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CleftPALS Australia Inc's National AGM

July 3rd and 4th, 2009

 Sydney, NSW

my version of the weekend

Getting there | First Day | Second Day Pt 1 | Second Day Pt 2

 

Hi, and welcome to my report from the national AGM held in Sydney, Australia for CleftPALS Australia Inc.

CleftPALS Australia Inc's national committee is made up of delegates/representatives from each state in WA, Vic, NSW, SA and Tasmania.  Each 6 weeks we meet up online via Skype to hold official meetings which are Chaired by the President and minuted by the Secretary. 

Once a year, a state is elected to host the 'AGM' which is a weekend (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) held in July.  This is a face-to-face meeting and means that a delegate or two from each state flies over to attend for the weekend.  One of the first things people think when they know this is "yay, free trip!"  No, not really! 

Apart from the National Secretary and the National President, all states cover their own accommodation and flights - or not.  There has been cases where states have actually declined to approve the flights/accommodation costs of their representatives and this means that the poor rep has to pay their own way!

Some states cover their delegate's travel to and from the airport/meeting etc, and some states don't, leaving it to their rep's own pockets.

Some states cover the cost of the food (to a limit) of their delegate as they have to eat while they are there representing the state. And again, some states don't and this means, yep- you guessed it - the poor delegate has to cough up their own money again.

See what I mean about it not being a 'free trip'. 

This is not likely to be the case in SA as it's something that is done to further propel the support group along in the state and not a fun trip, so the commitment should be suitably 'absorbed' by the state's funds IMHO. 

So now that you understand the costs a little better we can move on to other parts of the trip.

Before we do that though I want to make clear that I talk about my family (my husband, Andrew, and two sons, Sebastian and Timothy) who also attended this year.  Just so that you - the reader - know, we paid for our own flights and we paid for the accommodation of the 3 family members.  As I'm National Secretary it is written in the Constitution that my airfare and accommodation must be covered by the national body as the Secretary is needed at the AGM.  This year National only had to cover my portion of the accommodation.  I opted to pay my own airfare as a 'thank you' for all the years they have accommodated me in the past.  This left funds available for National to assist another fledgling state this year with flights and accommodation costs - which really helps that state come to learn more about the national body and also see the support that is available to them!  All other costs for the weekend were paid for out of our own pockets.

next - the first day there... Thursday.

 

Getting there | First Day | Second Day Pt 1 | Second Day Pt 2

 

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