Re: Towards Carfree Cities IX alternatives

 

ciao,
 
 
Thank you very much Ed. I absolutely agree with everything you said.
Beside very interesting and attractive offer from Cape Town, I also think we have
to stick to the general rule to organise every second year a conference or AGM
somewhere in Europe and help member groups to have easy access to this important
meeting. It's very expensive for us from East Europe undeveloped countries to
travel to some distant destinations on other continents.
 
You are right about the cutting down time for AGM discussion.
Workshops or presentation on particular future projects should have more time,
because participants from member groups expect some help from more experienced
NGOs or individuals. Social events and spontaneous informal networking is maybe
more important then formal discussion with long list of issues and decisions.          
 

All the best,


Milan 





________________________________
> Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 17:20:20 -0500
> From: [email protected]
>
> Hi All,
>
>
>
> I think that both the possible altrnatives proposed in Simon's email last week sound like they could be very good events.>There is still enough time to make a call for papers and organise an event, even a full conference, especially if we can use a>venue and structure that is already tried and tested. I also like the Cape Town proposal from Lloyd. My only concern with>having that this year is that there hasn't been a WCN event that is easy to attend for western and central European carfree>activists since Tabor 2006 and TCFC V Budapest 2005, the Bogota and Portland conferences being on other continents, and the>Istanbul conference too far for many people to travel overland from western and central Europe. Of course, I appreciate and>share the desire to take the conference to other continents and encourage carfree activists around the world, but we also need>to keep the organisation going back in Europe where there are a lot of activists and potential to strengthen this base a lot>further.
>
>
>
> Simon also asked about the AGM format. I think this is an important question, as we have got into the habit of having marathon>all-day AGMs, which seem to me a bit of a waste of the limited time that we spend together at the conferences. Having attended>4 AGMs (Berlin, Budapest, Tabor, Istanbul), I believe we try to do too much, some of which is unnecessary. For example, we>always have a Charter & Statutes working group. There should be no need for this unless for some reason it has already been>decided that the Charter & Statutes need to change. The main things that need to be decided at the AGM are: new members for the>Steering Committee, approval of new member orgs, and a discussion of future strategy and project priorities. Information on all>of these things should be circulated beforehand to those people who are WCN members and are booked to attend the conference,>including a list of people standing for Steering Committee with some brief text about them, a summary of existing projects and>strategy, and the list of provisional member orgs again with some brief information about them. Then on the AGM day we can>discuss and make decisions as a whole group without splitting into working groups, and without starting from scratch on the day>with no prior information. We should be able to cut down the AGM to half a day at most. The time freed up can be used for>workshops on particular projects, or an afternoon outing or social event for more informal networking, which I feel would be a>more constructive use of limited time. How do other people feel about the AGM format?
>
>
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> Ed
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------
>
> Ed Beale
>
> [email protected]
>
> --------------------------------
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: "Simon Field" [s.d.field-qw6QB7/[email protected]]
>
> Date: 26/01/2009 11:59 PM
>
>
>
>
> Hi all.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your contributions to this discussion.
>
>
>
> After further meetings last week, we have developed two outline proposals:
>
>
>
> 1. A 3-4-day workshop and Annual General Meeting (AGM) event to be held in the Czech Republic sometime between June and August 2009.
>
>
>
> Advantages: networking in an informal atmosphere; programme flexibility; more time for training workshops; simpler organisation and lower up-front costs; can use previous experience from Tabor, 2006; potential sources of funding have been identified; summer weather.
>
>
>
> Disadvantages: little time to organise; no keynote/headline presentations; no public day; will not attract policymakers and other professionals; will not generate much-needed additional funds for WCN, and it could indeed make a loss.
>
>
>
> 2. A mini-conference in Prague between October and December, to be organised primarily by the ICC. This could be for 3-5 days, including AGM.
>
>
>
> Advantages: more time for planning and fundraising; maintains the recent tradition of an annual conference; attractive to external speakers; higher profile with greater outreach potential; attendance fee to provide financial assistance to members who need it, with net surplus ploughed back into WCN activities; up to 11 months still available for organisation.
>
>
>
> Disadvantages: organisation is more complex and must begin immediately; it is relatively late to isue a call for papers for an event in 2009; possibly less time for training/brainstorming workshops; reduced programme flexibility.
>
>
>
> At this stage, I would like to think that the possible third option of no face-to-face event (a 'virtual/electronic AGM' only) will not happen.
>
>
>
> Please send your thoughts - format preferred, date, location, general themes - to the list by Sunday 1st February. We are also interested in your views on the AGM - should this be at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the conference or workshop? How else could it be improved? Our AGM reform working group would be grateful for your input.
>
>
>
> The ICC is dependent on the Network's assistance, whichever option we decide to go for, but we're optimistic that we can organise a successful event together.
>
>
>
> Regarding the 2010 TCC conference, I can confirm that we have received no proposals so far. Of course this is extremely important, but please let's focus on 2009 for the next week or so.
>
>
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> I look forward to hearing from you all soon,
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Simon.
>
> WCN Steering Committee.
>
>
>
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
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