to do something similar again - not necessarily a seminar, but something that will catch the media's attention.

At the time, we were concerned about the cost and a member offered to underwrite any shortfall in funds for it [size=-1](me wonders could it be the same person)[/size] and that provided a big comfort factor for the committee, allowing us to focus on the event itself without being overly distracted by worries about financing.

Martin Harran

jwt

DonegalMan wrote:

One of the things I would like to see discussed at the EGM is the possibility of running some event that would put IOFFL back onto centre stage with the media. The seminar we ran in Dublin 3 years ago [size=-1](God, that is depressing)[/size] played a major role in putting IOFFL on the map and I think we should seek to do something similar again - not necessarily a seminar, but something that will catch the media's attention.

Martin Harran

While getting sorted for the EGM we have also started getting a check list together for a conference/seminar that can be held at some future point for exactly the reasons you stated.

Another item that needs discussing at the EGM is funding. How to collect and what to do with it. That also forces us to make our group a bit more formal.

We need better PR.

John

damien

DonegalMan wrote:

That is indeed a very generous offer but I think we should do the usual voluntary contribution per attendee to cover most or all of the costs.

This is a good idea. Adam will be there wearing a childline type collectors getup walking around with a big white bucket giving puppy-dog eyes to everyone and asking for money.

I would like this great offer to be held in reserve for something else!

The offer as far as I know was specifically made to ensure that we can have and afford the EGM. Adam can clarify this.

I agree with John, if IrelandOffline survives the EGM, we will need to start looking at funding and all that admin kind of stuff.

Damien.

damien

IrelandOffline EGM, 2pm September 11th in Buswells Hotel Dublin.

I'll start a fresh thread about this soon.

Damien.

Tom Dunne

Now that a location has been decided, is any consideration being given to streaming the event? Or even firing up a Netmeeting session so those that can't make it can at least listen in?

I know there are many,many more pressing matters for Ireland Offline, but it's just a suggestion for those of us unable to attend.