Southwestern Ontario Chapter Second Annual General Meeting

by Carol Lawless, Secretary

Another year wrapped up and while we didn’t pop the champagne or launch into Auld Lang Syne, we did have good friends, old and new, and good cheer. The Huether Hotel’s Boardroom was the scene of our second Annual General Meeting (AGM) on June 12, 2011. We welcomed Ken Coates, our guest speaker who is the Dean of Arts from the University of Waterloo, enjoyed a good meal and participated in some excellent networking conversations. And of course, conducted the official business that’s crucial to any non-profit organization.

The evening’s sponsor was Technically Write Consulting Ltd. Thank you for paying the balance of our food and drink bill!

Our outgoing President, Fei Min Lorente, recapped the year. We had a successful ten months with our core offerings (education evenings, webinars, workshops and competitions). But we also had an innovative year. We:

• offered several education evenings by webinar. For our members who live too far to drive in for an evening, this offers a chance to be involved in the chapter.
• opened our student award competition to all post secondary schools in Ontario.
• hit social networking, using LinkedIn and Twitter as well as the new STC website to move towards two-way communications.
• introduced the participation contest.
• leveraged our partnership with Communitech.

Looking ahead to the future, we need to provide a venue where members and non-members are more excited to participate. To that end, we will be doing a survey later this summer to find out what you think we need for a vibrant chapter and what would fulfill your needs. Some ideas we floated informally were more relaxed networking evenings, pub-style, to complement our education evenings.

Our chapter is working with other Canadian and International chapters to support one another with ideas and resources. The Canadian chapters, specifically, are working on a Canadian salary survey and are looking to revive the Canadian Issues SIG.

For the official business we had a quorum – enough members were present to vote and elect the board of directors for 2011-2012. We began by reading and approving the 2010 minutes. Treasurer, Jim Bousquet presented a view of the audited financial statement for 2010. All members are entitled to see the financial statement, which they can obtain from the treasurer. The members accepted the report unanimously and also agree to retain the auditors for the 2011 statements.

The election of officers yielded the following results (all were elected unanimously):

• President: Fei Min Lorente

• Treasurer: Jim Bousquet

• Secretary: Carol Lawless

While the president can (under our bylaws) serve for a maximum of two consecutive terms, she may run for a third term at the request of the membership. Since there were no other nominations put forward for President, Fei Min graciously agreed to stay for a third year. Rob Cundari was appointed as Vice-president. We wish him well as he learns the ropes! Thanks to both of you for stepping up to keep our chapter alive and vibrant.

Fei Min presented several awards – She announced the participation contest winners:

• third place (150 points): Carrie Warner won $50

• second place (150 points): Ursula McCloy won $100

• first place (200 points): Tricia Ward won $250



Jim presents a cheque to Ursula, the happy second place winner in the Participation Contest







Jim presents a cheque to Tricia, the happy first place winner in the Participation Contest



Debbie Kerr receiving her award from Fei Min Lorente

Debbie Kerr officially received her Distinguished Chapter Service Award. Debbie was unable to attend the March awards night to receive this well deserved recognition for her huge contributions to the chapter. We were delighted that she could receive it at the AGM.

And finally Fei Min thanked the council members for their dedication this year:

Absent: Gwyneth, Elaine, Patrice, Tracey, Heather, Sam

Sylvia - liaison with Fanshawe College and University of Western Ontario, and liaison with London Word Fest in 2012

Ursula - Employment Manager

Nancy - Competitions Manager and Hospitality Manager

Rob -Membership Manager

Debbie - Past President and jack of all trades

Jim - Treasurer

Carol - Secretary

Fei Min - President

And finally, a special thank you to all our families for their support and understanding.

Our chapter is run by volunteers and we are always looking for new faces around the table. Your input and help are essential for an energetic and exciting chapter. Volunteering is a great way to build your portfolio, learn new skills, and impress people. If you’re interested, we’d love to have you on board! Specifically we’re looking for people to fill the roles of webmaster and education manager.

We are taking a break from events for the summer, but we look forward to seeing you again in September. In the meantime, stay in touch. There are so many ways...