Officers
Delegates Encouraged to Review Proposals Before Annual Meeting
The position of AAPG Delegate is one of honor and it carries the responsibility of representing your fellow members and your local society or region. Your job is to share their view of how the rules and procedures are organized to run AAPG activities.
As Delegates, we bring a global perspective to discussing the fundamental and longer term aspects of our society. This naturally includes important fundamentals like what are membership requirements and how will AAPG Constitution and Bylaws be adjusted to reflect them.
Every year our professional society elects new top leadership in the Executive Committee who are responsible for understanding the past, evaluating the current state of operations and looking to the future of the society. The EC is supported by the Advisory Council which prepares a strategic plan to look ahead. As we move forward, the HoD needs to adjust the Constitution and Bylaws to keep us a strong and growing society.
In its role, House of Delegates has fostered an openness about looking at multiple choices for organizing membership categories. The underlying value in the House of Delegates is the breadth of representation it brings to the discussion; the challenging aspect of the House of Delegates is the breadth of debate in which it can engage. The current topics about membership simplification are a good example.
One would think that a process of membership simplification would be simple. HoD committees have worked hard to carefully define what membership standards should be and to encourage growth by streamlining procedures. The new structure needs to acknowledge past membership categories and organize new categories to help support future initiatives. Part of the reason to simplify the structure is to help AAPG staff handle an increasing workload from around the world.
Please take time to read and assess the membership proposals in this Delegates’ Voice. As you do so, also think of streamlining the definitions and procedures so that it helps, not hinders, AAPG’s transition to the future. Additional information will be linked to the DV site in an effort to encourage open discussion and widespread review of the proposals. By doing your homework in advance, we can keep the limited time at the annual HoD meeting focused on delegate consensus building and decision making. After all, this is not rocket science, but it can become raucous science if we allow it to become just a debating exercise.
I look forward to gathering with all the delegates in April at the AAPG 2012 Long Beach Annual Convention and Exhibition and to a successful HoD meeting on Sunday April 22. See you there!