Just to say that I also agree with membership concerns and it's something that's worried me for a long time, just from being aware of the membership from membership records and it's something that's going to need to be addressed for the viability of the chapter in the medium-long term. I don't think there's any quick and easy solutions to the problem though. However, I don't think it's correct to say the chapter activity has been concentrated in Melbourne. Melbourne always gets lumped in with Sydney when talking about the chapter, but really, its probably been as active here as in Queensland and pretty much anywhere else except Tassie (poor Chuq).
On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 9:42 PM, Craig Franklin <cr...@halo-17.net> wrote: > Hear hear! > > > > I’d like to add some of my own to cents to this discussion. The turnover > in Queensland isn’t quite as bad, but based on the secretary’s report and my > own observations of who’s been showing up to the AGMs, we had a forty > percent turnover of membership in the last year. As Andrew says, that sort > of statistic is simply not sustainable in the long term, and it **must** > be addressed by the committee in 2010. As Andrew says, a lot of this is due > to the fact that a lot of the chapter activity to date has been concentrated > in Sydney and Melbourne, while things have been fairly quiet everywhere > else. > > > > To a degree, in the case of Brisbane at least, this has partially been our > own fault; events and perks for members simply are not going to materialise > out of this air for us. At the same time though, there has to be a > realistic commitment from those in the southern/eastern states to assist us > in the northern/western in growing our local communities and membership. I > note with satisfaction that those I’ve spoken to in the committee seem to > “get it”, so hopefully there can be some real progress on this front. > > > > In closing, I think Andrew’s idea is an excellent one, and I’d encourage > everyone (particularly those of us in Queensland) to get aboard and start > brainstorming. > > > > Cheers, > > Craig F. > > > > > > > > > > *From:* wikimediaau-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto: > wikimediaau-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Andrew > *Sent:* Sunday, 13 December 2009 7:41 PM > *To:* Wikimedia-au > *Subject:* [Wikimediaau-l] Membership, regional participation and other > things > > > > Fellow members and supporters, > > A key priority for 2009-10 has to be building the chapter and make it > successful. > > Before being elected to my present role, I heard lots of people saying they > felt this chapter was overly Sydney- and Melbourne-focussed not just in > activity but in priorities. There was also a fair few people saying (both > among those who stayed/newly joined, and some who lapsed) that the chapter > was overly focused on central or headline priorities and, in their view, > gave insufficient support to members. > > Using the figures from the secretary's report at the AGM, in regional terms > our numbers were stable, here in WA we went from 5 to 3 members (I am in > fact the only original WA member left) and, even more concerningly, > nationally we lost 2/3 of our initial intake although we actually gained a > fair number of people. We need to do *far* more to retain members, and to > give those outside the two biggest cities reasons to join and ways to > participate - otherwise this chapter will fail. I ran on a platform to that > effect and got support for it, so I'm hoping that means the members trust me > to find ways to act on those concerns. > > I am happy for people to approach me privately with project ideas they want > feedback on or support for. I think peer support is vital to keeping > people's enthusiasm up, and I understand not everyone wants to go public > with projects before they're ready. I would note in saying so that I can't > give "official chapter approval" to anything although I can certainly seek > it on your behalf from the committee if you wish me to. > > On the wiki I've been working on an early draft for a regional > participation drive, and I'd also appreciate comments on that. I'll be > adding more to it after the first committee meeting on the 20th as I'll know > then what I have support for. > > kindest regards > Andrew Owens > (WM-AU committee general member) > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaau-l mailing list > Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l > >
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