Seniornet AGM and Symposium
Report by Roger Pittman, Regional Representative for Top Of The South
This year’s AGM and symposium was held at the Chisholm Park Golf Club in Dunedin on the 5th and 6th May 2021. There were about 70 delegates from Seniornet clubs across the country including regional representatives from the North and South Islands. It took place over two days with the first dominated by the Annual General Meeting. Normal business included reports from Harvey Porteus, the outgoing chairman, Heather Newall our Executive Officer and Pat Van Der Maas our treasurer. Two new regional representatives were appointed, Mike Lawrence for Manawatu and Roger Pittman for Top Of The South. Harvey Porteus retired as chairman to be replaced by Marilyn Goodwin from Warkworth. Motions included the adoption of a new Memorandum of Understanding, the document that clarifies the relationship between the Committee and Chief Executive.
The first committee meeting of the new term followed, with the new team. Roger attended his inaugural meeting and Mike Lawrence attended via Zoom. The first order of the day was the unveiling by our marketing and design company of the new logo. It is a striking tree design which includes the elements of the leaves and branches which represent the clubs and a trunk in the shape of the USB symbol which represents connectivity. Finally the typeface is in all lowercase as one word “seniornet” mimicking the way email and web page addresses are written, suggesting our technological aims.
In addition, it was decided to change the Chief Executive’s position from committee member to non-voting CEO who would advise but not vote. Roger would assist Nancy from Whangarei with the resources website taking over from Marilyn who has become chair. Roger will also join the sub-committee that will determine how Hangouts hours are calculated.
Photo: Hon Dr Ayelisha Verrall MP, Chief Executive Heather Newall and Dr Vinay Karanam
Day two consisted of addresses from our guest speakers, sponsors Suzuki, Westpac, AMI and Google. This was followed by words from Hon Dr Ayelisha Verrall MP, the Minister for Seniors. She praised Seniornet for its help in the community, thanked Dr Vinay Karanam for his development work and declared the new Seniornet Hangouts online learning application open.