AGM and Vacant Committee Positions

Attending in person

If you are attending in person, the new location this year is:

Leicestershire Scout Headquarters
9 Oak Spinney Park
Leicester
LE3 3AW

Tea and coffee will be served.

Please let John Corley know in advance if you intend to attend in person, so that he can accommodate the numbers. Phone: (07788) 975006, Email: j.r.corley@btinternet.com

Joining the meeting online

Andi, our webmaster and website developer, will be handling the online side of the meeting. She has provided the following instructions…

You will need:

• A desktop or laptop computer, or a smartphone/tablet.
• Your device must have speakers or headphones connected, so that you can listen to the discussions.
• A web browser, such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari, to name the most popular ones.
• Ideally, a good internet connection.
• If you would like your face to be present in the meeting, you can choose to enable your webcam if you have one, but this is optional.
• If you would like to interact with the meeting verbally, your device will need a microphone. Many laptops, smartphones, and standalone webcams include built-in microphones. If you device doesn’t have a built-in mic, or you don’t have a separate one you can connect, you will still be able to type questions/responses/etc. and I will read them out loud for you during the meeting.

To join the meeting:

1. If you have external devices like speakers, webcams, or microphones, connect them now.
2. Open your preferred web browser.
3. In the address bar, go to https://meet.google.com/ofe-jxrj-hpy.
4. If you are on a smartphone or tablet, you will be prompted to install the Google Meet app at this point. When the app is installed, open the app, tap “Enter a Meet code”, and type “ofe-jxrj-hpy”.
5. Check your webcam, mic, and speakers are working as expected, then click the “Join now” button to connect to the meeting.
6. Buttons for muting/unmuting your mic, enabling/disabling your webcam, virtual hand-raising, and for bringing-up the chat system can be found at the bottom of the screen.
7. If you are connecting to the meeting via WiFi, and are having connection or call quality issues, try moving closer to the wireless access point in your house.

Ways to participate:

• There will be a good webcam and microphone set-up in the room so that virtual attendees can see and hear as if they were physically present.
• If the venue has a projector or TV available, we will put the virtual meeting up on said display, so any virtual attendees with webcams enabled will be able to have their face present in the meeting for other members to see and interact with.
• If you have your webcam enabled, you can use it to vote on issues by raising your hand.
• If you have your microphone enabled, you can use it to talk to the attendees as if you were in the room. If you have a mic but no webcam, you can also vote on issues verbally and we’ll make sure they get counted.
• If you do have a microphone, please keep it muted when not speaking, otherwise there will be a lot of background noise in the virtual meeting.
• If you have neither a webcam nor a microphone, or you simply would rather not have them enabled, you can use the chat system to type any input you may have, and I will repeat your input out loud so the whole meeting can hear it. You can also use this chat system (or the virtual hand-raise feature) in order to vote on issues.

I (Andi) will be on-hand in the virtual meeting for a while — probably 15-30 minutes — before the AGM is due to start in order to provide any technical troubleshooting assistance you may need. In the meantime, if you have any questions about any of this, please contact Rob (contact details in the sidebar) and he can put you in touch with me, and I’ll help you get set-up and answer any questions you may have.

Committee members needed

Please remember that the club will need nominations for the following positions at this year’s AGM: Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, and Rally Secretary. The holders of the other positions are willing to stand again, but if you feel that you would be able to offer something else, then put your name forward and there will be a vote. It is not fair to expect a few members to be saddled with the jobs for life… YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU!

Having long-term committee vacancies is not a new problem: the above paragraph was paraphrased from 1991 (thanks to John Oglesby, former Club Chairman), and I seem to remember a similar plea in the early ’80s!

Next year is the club’s 50^th anniversary — it would be great if we could go into that year with a full committee, and a revitalised club with more members having their say online. If you feel you could offer something to the committee, please contact John Corley (current secretary).

Agenda

John Corley has sent the following draft agenda through. Note that there is no AoB in order to try to keep the meeting from running over, so get in touch with John if you would like to propose any amendments and/or would like to stand for any of the vacant positions:

Agenda for AGM on Sunday 16^th April 2023 at 1300 hours.

Venue:

Leicester and Leicestershire Scout Headquarters
9 Oak Spinney Park
Leicester
LE3 3AW

Also online via Google Meet.

1. Apologies.
2. Minutes of last meeting.
3. Matters arising.
4. Election of officers.

Note, we currently do not have a Chairperson or Vice Chairperson. If one of these positions is not filled then the continuation of the club is in doubt. If anyone wishes to apply please contact John Corley for a job description.

Existing officers’ reports:

1. General and membership secretary report, John Corley
2. Spares and regalia report, Paul Burgess
3. Treasurer report, Paul Norton
4. Magazine report, Barbara Davies
5. Rally report, John Banks
6. Publicity report, Mark Smith
7. Historian report, Robert Davies (acting)
8. Website report, Robert and/or Andi Davies

The above officers mentioned in 1–8 above are all willing to stand for a further twelve months and will be voted for on block.

Meeting to finish no later than 16:30.