The 2012 Annual Meeting for SCANZ will take place at 8.30am on Thursday 23 February 2012, at the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa.
The meeting will effectively kick-off the second day of the 2012 SCANZ annual conference. All SCANZ members are requested to attend, along with anyone else who is interested in joining SCANZ.
The meeting will be asked to review and confirm minutes of the 2011 AGM, receive and discuss a report from the President Phil Johnstone and a financial report relating to the past financial year, which will include a recommendation that we change the SCANZ financial year to match the calendar year. There will also be the opportunity to elect members onto the SCANZ Exec Committee for the year ahead, and we will appoint an Auditor.
President's Report for AGM:
2011 has been a good year of rebuilding for SCANZ, and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to what has been achieved. We certainly have not achieved everything we might have, however a number of significant foundations for the association have been strengthened, and I believe there is a reasonable amount of clarity around what our next steps in 2012 should be.
The 2011 Annual Conference in Auckland provided a compelling programme and was well organised and attended. Our thanks again go to everyone who was involved. We also acknowledged the major contribution made by founding President Peter Burke, who stood down at the 2011 AGM.
A year of change
I will be putting a motion at the 2012 AGM that Peter be made an Honorary Member of SCANZ, which is provided for in our constitution as a way to mark outstanding contribution. Day two of the conference was marred by news of the Christchurch earthquake, and our thoughts were (and remain) with SCANZ members & other conference delegates from Canterbury, or with connections in the region.
I'd like to thank the Exec Team for their contribution in the past year. The team elected at the 2011 AGM was: Bridget Beaurepaire, Janette Busch, John Callan, Bette Flagler, Jean Fleming, Stephanie Gray, Peter Griffin, Rick Marshall, Jennifer Nickel, Philippa Sargent, Emma Timewell and Katherine Trought. Midway through the year, with a maternity leave break imminent, Stephanie came off the team, as did Philippa as 2011 ended and she left the RSNZ to take up a new role in the education sector.
A solid base for growth
Almost all the team were able to attend a SCANZ planning day in Auckland in June 2011. The meeting received and approved a well considered review of our administrative systems review prepared by Vice-President Christine Ross, which led to chartered accountant Phil Brown being appointed as our auditor, and to the Science Media Centre being contracted to supply a range of services such as database and website maintenance, newsletter distribution, conference help, member queries, creating and maintaining a social media presence.
Putting these things on a professional, paid-for basis has proved to be a good move. Great work was done in re-establishing our database records - and we now have almost all the systems in place for growth. Be assured - online payment on the website is in our sights.
Regional meet-ups
Some regional meetings were held in Wellington, Palmerston North and in Auckland at mid-year, and pre-Christmas networking events also in December. Thanks to everyone involved in running the well-attended and lively panel discussions in Auckland and Wellington - and the excellent site visit to Te Manawa in Palmerston North.
And a great job was done scoping, planning then delivering the 2012 SCANZ Annual Conference. Many thanks are due to Bette Flagler for leading the charge - with excellent support also from Christine Ross, Peter Griffin, Nancy Yopp and more recently, our student intern Claudia.
Strengthening partnerships
We have appreciated the sponsorship support received from a relatively small number of organisations - support which has helped not just the conference but also regional events and in reducing admin costs such as conference calls. I'm sure none of our supporters would mind me singling out GNS for the consistency of its support, and the significant contribution of making Te Papa available to us as the conference venue this year.
Membership of the international body the World Federation of Science Journalists was investigated during the year, but we withdrew after taking the view that aligning ourselves in due course with a global association of science communicators would better fit with the wide range of membership SCANZ has.
The exec agreed at the planning discussion that we will be much stronger if we keep our diverse range of members (journalists, PRs, scientists, academics, students, policy advisors etc) under one roof. That said, given the relatively small representation by journalists in SCANZ, we want to be intentional in keeping the interests of our media members to the fore.
What's next for SCANZ?
We have a rough, work-in-progress catch-phrase to inform SCANZ planning for the next year or two. It describes SCANZ as: "a valued portal connecting those interested in science and innovation, offering career-enhancing services which lift the quality of science communication in New Zealand". I think this is still helpful as we plan for the future.
The challenge for the Exec Team in 2012 is to pick up and implement the remaining targets identified at our 2011 planning day. These include running regular regional events through the year, lifting our membership base further, making more improvements to our communication with members, locking in some sponsors for the mid-term, scope and implement grants to encourage science and innovation journalism and other forms of communication, plus develop our research activity.
It will be important to set challenging (yet also realistic) targets over the coming months for the six exec committees (Administration, Membership, Conference 2012, Fundraising & Profile, Special Projects and Research & Policy).
I hope you are encouraged by what's underway at SCANZ. We've tried in the past year to strike a balance between preserving our financial reserves, yet also investing in necessary administration and kick-start some interesting things.
SCANZ is your network for science and innovation communication, so do use it. Your ideas, experience and networks are very welcome.
Phil Johnstone
The meeting will effectively kick-off the second day of the 2012 SCANZ annual conference. All SCANZ members are requested to attend, along with anyone else who is interested in joining SCANZ.
The meeting will be asked to review and confirm minutes of the 2011 AGM, receive and discuss a report from the President Phil Johnstone and a financial report relating to the past financial year, which will include a recommendation that we change the SCANZ financial year to match the calendar year. There will also be the opportunity to elect members onto the SCANZ Exec Committee for the year ahead, and we will appoint an Auditor.
President's Report for AGM:
2011 has been a good year of rebuilding for SCANZ, and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to what has been achieved. We certainly have not achieved everything we might have, however a number of significant foundations for the association have been strengthened, and I believe there is a reasonable amount of clarity around what our next steps in 2012 should be.
The 2011 Annual Conference in Auckland provided a compelling programme and was well organised and attended. Our thanks again go to everyone who was involved. We also acknowledged the major contribution made by founding President Peter Burke, who stood down at the 2011 AGM.
A year of change
I will be putting a motion at the 2012 AGM that Peter be made an Honorary Member of SCANZ, which is provided for in our constitution as a way to mark outstanding contribution. Day two of the conference was marred by news of the Christchurch earthquake, and our thoughts were (and remain) with SCANZ members & other conference delegates from Canterbury, or with connections in the region.
I'd like to thank the Exec Team for their contribution in the past year. The team elected at the 2011 AGM was: Bridget Beaurepaire, Janette Busch, John Callan, Bette Flagler, Jean Fleming, Stephanie Gray, Peter Griffin, Rick Marshall, Jennifer Nickel, Philippa Sargent, Emma Timewell and Katherine Trought. Midway through the year, with a maternity leave break imminent, Stephanie came off the team, as did Philippa as 2011 ended and she left the RSNZ to take up a new role in the education sector.
A solid base for growth
Almost all the team were able to attend a SCANZ planning day in Auckland in June 2011. The meeting received and approved a well considered review of our administrative systems review prepared by Vice-President Christine Ross, which led to chartered accountant Phil Brown being appointed as our auditor, and to the Science Media Centre being contracted to supply a range of services such as database and website maintenance, newsletter distribution, conference help, member queries, creating and maintaining a social media presence.
Putting these things on a professional, paid-for basis has proved to be a good move. Great work was done in re-establishing our database records - and we now have almost all the systems in place for growth. Be assured - online payment on the website is in our sights.
Regional meet-ups
Some regional meetings were held in Wellington, Palmerston North and in Auckland at mid-year, and pre-Christmas networking events also in December. Thanks to everyone involved in running the well-attended and lively panel discussions in Auckland and Wellington - and the excellent site visit to Te Manawa in Palmerston North.
And a great job was done scoping, planning then delivering the 2012 SCANZ Annual Conference. Many thanks are due to Bette Flagler for leading the charge - with excellent support also from Christine Ross, Peter Griffin, Nancy Yopp and more recently, our student intern Claudia.
Strengthening partnerships
We have appreciated the sponsorship support received from a relatively small number of organisations - support which has helped not just the conference but also regional events and in reducing admin costs such as conference calls. I'm sure none of our supporters would mind me singling out GNS for the consistency of its support, and the significant contribution of making Te Papa available to us as the conference venue this year.
Membership of the international body the World Federation of Science Journalists was investigated during the year, but we withdrew after taking the view that aligning ourselves in due course with a global association of science communicators would better fit with the wide range of membership SCANZ has.
The exec agreed at the planning discussion that we will be much stronger if we keep our diverse range of members (journalists, PRs, scientists, academics, students, policy advisors etc) under one roof. That said, given the relatively small representation by journalists in SCANZ, we want to be intentional in keeping the interests of our media members to the fore.
What's next for SCANZ?
We have a rough, work-in-progress catch-phrase to inform SCANZ planning for the next year or two. It describes SCANZ as: "a valued portal connecting those interested in science and innovation, offering career-enhancing services which lift the quality of science communication in New Zealand". I think this is still helpful as we plan for the future.
The challenge for the Exec Team in 2012 is to pick up and implement the remaining targets identified at our 2011 planning day. These include running regular regional events through the year, lifting our membership base further, making more improvements to our communication with members, locking in some sponsors for the mid-term, scope and implement grants to encourage science and innovation journalism and other forms of communication, plus develop our research activity.
It will be important to set challenging (yet also realistic) targets over the coming months for the six exec committees (Administration, Membership, Conference 2012, Fundraising & Profile, Special Projects and Research & Policy).
I hope you are encouraged by what's underway at SCANZ. We've tried in the past year to strike a balance between preserving our financial reserves, yet also investing in necessary administration and kick-start some interesting things.
SCANZ is your network for science and innovation communication, so do use it. Your ideas, experience and networks are very welcome.
Phil Johnstone
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