Minutes of IMCoS AGM 2022
(For Approval at IMCoS AGM 2023)
Meeting Held on Saturday 11th June 2022 at the Royal Geographical Society
- Opening and Welcome
The Chairman opened the meeting at 10.00am. He welcomed all those present and advised every one of the administrative arrangements for leaving the building when the meeting closed, and re-entering the building when the Map Fair opened at midday. He had received apologies for absence from: Ian and Jenny Harvey (Advertising Manager), who would be back on Sunday to help run the IMCoS Stand at the Map Fair; Wesley Brown, International Chairman who was represented by Robert Clancy, International Co-ordinator; Peter Walker, Financial and Membership Secretary: and Mark Rogers, IMCoS Photographer. Ljiljana Ortolja-Baird, Journal Editor, was currently busy preparing the IMCoS Map Stand, but would join the meeting later to deliver her report.
Executive Committee members present were:
Mike Sweeting Chairman
Valerie Newby Vice Chairman
Cinzia Viviani Hon. Treasurer
Ljiljana Ortolja-Baird Journal Editor
David Dare General Secretary
A total of 15 members were present.
- Minutes of AGM 2021
The minutes of AGM 2021 had been available for viewing and comment by members via the members’ section of the IMCoS website for a period of one month as required by the Constitution. No comments had been received prior to the AGM, and none were offered at the meeting. Approval of the minutes was proposed by Hans Kok and seconded by Wolf Bodenstein. The meeting voted unanimously to approve the minutes.
- Chairman’s Report
(To be attached at Annex A.)
- Treasurer’s Report and Presentation of Annual Accounts for 2021
The Treasurer had prepared a presentation of the accounts for 2021. Key points were the increase in income compared with 2020 mainly due to the return of advertising income to pre-pandemic levels. She noted that Journal production costs were consistently rising with every issue. The surplus reported for 2021 was unlikely to be repeated in future years unless action was taken to boost income. She recommended that a marketing budget should be established to provide funding for advertising on a range of media platforms in addition to the free advertising on Facebook used at present.
In response to a query from Wolf Bodenstein on the level of bank charges, the Treasurer explained that most of the cost resulted from the charges imposed by credit card companies and the Stripe system for their services in handling members’ payments to IMCoS. The administration fees charged by the Natwest Bank in respect of the Society’s accounts was small in comparison.
In answer to a further query on whether the company chosen to develop and maintain the IMCoS website had been chosen by competitive tender, the Chairman answered in the affirmative. A sub-committee of the EXCOM had been formed to solicit tenders, to visit and assess the most promising contenders, to report findings and make a recommendation to the EXCOM. After debate in committee, the EXCOM had approved the recommendation.
After some discussion of ways to raise the profile of IMCoS the Treasurer offered to investigate whether it would be possible to place a direct link to the IMCoS website from Facebook and other media platforms on which we might advertise.
- Membership Fees for 2023
The Chairman reported the view of the EXCOM that in the current economic climate a rise in subscriptions rates would likely be counterproductive, and recommended leaving the rates unchanged. A motion to retain the 2022 subscription rates for 2022 was proposed by Robert Clancy and seconded by Valerie Newby. The motion was agreed unanimously.
- International Matters
Robert Clancy, representing Wesley Brown, reported that all arrangements were now in place for the 2023 Symposium in Texas. Registration via the symposium page of the University of Texas website will open as soon as software problems have been fixed.
Planning for the 2024 Symposium in Helsinki is on track.
He drew attention to the very wide geographic coverage achieved in recent years through the programme of Annual Symposia in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia that reflects the international element of IMCoS. He suggested that international participation in the running of the Society might be enhanced if, on occasion, the IMCoS AGM was held during the Annual Symposium rather than in London at the time of the Map Fair. He and Wesley will work together to investigate whether the proposal would be both practical and beneficial to IMCoS.
Rudolf Lietz noted that the map market changed over time. He quoted the Philippines as an example where a few years ago map prices were very low, making collecting both affordable and popular. Prices are now an order of magnitude larger and in consequence there are few new recruits to map collecting societies. He thought that IMCoS should be seeking new members by encouraging map collecting in countries where maps are still relatively cheap to purchase.
- Executive Committee
The Chairman was pleased to announce that Mark Rogers, who succeeded David Webb as the official IMCoS photographer, had expressed interest in joining the Executive Committee, and the Committee had invited him to do so. After summarizing Mark’s CV, the Chairman proposed that the appointment be confirmed by the AGM. The proposal was seconded by Valerie Newby and approved unanimously.
- AOB
There being no Any Other Business, the Chairman closed the meeting.
