Marketing/IT News

This year has featured some new developments in Marketing and Publications. We have produced brochures for distribution with kitten transfer documents. We have secured a new advertiser to sponsor 1000 new brochures for distribution by the Longhair and Shorthair Registrars. They are currently being prepared. A change is the management, printing and delivery of the brochures by the sponsor itself to reduce cost and administrative hassle.

We have trialed the use of live streaming at the National Cat Show in Tauranga. This was met with great enthusiasm. I intend to live stream the Christchurch National show as well. Given National Top Tens in 2020 will likely be presented to the whole hall, it should be easier to video every top ten for the benefit of those not able to attend.

Flash Cats continues to be a valued resource, and I thank Gaynor for her amazing job as Editor of the magazine. She puts in huge numbers of hours and I am incredibly grateful. Flash Cats could not be produced without her dedication and passion!

The Discipline and Disputes Procedure subcommittee put a large amount of time and effort into preparing the Discipline and Disputes Procedure Discussion Document circulated in September. I hope the membership have reviewed that document. I have had one response to the Discussion Document, and I wish to encourage members to submit (we are happy to receive submissions in the near future).

I would also be interested to hear any experiences the membership may have had in relation to the Discipline and Disputes Procedure (ie what went well, what was problematic, and any other comments).

I must provide a great thanks to my fellow members of the Discipline and Disputes Procedure Subcommittee – Cathy Webb and Kerry Holden. They have been invaluable in providing comments, suggestions and input into the Discipline and Disputes Procedure report.

Next steps are to form a view on the final structure of the Discipline and Disputes Procedure and then to draft the rules themselves. We have set an ambitious target to have the rules drafted for the February meeting, in anticipation of passing the new Discipline and Disputes Procedure at the AGM in May 2020..

Alex Ladyman Marketing & Publications Portfolio Manager

IT PORTFOLIO NEWS

Season Greetings to all our members

As we look forward to a well deserved break over Christmas, we can look forward to a great show year, with a few challenges here and there for new officers on board, but we are getting there.

We have quite a list of things for our Webmaster to get through, which will be starting very soon. The registerars updated pages are still in testing as issues have cropped up in this testing phase, which has need to be address.

Some of the things being looked at next year behind the scenes things, that normal users will not see, but it will make the whole website and registry work better.

Over the summer break our Webmaster and myself are planning on doing improvements and testing of the show program, which has been an ongoing issue for all clubs that use it. It has been a huge challenge to find someone who is willing to put the effort in, so I am so grateful Peter has agreed to work with me to improve it.

We have a couple of clubs data from this year to use for testing, and I am really looking forward to getting this working well. Personally our club has used this program for years and it saves a lot of time for show secretaries, we just need to iron out the bugs that exist. I will share an update in the next Flash Cats. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable break over Christmas and New Year. Stay safe and see you all in 2020.

Marie Prendergast IT Portfolio Manager