I’ve chosen to highlight some of the key points that were discussed throughout the two days and highlight some of the more important National Initiatives and decisions that will affect our chapter directly. Our chapter sent three representatives and two observers. Our official representatives were myself, Marga Lopez (President) and Mark Busse (Past President). Both observers Andy Maier (Sponsorship) and Amanda Fetterly (Sustainability) were attending a National AGM for the first time.

We arrived midday Thursday and attended an opening reception at Red River College that evening, featuring reports from each chapter president. One can’t help but notice the overwhelming differences between chapters not only in membership and executive size, but also the kinds of events that they can put on. However despite these seemingly massive and at times rather prohibitive differences, I was left with the impression that there are designers in all regions of this country, not only dedicated to their craft but also to the promotion of the GDC and design in Canada.

The second day opened with Chair Reports from National Executive Members (NEX); the key points are highlighted below. Following these reports the meeting started in on the seemingly endless, but necessary, flow of Roberts Rules, where every second point had to be seconded, retracted or noted in the minutes somehow. Budgets, minutes and reports were all passed with relative ease. Discussion of motions brought forth from National included the creation of a 4th National VP, Principles and Values Statement and the Foundation and Contingency agreement. We nominated and accepted Sue Colberg as a Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (FGDC). Finishing up the day was a two hour tutorial on how to administer gdc.net from the Smallbox delegation. It was good to have Smallbox represented at the table since they are so involved with the majority of our interactive strategy.

On day two the delegation broke out into five sub-committees to discuss issues in more detail. Branding, sustainability, web communications, sponsorship and membership were all discussed. While all the groups had good discussions, nothing was presented back to the NEX, nor did any groups have any mandates moving forward. Andy presented the sponsorship (relationship) kit for discussion and it may likely be used as the basis of a national sponsorship kit.

Saturday afternoon after lunch was busy, as chapters raised issues that needed to be discussed. Most notably to me was the nomination and election of Steve Fischer, Creative Director of Idea Market in Calgary.

There was significant discussion of the work done by the Sustainability Committee and its initiatives and motions. Andy and Amanda formally joined the committee and many of the initiatives undertaken by this group will soon be available on gdc.net.

Sponsorship: (Dean McNeill, MGDC)
• Acquired sponsorship from Getty Images for free use of their images in official GDC publications (with some conditions)
• Expressed interest in consolidating sponsorship information on a national level

Membership (Patrice Snopkowski, MGDC)
• 1,313 Members (up 250 Members from last year)
• Established a Membership at Large position

Administration: (Melanie MacDonald)
• 500 new members and/or renewals using gdc.net
• 98% of income from membership
• $13,500 income through the job board
• Working to eliminate the financial dependency on dues

Icograda Representative (Sue Colberg)
• Comparison: Australia has 10,000 members with one full-time employee. A few years ago membership was 3,000
• Fun Fact: There have been 3 Canadian presidents of Icograda since the GDC joined in 1974

Secretary (Jim Hudson)
• Move to have preliminary versions of notes available within 60 days of AGM
• Expression of interest in having Chapters and National Executive present for monthly meetings

Communications (Matt Warburton)
• No movement forward on brand affirmation but will explore funding to conduct a national poll on topic

President’s Message (Rod Roodenburg)
• Initiated collaboration with RGD, and now Rod sits on the RGD board
• Certification in either association carries over an appropriate level to the other association when joined at a comparable membership level

Three Things for our Chapter to know about:
• National and the BC Chapter decided not to raise dues for 2009
• Sustainability initiatives being driven by the West Coast with the assistance of others across the country
• 2010 AGM to be hosted in Victoria

Three Important Things happening at the national level that our chapter should be aware of:
• Improved relations with RGD
• New chair of Website Committee
• Progress with Members at Large (currently 93 members)

Three Frustrations at the AGM
• Slow movement on important issues (brand evolution, Graphic vs. Communication Designer)
• Robert Rules-itus. While important to maintain order, much of the time was seemingly spent amending talking points, etc.
• Early mornings after some late nights hanging out with great designers from all over the country!

Photos of the events, both in and out of the boardroom, are available on the Flickr pool for the AGM.

~ Steve Mynett
National Representative