Minutes of IOA Executive Meeting

Minutes of IOA Executive Meeting

Meeting: Date 26/02/2005

Attendance: Dave Weston, Marcus Geoghegan, Brendan O’Brien, John Casey, Mary Healy

On conference call: Fergal Buckley, Paul Dunne (first 10 minutes)

Apologies from Trina Cleary, Mick Kellet

Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

Officers Reports

The Communication Officers Report was presented at the meeting. It was stated that the stock of photographs received after the IOA photo competition should be used in promotional material as necessary.

The Treasurer stated that the IOA made a surplus of about €6,000 in 2004. This was mainly due to lower than expected insurance costs, higher than expected event levy registration fees, no secretary honorarium, and SPORTIdent ecard sales.

The Junior Officer reported that a junior training camp and fitness trial took place in Dublin this month. A junior squad will also be travelling to the upcoming Spring Cup in Europe. Also, Nicholas Simonen of BOC will be spending a year in Sweden at an orienteering-centered college.

The Junior Officer also requested that the IOA acquire a credit/debit card to facilitate payment of event expenses. The treasurer is to look at various options.

Matters arising from EGM

The Code of Ethics for Children in Sport has been finalised and accepted by the Irish Sports Council. The document now needs to be printed and circulated. Barbara Foley-Fisher is prepared to run a course for club Child Welfare Officers later in the year.

The Strategic Plan 2005 – 2007 is still to be amended as voted at the EGM. On completion of this final redraft, a meeting is to be convened with the Irish Sports Council so that they are briefed on the document. The Chairperson will organise and circulate the date of the meeting so other officers may attend.

The Articles of Memorandum of Association Incorporating the Irish Orienteering Association as a Company Limited by Guarantee has been redrafted as per the proposed amendments outlined at the EGM. The document is to be published and circulated.

Budget Allocation

The grant allocation from the ISC was outlined. The main items are as follows; -

Administration expenditure€10,200

Strategic Plan€500

NCDP€1,400

Core Activities (mapping, TrialO)€4,500

Sports Equipment (SPORTIdent)€2,500

International competitions€11,900

Training camps€4,965

The 2005 budget allocation was as follows; -

Insurance€8,000

IOF membership€1,700

Administration costs€2,000

Mapping€6,000

Clinics€1,000

Juniors€10,000

High Performance€10,000

Coaching€3,000

Equipment€5,000

Fixtures and printing€1,000

TIO debt for 2004€1,000

Photograph competition€500

IOC2005 subvention€500

Note

Grants to participants attending clinics will only be paid after the participant has contributed something back to orienteering in Ireland (such as organising a junior weekend or coaching seminar).

A commitment was given to spend a total of €10,000 over the next two years on upgrading the SPORTIdent units. This figure has been shown as €5,000 per year, but this may vary between these two years depending on the timing of purchase orders. A suitable location for the storage and distribution of units in Munster is to be found.

The IOC subvention is to be contingent on a set of criteria to be met by the organisers. These are to be drafted and circulated prior to issue to the organisers.

AOB

A date for the Controllers Conference is to be confirmed.

An IOA contact for the NCTC is to be obtained.

The honorarium to the Secretary should be reviewed. It is felt that this money would be better spent on the employment of a Development Officer. The long-term goal is to make this position a part time and eventually a full time position with the appropriate remuneration. This needs to be discussed with the Irish Sports Council to see what level of funding may be expected if the IOA follow this route.

The Fixtures Officer is to pursue the feasibility of producing a full year calendar for the 2005-2006 season. This would greatly aid promotional activity.

The introduction of an all Ireland club league is to be investigated based on the Irish and Regional Championships.

Next Meeting

Date to be confirmed.

Report of IOA Communications Officer 2004-2005

Report of IOA Communications Officer 2004-2005

Communications with the general media is ad hoc, lacking structure or a definite link with any section of the media. Journalists in the print medium will undergo a major purge in 2005 due mainly to the fact that there are too many journalists thus and therefore are not worth cultivating.I asked to link one of their websites to Orienteering.ie, no response.

I obliged the visual media with details of Orienteering, a highly televisual sport. The response below confirms that the media desire celebrities at the expense of earnest competitors.TG4 as gaeilge, TV3, both RTE's are informed on Orienteering. Fortunately Evening Herald and Irish Runner carry our current fixture list, sometimes Walking World.

I write as has the same photographs on display since last October. Both myself and another person recently offered photographs to an associated website in order to enhance the upcoming IOC2005, to no avail.

The IOA changes from an association to a limited company thereby requiring a proper print medium with a properly constituted editorial board and a letters to the editor page, the latter facilitating a right of reply. EMWA ( European Medical Writers Association) changes to plc recommending a Vice President and President for smooth transition. There exists no print medium to discuss SportIdent, placing Control Descriptions on OCAD8 maps, or GPS mapping techniques. I praise fully the electronic newsletters produced by a number of clubs. I sent the IOA Chairman examples of 2 newsletters using Microsoft Office Publisher on CD. This medium is too costly to reproduce. The same few people use egroups and does not diversify.

At the time of writing I asked for photographs from the IOA photographic competition. I did not receive the photographs. The people photographed are too well known for publicity material in Ireland and could give some people unfair advantage, I refer to sponsorship.

A young person with an interest in a career in journalism should be appointed as the IOA Communications Officer.

Paul Dunne

IOA Communications Officer.