2009 WIA AGM and Open Forum

The WIA’s 2009 Annual General Meeting and Open Forum was held at the Gippsland Campus of Monash University at Churchill on 2nd May 2009.

The AGM/Open Forum was held in conjunction with a range of activities built around the highly successful annual conference conducted by the Eastern Zone Amateur Radio Club every July, GippsTech, as "GippsTech Special Edition".

The Annual General Meeting honoured 42 WIA members who had become Silent Keys in the year since the previous AGM, but otherwise was very much a formality. The Open Forum following the AGM was very much the opportunity for members to learn, question and comment.

The Open Forum commenced with the presentation or announcement of a number of awards, and then some 23 reports on various WIA activities were presented.

The President reported mainly good news, the total number of amateurs continued to grow, and the WIA’s membership also continued to grow. Responsibility for certificates of proficiency and the recommendation of callsigns, had added to the workload of the office, and helpers were needed.

During the Open Forum it was announced that particular emphasis would be placed on emergency communications during the forthcoming year, with three directors led by Phil Wait as Coordinator with WIA RTO Fred Swainston to formulate and accredit amateurs gaining nationally recognised competencies relevant to the provision of emergency services.

WIA Director Ron Bertrand was an apology, having become ill just before leaving home to come to Churchill, but all the other Directors were present, and received much valuable feed-back, both formally and informally during discussions over the weekend.

The weekend was judged a success by those participating, who now look forward to the special events of next year, the 100th anniversary of the WIA and its antecedents.

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