MINUTES OF IPRN AGM APRIL 2002 Held at the Hilton Hotel Buenos Aires , Argentina
Sunday, April 21, 2002
MEMBERS ATTENDING
The Chairman: Minerbi/Silveira Com. Corp. (Guido Minerbi) – Buenos Aires, Argentina General Secretary: Nexus Communications Group (Jonathan Choat) – London, UK
Vice-Chairman: Oxygen (Claude Sauber) – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Dix & Eaton (Gary Wells) – USA
Harkonsalo & Vesa (Anne Harkonsalo) - Finland
Harkonsalo & Vesa (Karri Vesa) - Finland
Haussmann, Weber-Thedy (Wolfgang Weber-Thedy) - Switzerland
Information & Communication (Barbara Fleetwood) – Sweden
Item Comunicação (Christiane Mariotto) - Brazil
Item Comunicação S/C Ltda. (Celina Monteiro de Barros) - Brazil
Luca Comunicación Corporativa (Luis González Canomanuel) - Spain
Minerbi/Silveira Com. Corp.(Carmen Silveira) - Argentina
Presscom (Cristián Ivovich) - Chile
PRx (Steve Mangold) – USA
The Maggi Fox Consultancy (Maggi Bonner Fox) – UK
TL Kommunikation (Uffe Lindum) - Denmark
TL Kommunikation (Morten Korsgaard) – Denmark
1. Welcome to the 13 agencies in attendance.
2. An introduction to the VII IPRN AGM was made by the Chairman, Guido Minerbi, highlighting the cultural opportunity that this network offers to all.
3. Memorial comments on Ellis Kopel were made by Maggi Bonner Fox and a minute’s silence was kept in his memory.
4. Apologies for absence of 11 members
Mary Crotty – Ireland
Jeanne Perego - Italy
Barbara Dickens – Zimbabwe
Júlia Lajos - Hungary
Annekathrin Koch - Germany
Geoff Drucker - Australia
Peter Czarnowski - Poland
Anthony Hardingham - France
Roar Moll – Norway
Alejandro Méndez Águila – Mexico
Denés Széchényi - Germany
It was agreed that no matter how many members of each agency attend the AGM, only one vote per agency will be taken.
5. Approval of votes by proxy ;submitted by Jonathan Choat: Zimbawe, Pentacom Germany, Poland, and France; proxies submitted by Uffe Lindum: Norway and Germany (Denés Széchényi).
6. Approval of minutes of AGM meeting in Madrid proposed by Gary Wells, seconded by Maggi Bonner Fox; approved by majority present and signed by Chairman.
7. Approval of the Constitution Amendments made in Madrid, proposed by Maggi Bonner Fox, seconded by Gary Wells; approved by the majority present and signed by Chairman.
New Clause (f) under Item 10: If a member shall require an agency with specialized skills in a country where there is another IPRN member and that agency wishes to join IPRN, then the existing member cannot unreasonably prevent or veto that agency upon approval by 2/3% of votes of all IPRN members with a minimum of 2/3% of the membership voting, the reasons from both parties being duly considered by the members.
Motion put forward by Gary Wells; Steve Mangold and Maggi Bonner Fox seconded, unanimously approved.
8. Financial matters
8.1 Accounts for year ending 31.12.2000, proposed by Gary Wells, seconded by Luis Canomanuel; approved by majority and signed by Chairman.
8.2 Budget for year 2002: Gary Wells proposed approval, seconded by Maggi Bonner Fox; approved by majority present and signed by Chairman.
§ General Secretary will provide the network with an analysis of his time up until June and will then propose how additional tasks should be incorporated in the year. These tasks are:
(i) Policy Committee reports on subscriptions.
(ii) Chasing-up actions of all committees as agreed at the AGM.
(iii) Regularly chasing-up Committee Chairman to report back on progress, particularly including recruitment.
(iv) PR in relevant publications for IPRN
8.3 Membership fees:
· Jonathan Choat proposed that any member joining after the AGM, within that year, will not pay the £200 towards that past conference for that year only. Uffe Lindum proposed, Maggi Bonner Fox seconded, motion was passed and majority approved.
Exceptions: the reduction in fees allowed for the member from Zimbabwe this year and other possible applicants for reduced fees, was discussed. It was proposed that there will be no exception to payment of full membership fees whatever the situation, proposed by Guido Minerbi, seconded by Maggi Bonner Fox, approved by majority.
§ Review of fees: Policy Committee to decide on the structure and amount of membership fees; proposed by Gary Wells and seconded by Uffe Lindum, approved by majority. A system of bracketing gross income/fees of agencies within three/four categories was felt to be the best solution, and the Policy Committee will examine this, and any other proposal, and report back to the membership with a recommendation for the membership to consider by June 2002. It was agreed that any re-structuring of membership fees should be agreed within this year, and should apply to new members once agreed.
8.4 Publication/Advertising in Hollis (Europe) and O. Dwyers (USA) raised, and pros and cons discussed whether to advertise or not in such publications. Claude Sauber proposed Hollis for a one page advertisement. The motion was not carried.
8.5 Marketing committee will look into other methods of communication to market IPRN and use with clients.
9. Report by the General Secretary
§ The administration of the network requires sporadic time, so budget available is adequate for now.( cf also Item 8.2)
§ The twenty-seven paying members give global coverage to IPRN but not necessarily in specialised skills, i.e. corporate/financial; consumer or business, food-drink or consumer, IT, pharmaceutical, health care, etc. We should focus on which market skills clients expect in each. We need to analyse each country and determine where we can improve and provide the required client service. This year has also been one where individual members of committees have not done what they should, and we need to direct committees as to the specific action they should undertake.
10. Election of officers for year 2002/2003 (General Secretary, Administration Committee and External Auditors)
§ Appointment of Jonathan Choat as Administrator/General Secretary proposed by Guido Minerbi, seconded by Uffe Lindum and Maggi Bonner Fox; approved by majority.
§ Administration Committee: Claude Sauber, Jonathan Choat, Maggi Bonner Fox, and Keith Webb; approved by majority.
§ Appointment of auditors: Carringtons were proposed by Jonathan Choat, seconded by Maggi Bonner Fox and approved by majority.
11. Election of Directors. Appointment of new Chairman.
§ Claude Sauber was appointed new Chairman for 2002/2003; proposed by Uffe Lindum, seconded by Steve Mangold, majority approved.
§ The next AGM to be held in Luxembourg, 26-29 April , 2003; proposed by Luis Canomanuel, seconded by Uffe Lindum and approved by majority.
12. Achievements of the different Committees during year 2001
Spokesperson of each Committee summarized their activities:
§ Marketing Committee: Steve Mangold presents Geoff Drucker’s website report “Suggested developments for 2002”. Members proposed several modifications on the website. Steve will confer with G. Drucker and request quotes for page modifications, and particularly raising IPRN in the order of web browser/server listings (yahoo, google, etc.)
§ Jonathan Choat proposed that Company Reports on the IPRN web site, should not be quarterly but each agency should decide on the frequency of their notice/news for the intranet section on the web; motion approved by majority.
§ Projects of the year: presented by Luis Canomanuel. Project of the Year, Ellis Kopel Prize Committee members are: Luis Canomanuel, Annekathrin Koch, Roar Moll, Mary Crotty and Inge Drucker. Case studies on the intranet website should be updated with new entries to the competition. Diplomas will be sent out to the finalists by mail. Projects of the year will be on Intranet.
13. Recruitment:
The Recruitment Committee worked a little better, but far behind on expectations.
§ North America: Gary Wells contacted a number of agencies but most of them were already members of another network, and found it difficult to understand why they should or could join IPRN. The agency from Canada should join before this year ends.
§ Western Europe: Jonathan Choat reported considerable inactivity during the year. Attempt to recruit in some countries to increase the markets/expertise covered by the network to be pursued. Haussman Weber-Thedy recruited in Switzerland to replace C-matrix Group, courtesy of Alfred Kocher.
§ South America: Guido Minerbi trying to find agency in Venezuela; in Peru looking for one that can work for Intel; C. Ivovich from Prescom, Chile recruited.
§ Eastern Europe: Anne Harkonsalo informed that most of the countries in Eastern Europe cannot join, except to accept work in because membership fee is too high.
14. New/Yearly Committees:
§ Policy Committee: Jonathan Choat, Maggi Bonner Fox, Claude Sauber, Guido Minerbi, Luis Canomanuel, and Gary Wells form this Committee which will look into subjects such as: excluding agencies, policy ,fees, etc. The Policy Committee should always include: the Chairman of IPRN, the past chairman, the former-past chairman and the General Secretary.
§ Marketing Committee for the year: Steve Mangold, Geoff Drucker, Guido Minerbi, Denes Szechenyi, Barbara Fleetwood, and Gert Träger; approved by majority.
§ Project of the Year Committee: Inge Drucker, Mary Crotty, Luis Canomanuel, Annekathrin Koch and Roar Moll.
§ Recruitment Committees: the following areas will be handled by:
§ Eastern Europe: Karri Vesa
§ Western Europe: Jonathan Choat
§ South America: Guido Minerbi
§ North America: Gary Wells
§ Asia Pacific: Geoff Drucker
§ Africa: Barbara Dickens
15. AGM 2004 location and Chairman: three countries proposed their candidacy: Australia, Ireland and Hungary in 2001. Australia is postponing its candidacy to year 2005, no confirmation was received from Hungary, and Ireland maintained its candidacy. Finland also proposed to host the AGM 2004. Ireland and Finland are put to vote. Finland is accepted unanimously, the ViceChairman therefore , being Karri Vesa.
USA (PRx) and Switzerland (Haussmann, Weber-Thedy) expressed their wishes to host the AGM in 2006.
16. Motions from members:
16.1 Discussion of the title of “Chairman Emeritus” or “Former Chairman”, raised by Guido Minberbi. It was decided that the past Chairmen could use any title they wish.
16.2 Affiliate members proposed for a group of UK independent organizations. It was agreed by the members that a special affiliate class of membership would be available, which will be able to claim their affiliation to the IPRN and pass business to IPRN, but not be employed in reciprocal trading. Proposed by Maggi Bonner Fox, seconded by Gary Wells, majority agreed on the voting, although the Policy Committee will determine the feasibility of this issue and the membership fees in its review of membership subscriptions.
16.3 Penalties on members not attending AGM’s: Luis Canomanuel raised that the Constitution (12e) says that members are obliged to attend at least one meeting every two. It was not considered appropriate to penalize non-attending members, but their absence was regretted and this should be drawn to their attention.
16.4 Joining fee for new members: there will not be a charge as a joining fee. This issue will be reviewed at next year’s AGM meeting, proposed by Jonathan Choat, seconded by Guido Minerbi, approved by majority.
17. Ellis Kopel Project of the Year Award
Four projects were presented:
a) Patak’s Project presented by Nexus Communications Group: media management at factory opening.
b) Avery Denison presented by Dix & Eaton: branding program for graphics on transportation
c) Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Spain presented by Luca Comunicación: relaunching of the institution.
d) Workforce Investment Network presented by PRx: new identity and event on security services.
Workforce Investment Network presented by PRx was awarded the IPRN trophy.
19. Joint definition of actions to be undertaken aimed at making “global reach” become true.
The following actions were agreed for each Committee:
Recruitment Committee:
§ Eastern Europe: Assistance available from Czech Republic former member (Jan Prusak), seek members in Russia (Moscow and St.Petersburg), Slovenia and Croatia.
§ Western Europe: Portugal, Turkey, Greece. Technology agency in Germany, Munich; France high tech, Belgium, consumer, Holland financial/consumer, Austria and Israel.
§ South America: Perú, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama.
§ North America: USA- pharmaceuticals, health care and consumer, and an agency in Miami.
§ Asia Pacific: China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea.
§ Africa: South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.
§ Postpone the search for new members till an agreement on the restructuring of membership fees has been reached. (cf Item 8.3)
Policy Committee:
§ Restructure of membership fees and affiliates association with IPRN by June 2002.
Administrative Committee:
§ General Secretary to report on time allocation and other tasks at the end of June 2002.
Marketing Committee:
§ Steve Mangold will report at the end of May on website proposals and other network marketing ideas.
No further business and the AGM was closed.
4