MINUTES OF THE 23rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANISERS

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF THE 23rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANISERS Held at ExCel, London on Thursday 15 July 2010 PRESENT Dion Bassett DB Rebecca Cadman-Jones RCJ Paul Cook PC Sue Etherington SE Michael Foreman MF Jennifer Horridge JH Martin Jack MJ Jennifer Jenkins JJ Joanne Leonard JL Anthony Lishman AL Kerrin MacPhie KM Lesley Maltman LM Gerry McCarthy GM Sharon Moncur SM Sue Reay SR Jacinta Scannell JS ITEM 1 OPENING REMARKS BY ABPCO CHAIR REBECCA CADMAN-JONES RCJ welcomed everyone to the meeting, remarking on the success of the Summer Summit during which the event was taking place and the resulting high attendance at the AGM. LM advised that she had just received the sad news that ABPCO member and former Executive Committee member Nick Jordan had suffered the tragic loss of his son the night before. RCJ commented that she would be sending condolences on behalf of the Association.

2 ITEM 2 APOLOGIES LM advised that apologies for absence had been received from: Pauline Appleby Helen Gregson Lisa Pennington Julie Archer Hannah Hallett Lynn Reid John Barbour McMullan Garth Halliday Duncan Robb Barbara Blow Rachel Howells Tony Rogers Uta Boger-Brown Richard John Caroline Rooney Heidi Booth-Adams Nick Jordan Lynn Samson Joyce Borthwick Daphne Llewellyn Davies Sarah Storie-Pugh James Caldwell Celia Lloyd Ann Taft Debbie Church Mike Lyon Paul Turner Rosemary Cragg Caroline Mackenzie Lucy Watkins John Durbin Katrina Manuel Corrine Weatherup Katie Farr Pauline McGreevy Lindsey Whitehouse Sarah Fitzpatrick Annette Mitchell Chris Wilson Maria Franzoni Richard Newton Kursha Woodgate Julia Gibson Rosemary Padmore Alan Wright Vicky Grant Marie Penney ITEM 3 MINUTES OF THE 22nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SM proposed and MF seconded that the Minutes of the 22 nd AGM held at The Radisson Edwardian Grafton Hotel, London on 26 th June 2009 be APPROVED and signed as a correct record. AGREED unanimously. ITEM 4 ADOPTION OF ACCOUNTS FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2008 MF presented a report on the Unaudited Accounts for He noted that the yearend position showing a loss of -13,685 was in no small part due to the problems with the Association Management Company RFA/Kingston Smith who managed the association until June It was also noted that the financial accounts had not been handed over by the AMC until the end of October 2009 which meant there had been problems monitoring the accounts following the June handover. The income for the year was 31,260 with operating costs of 43,677. SM & GM said that in the absence of viewing the Unaudited Accounts they could not be proposed or seconded. The accounts were circulated with these minutes. KM asked when the year end was and LM advised that it was 31 st December. SM asked what the policy on reserves was and a discussion followed. MF indicated there was no policy and SM asked that a policy be put in place. ITEM 5 APPOINTMENT OF AUDITORS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1/1/ /12/2008 LM suggested that Edwards, Pearson and White be re-appointed as auditors. It was AGREED to re-appoint them for Proposed by PC, seconded by SR. 2

3 ITEM 6 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE BY CHAIR REBECCA CADMAN-JONES RCJ thanked the ABPCO Executive Committee and Executive Director for their hard work in what had been a very challenging year for the Association. Membership: Membership has risen steadily over the past year with 8 applications currently being processed. Currently there are 94 members broken down as follows: 68 Full Members 3 Associate Members 6 Corporate Members 13 Friend Members 4 Honorary Members Introduction of Corporate Membership at Annual Conference members are currently The Barbican, The ACC Liverpool, Visit Manchester, The SECC, Mexia Communications and Visit London GM asked about the number of Full Members which as noted above is currently 68. SM indicated some concern about the direction the Association was going with the introduction of Corporate Membership as the Association was the only place where PCOs can talk to peers about venues without being overheard by suppliers. MF reminded the AGM that the introduction of Corporate Membership was raised at the Annual Conference in Liverpool in January 2010 where no objections were voiced. MF also noted the need to be transparent with suppliers and that being closed breeds mistrust. He noted that if ABPCO professional conference and event organisers can talk to each other as competitors then they should be able to talk to suppliers. LM noted that the ABPCO mailman is only open to Full and Associate members so continues to provide a forum for these members only. PC indicated that MPI hold planner only events to ensure opportunities for open and frank discussion and KM stated that venues would also appreciate opportunities to meet with their competitors openly. RCJ stated that the target for 2010 for Corporate Members was 15. Events: RCJ reported on the events held in the past year 1. November Winning Tenders taken by Martin Murphy SCMG at the ICC Birmingham with accommodation in the Hyatt Regency. Supported by Marketing Birmingham with sponsorship from Britannia Hotels and Conference Centres of Excellence, the event had 28 attendees 2. January - Annual Conference at The ACC Liverpool with accommodation in Hilton and Jury s. The event, chaired by Richard John was supported by Liverpool Convention Bureau & The ACC and included a Fam Trip on Thursday afternoon with social events in the Hilton and Beatles Experience. Speakers included Michael Heppell, Kursha Woodgate & Hamish Taylor and there were 64 participants. 3. April Social Media in Practice taken by Kursha Woodgate & Mary Thomas with lunch at Oxford Town Hall, training in Lady Margaret Hall and dinner and overnight at Malmaison. Supported by Destination Oxford there were 19 attendees. RCJ also noted that the Association joined MPI s Hosted Buyer group at EIBTM and will do this again this year. She also noted the success of the Summer Summit a joint event being held with ICCA, MIA and AIPCO. Management of the Association: RCJ thanked the Executive Director for the work carried out in the past year. She noted that a business plan devised in January in Liverpool and that more detail would follow on this in the 2010/11 report at the end of the meeting. 3

4 Executive Committee Meetings: The Executive Committee had met on four occasions: August 2009: Manchester November 2009: Birmingham January 2010: Liverpool April 2010: Oxford RCJ noted that the Executive Director continues to represent ABPCO on the Business Visits & Events Partnership. The Association is also part of the Institute of Event Management Steering Group with the Exec Committee member responsible for training & development taking this seat. The Vice-Chair will continue to represent ABPCO on the EFAPCO Board. SM asked that the ABPCO Executive consider moving the AGM to take place during the Annual Conference in January. ITEM 7 AMENDMENTS TO THE ABPCO CONSTITUTION Proposed amendments to the ABPCO Constitution had been circulated to all members prior to the AGM. LM read through all the amendments again which were proposed by MJ seconded by JS AGREED unanimously. ITEM 8 ELECTIONS TO THE ABPCO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE LM announced that Ann Martin, Daphne Llewellyn Davies and Howard Evans are stepping down from the Executive Committee. LM expressed sincere thanks to them for all that they had contributed. LM indicated that two nominations had been received for the Friend position on the category for Mike Lyon and Anthony Lishman. Mike Lyon had been appointed with 59% of the vote. LM suggested that AL be co-opted to the Executive Committee for the year. This was proposed by MJ and seconded by SR. Martin Jack, Jennifer Jenkins and Sue Reay were appointed unopposed as Full Members representatives. Kerrin MacPhie was appointed unopposed as the Corporate Member representative. New Committee Name Member Appointed Time Left on Exec Role in 2010 Rebecca Cadman-Jones Full Jun-09 2yrs + 1 optional Chair Michael Foreman Full Jun-09 2yrs + 1 optional Vice-Chair Jacinta Scannell Full Jun-08 1yr + 1 optional Sue Reay Full Jun-10 3yrs + 1 optional Martin Jack Full Jun-10 3yrs + 1 optional Jennifer Jenkins Full Jun-10 3yrs + 1 optional Kerrin MacPhie Corporate Jun-10 3yrs + 1 optional Mike Lyon Friend Jun-10 3yrs + 1 optional Anthony Lishman (co-opted) Friend Jun-10 3yrs + 1 optional RCJ will remain as Chair for the year. Michael Foreman was appointed as Vice Chair - RCJ proposed and JS seconded 4

5 ITEM /11 UPDATE by REBECCA CADMAN-JONES 1. Association Management & Reporting RCJ indicated that the AMC has been working to meet targets set in the Business Plan since the end of Quarter 1 which are set around income generation through a number of different streams: Membership: There are targets for renewals (which have been met) and new members Accredited Company scheme: MF explained that it was felt that PCOs should have the ability to get a stamp of approval from ABPCO by way of a quality assurance programme. It was noted that the implementation of this scheme was currently not top priority but would be looked at again by the new Executive. Website Advertising: it was noted that Benchmark Communications redesigned the website as sponsorship-in-kind and RCJ thanked them for this. They are also responsible for selling advertising on a commission basis. SR noted that the new site is more user friendly enabling stats to be gathered more easily and that the members only area was now more accessible with the ability to regenerate forgotten passwords. Insurance Commissions: RCJ reminded everyone that we went through a tendering process to appoint an insurance partner. Towergate offer ABPCO members best possible deals on insurance and RCJ encouraged members to utilise this service as ABPCO benefits from commission. Profit from sponsorship of events: RCJ noted that we have a target to generate profit from each event we hold. ABPCO Academy: JS outlined the proposals for the ABPCO Academy which would see a bank of ABPCO member speakers offer their services to Universities and other training institutes along with the production of teaching material for college courses. PC indicated that he believed universities would be very keen on this Academy idea. This is still in its infancy. RCJ noted that Talk budget & targets set are being reviewed on a fortnightly basis by way of a Conference Call with the Exec, PR Agency & AMC. KM asked about the current status of the budget. LM indicated that the budget had just been revised based on reduced expenditure and income. The original budget showed a yearend profit of 12,000 where the revised budget was now showing just over 2, Marketing RCJ asked LM to mention the Association s presence on social media. LM talked about the communities on Linked In, Facebook & Twitter and encouraged members to participate so that ABPCO can communicate with them fully. RCJ noted the appointment of Mexia Communications to manage the Association s PR and the great work that had been done to date by them to raise awareness of the Association with press releases including one following the Budget announcement concerning the impact it would have on the industry. RCJ noted the survey circulated to members on behalf of Kursha to encourage members to share their news stories with her and LM asked that members include ABPCO & Mexia on their media contacts list. LM mentioned the M&IT Venue Picker which has been very successful to date in profiling ABPCO Members with the next two destinations being Edinburgh in September and Liverpool in October. GM asked what the cost of Mexia Communications was. LM indicated that it was 600 per month which is a reduced rate by way of sponsorship. LM noted that this was a saving on the cost of the AMC to carry out the work and more cost effective with a PR professional carrying it out. 3. Training & Development RCJ took the opportunity to let members know that the Institute of Event Management steering group has been formed and that ABPCO has a place on it.this will eventually lead to all ABPCO training events being CPD credited with the next meeting planned for September. 5

6 4. Future Events The next event is planned for Leicestershire in November with details to be circulated The Annual Conference is being held in Manchester 20 th to 22 nd January 2011 and work will begin on the programme in August. Our spring meeting will be held in Durham in 2011 with dates to be confirmed. RCJ thanked the ABPCO Executive Committee Members individually again for their contribution and the AGM concluded at 18:15 6