An Update from PSNZ Council By Moira Blincoe LPSNZ
In the roller coaster world of 2020, September was the first opportunity for Council to get together around the table for a full Council meeting. Gathering in Christchurch, we spent two full days covering a myriad of items including budgets, strategic plan, membership, events, NZ Camera and more. One of the reasons Council exists is to ensure that the purposes of the Society can be continually developed, reviewed and amended in accordance with the expectations of members and the changing environment in which we conduct PSNZ business. On top of this Councillors also manage and implement the various components of their individual portfolios. With the ongoing uncertainty we have experienced this year due to “you-know-what”, coupled with the personnel changes on Council and a shortage of support, all Councillors are feeling somewhat stretched. A significant amount of time was spent looking at what we as a Council are trying to achieve for members, but the key question we continually asked was, “What is it that our members want?” We know that many members enjoy events such as the national convention, the SONY National Exhibition, the Interclub competitions and the Workshop Series. We also consider our programmes such as the Judge Accreditation Programme and the Honours Awards to be valuable member benefits. However, in order to achieve these activities each calendar year it takes much work, planning, managing and implementation, as well as significant dollars. While we continually call for assistance and support from clubs and members in order to organise these events, fewer and fewer members are stepping up to the plate to assist. In short, these activities cannot be organised and implemented by the Councillors alone. To determine what the priority events the Society should continue to offer will be, we will implement a member survey to seek direct feedback on what your expectations of the Society are, going forward. Your honest answers will help finalise and define the strategic plan, confirm the events and programmes and assist with succession planning. Resulting from some robust discussions significant decisions were made and Council agreed to implement a number of changes. These decisions were not taken lightly. We appreciate that some of these changes may not be to every member’s satisfaction. However, as Council is charged with the ongoing development and sustainability of the Society, we make these changes in order to be just that — sustainable, reputable and transparent.
10
