Message from Chairman
by John Brooks
President, European Region
Your Council met in Prague on January 19th arranged by Vlasta Dvorakova at the Czech Geological Survey. Prague is a really pleasant and beautiful city and it made for an exceptionally useful meeting.
There was much to discuss. Athens obviously, about which more elsewhere, but it may have gone un-noticed that whilst Athens is an international conference and exhibition, the Organisation has agreed to a different arrangement to that in previous international venues by having the Region much more closely involved in the management, as well as the technical programme, of the event. It is a model which, if successful-as I am convinced that it will be, allows a Region to grow without having to separate itself from the centre. It also demonstrates too the commitment of the Executive Committee to develop and support regional activities and membership.
In Long Beach at the annual convention there will be another demonstration of commitment to the regions. The House of Delegates will be asked to approve an EC resolution for “Graduated Dues” for members, based on an ability to pay. Salaries in the European Region and those in parts of Asia-Pacific, South America, Africa and Middle East can be very much lower than in Western Europe and USA & Canada, although even here new hires may qualify.
It makes sense to your Council that if we want to attract new members, as we clearly do, then the Organisation must offer services commensurate with an applicant’s ability to afford membership.
I will not go into detail here over the levels of salary involved as this is covered in the Explorer extremely well and which I recommend reading on the website.
I am hopeful that all 18 HOD members will be coming to Long Beach to vote on the motion.
Remember as well that there are two candidates for election to the new Vice- President for Regions this year
-again a demonstration of the Executive Committee’s commitment to change. They are John Hogg (Canada) and John
Kaldi (Asia Pacific). Do vote this year.
It is important to show that Regions will respond to positive initiatives.
Talking of elections, Council considered nominations for President- Elect 20092011 and for Vice-President 2007-2010 to the European Region Council.
At our Council Meeting we also discussed new opportunities – a next “Athens” and particularly how to involve students in our meetings. We might even ‘copy’ the international Barrel Award Scheme set up by Steve Veal for Long Beach as a model.
Council also would like to arrange more local meetings to address the issues of sub-regional areas. All of these however need volunteers to organise them even though we may soon have support in the Office. Commitment may be as much or as little as you like. Many of you are in full-time employment and are important as such to the organisation, but involvement in a single meeting of whatever kind would assist the Region to be that much more able to be active and prosperous. If you feel that you could give a little time or even wish to stand for office please contact me or any member of the Council. (jrvbrooks@supanet.com)
I attended the Leadership Forum in Tulsa on 9th February. The highlight of it for me was the meeting of Section and Region Presidents – apparently a first! It was informed, dynamic and inclusive and I wondered why this group had never met before and why it is not ‘de facto’ the Consultation Committee to the Executive Committee (not to be confused with the Advisory Committee).
The subject of Advisory Boards to Regions/Sections, raised by the Executive Committee late last year, was discussed by Council in Prague and also at the International Leadership Forum. The view we came to was that the “Boards ought to be integrated with the Corporate Membership, and that corporate members were not asked twice to join a board.
We now await a further communication from the Executive Committee giving more detail of these “Boards’” value, purpose, and function.
APPEX , the international deal fair, scheduled to be held in the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London from 20-22 March 2007, held a committee meeting in January at which it was resolved that the European Region would have official representation on this committee. Currently Mike Lakin and myself are members, and on Council. For the last three years, therefore, Council has had “de facto” representation, but now the role of the Region is officially recognised.
But THE success last year has been this Newsletter and the Region owes a huge debt to Carol Lucas for setting it up. We are pleased to welcome Mateus Hugo and his helpers who will succeed Carol later this year but it is to be hoped that this is not the last we see of Carol in the Region! Thank you so much Carol – you have shown graphically how one individual, in less than a year, can make such a difference to an organisation.