26 replies to this topic

[BigG]

Society meetings have now moved to teleconference facilities and are held once a week on Thursday nights. At least once a month we will open the conference to society and forum members who would like to listen in and hear what the society is doing - as well as contribute ideas to our operations.

The next meeting (6th March 2008) will be an open meeting. If you would like to join the teleconference, please read the following Q&A carefully before contacting the event secretary at the address below.


1. How do I call in? How much does the conversation cost?

The number is a 0845/0844 number charged at 3p or 4p per minute from a fixed line (nothing to do with us - it's the cost of the conference line). The duration of the meeting is about 45-60 minutes, so do the math. You can always drop out in the middle if you do not wish to sit through the whole things.


2. What is the agenda for the meetings?

The format of all our meetings follows a similar pattern. We first discuss open actions from previous meetings followed by new business.


3. Are we just listening or can we contribute?

We would like all people sitting in the meeting to contribute, but in a manner that will not be disruptive to the meeting. The person chairing the meeting will usually read the open action and direct it to the person that it has been assign to. Some of the actions require the team to contribute ideas and discuss. Those are probably the moment where members can get more involved in the conversation.


4. I’m interested on taking on a new action – can I?

You will have to be a society member (that is, a paying member), but if you think you can take on an action, please do. Note that you will need to meet the time scales for that action – so make sure you have the free time to accomplice that!


5. I would like to ask a few questions during the teleconference – can I?

Only if the questions are specific to the discussion we are holding, and even then – we might not be able to answer for a number of reasons:

a. Some of the bodies and organization we work with do have written agreements that holds only to members of the society. As this invitation extends to forum members that are not society members – we might not be able to discuss the information.

b. Some actions have been around for weeks and have long history. It will take a long time to explain the reasons for many of those.

c. Any other questions / discussions that are perceived by the person chairing the meeting to be to disruptive to the meeting progress.

It is in the discretion of the person chairing the meeting to ask to move on. in such cases – the questions can be PM’d to the secretary and answered offline.


6. Great – I would like to sit in! What should I do?

Send Email to events at pyrosociety dot org dot uk. We will provide the phone number and code to join the conference a day before the meeting. Please let us know well in advance as the number of people who can join the call is limited.
Please provide:
You name/forum alias:
Are you a society member?: If yes, your number - if no, your interest in the meeting.

The names are required as we keep record of all meeting minutes. All attendees for the meeting must be included in those minutes.

Edited by BigG, 29 February 2008 - 10:09 PM.

[David]

I'm interested in hearing what the society is doing, so it would be useful if someone could post a basic review of this meeting afterwards.

It would be great to hear what the society has been doing regarding the pyrotechnics hobby.

[BigG]

Just a reminder - if you want to join the call you have to send Email to: events at pyrosociety dot org dot uk


Please read the Q&A at the top of the thread before doing so. If you plan to join, please send the email early rather then later. It's a chance to get a bit more involved in our plans for the year.

[David]

Do you mind if I ask- What exactly are you going to be discussing? " Open actions from previous meetings," I'm not sure what it means.

As I say above, I'm keen to hear how its all going!

[Richard H]

We discuss a range of issues, from society policies through to event planning for the forthcoming year. Previous minutes will be made available in the soon to be launched members area.

[YT2095]

and what of those of us that have been fully paid as members for over half a year, and still have no ID card much less a membership number?

[Richard H]

I have forwarded your above post to the membership secretary.

[BigG]

Just one or two correction following members comments.

Society meetings have now moved to teleconference facilities and are held once a week on Thursday nights at 9pm. At least once a month we will open the conference to society and forum members who would like to listen in and hear what the society is doing - as well as contribute ideas to our operations.

The next meeting (6th March 2008) will be an open meeting. If you would like to join the teleconference, please read the following Q&A carefully before contacting the event secretary at the address below.


1. How do I call in? How much does the conversation cost?

The number is a 0845/0844 number charged at 3p or 4p per minute from a fixed line (nothing to do with us - it's the cost of the conference line). The duration of the meeting is about 45-60 minutes, so do the math. You can always drop out in the middle if you do not wish to sit through the whole things.


2. What is the agenda for the meetings?

The format of all our meetings follows a similar pattern. We first discuss open actions from previous meetings followed by new business. In the future meeting minutes will be made available upon request through the website – in the meanwhile – those will be read out in details during the meeting. The next meeting open minutes deal mainly with upcoming events, elections, new roles and accounts.


3. Are we just listening or can we contribute?

We would like all people sitting in the meeting to contribute, but in a manner that will not be disruptive to the meeting. The person chairing the meeting will usually read the open action and direct it to the person that it has been assign to. Some of the actions require the team to contribute ideas and discuss. Those are probably the moment where members can get more involved in the conversation.


4. I’m interested on taking on a new action – can I?

You will have to be a society member (that is, a paying member), but if you think you can take on an action, please do. Note that you will need to meet the time scales for that action – so make sure you have the free time to accomplice that!


5. I would like to ask a few questions during the teleconference – can I?

Only if the questions are specific to the discussion we are holding, and even then – we might not be able to answer for a number of reasons:

a. Some of the bodies and organization we work with do have written agreements that holds only to members of the society. As this invitation extends to forum members that are not society members – we might not be able to discuss the information.

b. Some actions have been around for weeks and have long history. It will take a long time to explain the reasons for many of those.

c. Any other questions / discussions that are perceived by the person chairing the meeting to be to disruptive to the meeting progress.

It is in the discretion of the person chairing the meeting to ask to move on. in such cases – the questions can be PM’d to the secretary and answered offline.


6. Great – I would like to sit in! What should I do?

Send Email to events at pyrosociety dot org dot uk. We will provide the phone number and code to join the conference a day before the meeting. Please let us know well in advance as the number of people who can join the call is limited.
Please provide:
You name/forum alias:
Are you a society member?: If yes, your number - if no, your interest in the meeting.

The names are required as we keep record of all meeting minutes. All attendees for the meeting must be included in those minutes.

[David]

The next meeting open minutes deal mainly with upcoming events, elections, new roles and accounts.

The Society is clearly excellently organised, with well run meetings and a committed and well organised and democratic committee.

It looks like generally the purpose of these meeting is to discuss beauracratic issues, eg the running of the Society, rather than a more general discussion about Fireworks.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

As a suggestion , at a future event people could perphaps give breif lectures about their own historical research- or perphaps I'm missing the point of these meetings.

I'll start a thread....

Edited by David, 02 March 2008 - 08:32 PM.

[BigG]

The Society is clearly excellently organised, with well run meetings and a committed and well organised and democratic committee.

It looks like generally the purpose of these meeting is to discuss beauracratic issues, eg the running of the Society, rather than a more general discussion about Fireworks.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Well - I would not want to call it beauracratic . I guess there is some truth in it - but orginizing the events is a very much a hand on thing. It is much more helpful if many people are pitching ideas about what they would like to see in the events. Also, thank you for your kind words - but there are ALLOT of areas where we need to improve - and getting more people onto this meeting and getting more people to help out is the only way to move forward....

[David]

Yeah, I can't really think of a better way than "beauracratic" - I guess "organisational" might be better.

I've suggested on another thread some ideas for meetings.

Also I think with a lot of things momentum will gather with time.

[BigG]

Come on guys - we would like to see some new names and not the same old faces! This is open to ANYONE on the forums and doesn't cost a thing! You good nothing to lose by ringing in and get a chance in helping to move many things forward!

[YT2095]

as per the PM I sent a few secs ago, I shall be there

[BigG]

Better - We now have some new names. MORE PLEASE. The teleconference is just a couple of days away.

[pyrotrev]

What time is it on Thursday please? - I'd love to be in on it, but have a charity dominos match to attend (no, I'm not really that sad - just one of the liabilities of living in a small rural community )