 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group President's Annual Report Charles Wright charles@melbpc.org.au |
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It wasn't an easy year for this club. It wasn't easy for anyone. All over this State, people were losing their jobs, their homes and their businesses. And we picked that year to move into a new building, change our management and take on the biggest restructuring in our history. So much for our sense of timing.
We didn't start with a united committee. It reflected 18 months of bitter division. The annual report that appeared in this magazine before the last annual general meeting was not so much a report as a scathing indictment. The place was a shambles.
And then within weeks of the election we lost our secretary. Within months we'd lose our treasurer, and then another secretary, and we couldn't find anyone to replace them. We had no organised program to harness volunteers, and we were forced to increase our paid administrative staff, and to use some of our consultant's time on daily tasks, rather than future planning.
There were times when people felt overwhelmed and disillusioned. People got miffed. People got angry. And there was, of course, no shortage of critics. The most perfect players always seem to be the ones in the grandstand.
I wouldn't like ever to go through that year again. But we survived. And we grew stronger. We've sorted out the mess, and we've got our revenue flowing again. Last year we tried to contain our growth because we didn't have the infrastructure to manage it. But we grew in spite of it. We're bigger than we've ever been, and this year we're going to aim for at least 1000 more members. Along the way, we've proved that bigger doesn't mean less socialising or less personal involvement. This club is friendlier, more welcoming and more member-driven than ever before.
We said we'd run at a deficit this year, and we did. But we've still got money in the bank. What we've done, however, is put our funds to work for us.
The task essentially was to repair a decade of neglect. Our first 10 years of existence coincided with a period of easy growth, particularly in the world of computers.
We did well financially in that period, largely because we had a captive audience to buy our shareware.
It would have been a good time to invest in new facilities, but instead we banked the money, congratulated ourselves on our business acumen, and failed to see that there were other organisations who were beginning to offer better services than we were providing. We allowed them to take away our market.
As I've said here before, to have a lot of money sitting in the bank while your income declines and your members complain about lack of facilities is not my idea of sound financial management.
The truth is that we had become complacent. We had become sloppy. The financial records that Viv Martin had to deal with as our first treasurer last financial year were appalling. Thousands of dollars were simply unaccounted for, or applied to the wrong area. Our balance sheet was filled with apparent assets that couldn't be found. Receipts were missing, cash register rolls had disappeared ... in one case cash receipts had apparently been used to pay staff wages, without any supporting documentation.
Viv found several hundred dollars in cash sitting in an office drawer, with no details about what it represented.
The systems that Viv, and our consultant, Rob Nichols, and much more recently Barry McMenomy have put in place with Janet Henstock's assistance, mean that members can be confident now that their funds are properly accounted for, and that the balance sheet is an accurate reflection of the year's activities.
Last year we invested a significant part of our resources to give us the ability to compete in the market place. I'm not going to waste time playing semantic games about the difference between being a business and being businesslike. The bottom line is unambiguous. If you don't constantly survey your market and invest wisely, if you don't have a sound financial structure and manage your costs, if you don't provide value and aggressively market your services, you will not survive.
There is no doubt whatsoever that this club is not just surviving, it's growing.
Over the past few months, a large number of members have been directly involved in the preparation of a business plan based on the recommendations of our financial consultant, which I suggest as a matter of priority, should be completed in the first weeks of the new committee's life. Each area of our activities will have a budget to work to. This club has never before had a business plan, or any serious budgetary procedure. Based on those planning meetings, the committee will introduce a coherent organisational structure which will involve committee members overseeing particular areas of responsibility, but working much more directly with dedicated groups of volunteers.
We've had discussions with a marketing consultant, and we're about to begin aggressively marketing the group's services, not just internally, but in the community. There are many unique features that the group can offer, and draw revenue from. The first area will be our training, taking advantage of the new, well-equipped Hewlett-Packard learning centre.
Shortly after that, once we're satisfied that our system can cope with the load, we're going to market our shareware. We've tracked down the world's best source of new shareware on CD-ROM, and we've bought the necessary equipment. Felix van Lier is taking over the role of shareware librarian, and I've persuaded Laurence Blake, a former committee member, to lend his enthusiasm to the marketing thrust.
At the same time, the new equipment on the BBS is allowing us to update those facilities, and with Barry McMenomy concentrating on that area, this year we'll finally be able to deliver a world-class electronic service. I have to take the opportunity here, to acknowledge the tremendous effort that a small group of members put in to rescue the BBS after the sudden resignation of the previous sysops. It was hard work, and there was a series of disasters, but most of our members were patient and supportive. And now they're beginning to see the results - a much better service and more to come.
We have to do some more pruning this year. I don't consider that our legal fees were wisely spent last year - and one of my first acts as president was to settle a case we'd inherited from the interim committee.
We're going to have to limit our representation at Comdex. It's important that we fly the flag, but we'll have to have a smaller one.
I haven't been happy with the productivity from the office, and with Janet Henstock, I've already acted to reduce our costs and increase our output. But we should recognise how much more efficient the office is than it used to be. Every dollar is accounted for, and in the last month or so, we've all but eliminated member complaints.
We've had immediate success with our policy of involving members and making them feel more welcome. Noeline Finlay has done a tremendous job organising our volunteers, and our Volunteer of the Month and Volunteer of the Year scheme has given us a way of showing our workers that we appreciate their efforts.
There's a new sense of cheerful camaraderie throughout the club, a new sense of openness; and with only a few sad, but inevitable exceptions, the divisions and the cynical whispers are well behind us.
We have the opportunity to make this year the most active, most successful, most rewarding yet. To all those who've worked for that - and I can tell you that some people in this club did far more for us than any voluntary body has any right to expect - my sincere thanks, and my congratulations.
The signs of our resurgence are everywhere.
These days you're lucky to get a seat at our monthly meetings, and the atmosphere is unrecognisable. Having recruited Hayden May to do precisely that job, I was confident that he could turn things around, but he succeeded beyond my expectations.
As you read this annual report, you'll be holding in your hands another sign of success.
PC Update is better than ever. It isn't just the editorial content, or the increasing colour, or the fact that there are far fewer literal errors and production faults. It's also the fact that we're now printing 3000 more copies for the same price and distributing them through the newsagencies. That will bring more income, and more members. And if you check the pages of this issue, you'll notice a massive growth in paid advertising. As Peter indicates in his report, a high proportion of the costs of this issue have been met by the advertising. (And incidentally, we've ended what seemed to be a tradition of allowing our advertising charges to be written off as bad debts.) That means that at last, we've been able to substantially reduce the percentage of members' fees applied to the magazine, without having to put our most valuable resource into commercial hands, which is what last year's interim committee told us we'd have to do. The day we do that, in my opinion, is the day this club will start to die.
A great deal more could have been achieved last year if 0we'd had a united committee prepared to accept responsibility. Instead, too many members felt that it was enough simply to attend monthly committee meetings, and look elsewhere when the jobs were being handed out.
These people placed an intolerable burden on the few who were prepared to get things done.
This year I've persuaded a number of people to stand for committee who I'm satisfied have the qualifications and the energy and the willingness to serve as a coherent team.
I hope that the membership will support that team, because it's taken a tremendous effort to build up momentum, and we can't afford any further divisions.
I've asked Colin Lovitt to stand as vice-president. Like most of the people who make things happen in this club, Colin Lovitt doesn't enjoy much of the limelight, but I've been impressed by the work that he's done restoring the files area of the BBS, and fostering good relations among members. He's a good communicator, and an organiser, and as a QC, he can bring the executive invaluable professional expertise and experience.
Geoff Lewis is an engineer who's successfully conducted his own business and now works as a consultant to the State Government. He has been a member for a few years now, has a solid financial and administrative background, and has particular expertise in the use of buildings, which will be invaluable in making our office space work. He's also a good communicator, and it's essential that we have a secretary who has good human relations skills.
It's been obvious for a long time that we need to have a qualified accountant as treasurer, and Bruce Elliott is willing to make his experience available to the group.
Peter Smith, of course, requires no introduction. I don't know where he gets the time to oversee the production of the magazine, but somehow he does. He still manages to ensure that a lot of the detailed work in matters like our annual elections are taken care of, and the club needs him on its executive.
Barry McMenomy's enthusiasm meant that last year he had far too many things to do. I'm delighted he's chosen to concentrate on the BBS.
Our meetings will continue to be in the good hands of Hayden May.
I've asked Bill Docherty, who runs our Peninsula SIG, to take on the new role of liaison with the regional interest groups, and we've started a fascinating project which will use our BBS to provide a valuable communications resource for our country areas. I think we'll see substantial growth in our regional membership this year.
I was particularly impressed with the work that Rick Gray did on our anniversary sub-committee, and I've asked him to make that organisational ability more widely available to the group.
Ash Nallawalla does much more than edit our magazine. He also is our link to the international Association of PC User Groups, and he is an invaluable resource for us.
Gary Taig has been a major contributor to PC Update's success, and he will also continue to concentrate on improving our SIGs.
Felix van Lier faces a very busy year organising the shareware library and its volunteers. Our aim this year is to not only arrest the decline in shareware sales, but to surpass the returns of our best sales year.
Peter Freeman has rapidly become a tremendous asset for the group. His particular responsibility will be in the equipment area, but he seems to pop up all over the place.
Terry Kemp has been a tireless worker for the group in a lot of areas.
In summary, last year was a year of consolidation, shaping a solid foundation for further growth and greater revenue. To all those who contributed to that task, my thanks. You helped to give us the tools. This year, we need to finish the job.
Reprinted from the October 1993 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
