2009 was a recovery year. Much had happened in the past few years that had put our association in a difficult position. The AGM in November of 2008 was called with many questions about the future of our association due to the past year of conflict and resignations. At that meeting, a new executive was put in place and the highlights of that meeting were that the new executive was to hire a new executive director and get an Ethics committee started. We also discussed and in principle agreed on reducing the size of the board as well as electing our Vice-president and President from the membership at large instead of from within the board. There will be more information on those motions with the ballots that are in the mail to you now. At that meeting there was also a good deal of discussion about PPOC Restructuring and how it could impact our association.
Our new executive started to work before the new year in earnest. We discovered that the currently our association was not in compliance with the Companies Act and was in arrears with their GST. We are a corporation governed by the laws of our government and they don't like that kind of behaviour. The financial records, through no fault of anone in the past, was almost impossible to unravel. We were virtually operating illegally. It was clear to us that we could not address all potential problems of the association in one step. Some projects were dropped without completion.
As a board, we had to basically triage our efforts. The executive director issue seemed to be one of the first issues that needed attention as was discussed at our AGM. Our previous executive director had taken on many jobs that were for many years done by volunteer executive members. Until we could do something about it, we re-assigned jobs within the new board that we, as an board, should have been doing in the first place. Marlene offered her help, advice and suport in any kind of transition but we were in the midst of talks on the restructuring PPOC. Potentially many of the jobs done by the executive director would be taken over by PPOC following the anticipated successful vote that would restructure PPOC a few months ahead. It seemed unwise to replace and begin the long process of re-training a new executive director for a short run during 2009 so our board members stepped up to handle the workload. Many hours of meetings dealing with creation of a new set of by-laws for the new PPOC restructuring happened in the run up to the National convention and when it came time to vote in May on restructuring, there were too many issues raised by some of the member constituents on the table to make it a "done deal". Again, it seemed only a matter of time with some minor changes and the national association would be taking over much of the workload so we kept on going. Another round of negotiations happened during the summer but by the latter part of the year it was beginning to be clear that the original idea of making a new national association without the current provincial associations was not going to happen. We had put a number of issues from the design of name badges, to the amount of outside help it would take to run our association, to the renovation of by-laws on hold until this change was done. Strictly speaking we handled the year without re-hiring an executive director, but instead, some work was contracted out, mostly due to the way the year unfolded. We did receive much valuable support and help from Marlene Fast, but used her services as little as possible because she had been overloaded for so long. We entered into an agreement with Tanya Thompson of the PPOC office to handle all the work involved in preparing and sending out all membership renewals this year as well as the processing of all credit card transactions for the association. Now that we know that we need to keep our association running and not "park it" while PPOC national takes over, we should, in my opinion, expand Tanya's role in the delivery of those services that she could do for us most efficiently. Although this is a small association in terms of numbers of members, the administrative load in keeping track of all details from merits to payments is very high. As good as volunteer help is, I believe it is necessary to have some professional help in this association to make sure some of the critical things are always done correctly and in a timely manner, in case a volunteer drops the ball in their portfolio. This is the way we have to manage a successful business and it should not be different for our association.
Tanya Thompson is presently handling the PPOC Executive Director position, plus all administration for PPO, and a fair chunk of it for Atlantic and Saskatchewan. Presently for Saskatchewan she does the following:
- respond to all inquiries from existing members
- maintain membership database
- monitor all membership applications and follow up to sign members
- notify membership chair of all new memberships
- provide new member information and change of address information to the webmaster
- receive images from Observer members seeking to upgrade to Active (RPP) membership, setting up web gallery for viewing of images, distributing images to review committee and notifying the applicant member of the outcome.
- providing membership statistics or mailing lists as requested by board membersdistributing mass emails about PPOC-SK business/news
For providing these services to Saskatchewan and Atlantic associations, Tanya is charging a fee of $4.00 per member per month (based on the total at the beginning of the year and not fluctuating monthly) In addition to this, in the Atlantic association, she is charging $100 a month for bookeeping which is not done in Saskatchewan. Both associations are paying a pro-rated amount to PPOC for the use of the PPOC phone line and they are paying $10 per member for the invoicing of membership renewals directly to PPOC which we are doing this year.
I would suggest that in 2010 we hire Tanya to do the services outlined above for the fee quoted. This would go a long way to relieving some of the pressure on certain jobs on the board and make this association run more like a professional business which would yield positive benefits for the members in terms of delivery of service as well as grow the membership numbers. You may note that in the minutes of the previous AGM, we came up with a figure of $3.50 per member, but we did not specify the exact details of the job. I believe this amount of service is certainly worth the $4.00 per member per month as quoted. I believe with Tanya's help a smaller board that has been proposed by extraordinary resolution, would be able to handle the remaining work of the association without undue hardship.
The next largest issue to handle was the finances. We have much to thank JJ Ali for this year because of the major effort she has made to straighten out the financial record keeping of the association. She has given large amounts of time selflessly this year to get this done properly. First, we hired a new accountant who has considerable experience with non-profit organizations. JJ took a short course early in the year to get her skills in Quickbooks to the point that she could handle the job. Through the course of many meetings, they found that it was not possible to distinguish where many expenses actually went so trying to track down costs was very difficult, if not impossible in some cases. Categories in the previous accounting structure for the association were out of date and many entries were in categories they should not have been. The accountant dealt with and closed off 2008 (the books for 2007 and 2008 were not done when we took over - we had two years of accounting to do) and a new "company" template was built in Quickbooks beginning January 1, 2009. It cost over three thousand dollars to unravel and straighten out this mess but we now have a new clean company that makes it possible for us to do the books both more accurately and with less work in the future. Although we technically had to try to do the books for 2008, it was very difficult to establish exactly how and where income and expense happened in that year. There can be small parts of it that could be open to a different interpretation but generally it is as accurate as could be achieved under those circumstances.I will leave the detail of more of this report to JJ Ali, our secretary/treasurer but this is an overview of what went on this year. The GST is now paid, and we are now in compliance again with the government with regard to the Companies Act which our corporation is governed by.
One of the bright lights this year was our newsletter editor, Pam MacFarlane, who delivered a great newsletter on time, every time to our membership throughout the year. Aside from education, one of the most important functions we have as an association is to keep our membership informed and in the loop. Pam just went off like the energizer bunny and got it done for us. Thanks again Pam!
In terms of Education, again I will leave most of the report to Ron Gilfillan who was in charge of that portfolio this year. As an overview, because of the organizational and financial problems that needed immediate attention in our association, as well as many, many hours of work on the PPOC Restructuring project this year, I feel our efforts were a little diluted when it came to delivery of education this year. We started out very well with some great attendance but later in the year, things did not remain as active as I had hoped. Our "little convention" went very well and I believe we did not lose money this year. We will be able to give a pretty close snapshot of how that went at the AGM but are still collecting the bills. Those who attended enjoyed the speakers and went home with money making ideas that would be much greater than their attendance costs. Education is one of the key cornerstones of our association and I would like to see a much stronger presence of Education next year. I believe we should be announcing educational events at the AGM rather than trying to roll them as we get them booked throughout the year. Therefore the Education chair should be taking care of this years events and planning and scheduling for the following year as well so people can get as much advance notice to book time. I think as an association, we need to evaluate this area very carefully because it is one of the key factors in either growing the association or watching it decline. In my view, I believe we should host fewer, but larger educational events during the year. I do not believe that the "monthly meeting" format has served us well. I understand I could be viewed as biased because coming to an evening meeting costs me five hours of travel time - it just isn't worth it for many events for me. I believe also photographers who live in the city with busy lives are very selective about what meetings are worth a piece of their life. An expensive - big name speaker normally will cost between about $2500 to $4000 for a one-day engagement, but will draw both members and non-members to support it. Hosting a large expense speaker twice a year I think would deliver more useful education to our members than four to six small monthly meetings. I think there is also opportunity for more social only events to keep in touch with our membership but it should be operated on a "use it or lose it" criteria. This association is a democracy and we need feedback about the direction you the members would like to see in the future. I have outlined my vision of the best outcomes in education, but I need your views.
I have a few comments about the convention because there is not a formal convention report this year as there was no convention chair. A small number of people on the board (plus Carmen Matthews) took it on and made it happen. My observations are this. It seems to be exceedingly and increasingly difficult to get people to commit to more than one day - so perhaps it is time to reduce the convention education to a one day event. It would be easier to organize and you might get more participation with the right keynote speaker. Image Salon and Awards banquet do not even have to be handled at the same time as they have in past. I had the speakers booked, the venue committed and the convention was scheduled "at the same time as it has been for the last several years!" There were teaser messages in the newsletter beginning in May as to the main speaker we had chosen. As the unofficial convention chair, the worst part of this job was the feeling I had when less than two weeks before this was about to begin, we had a total registration of five members! You might point out, there was no early bird registration and so on but we are all grown ups - we need to support this association's events if we expect it to survive or become better. I have personally run many, many seminars of my own over the years and maybe its time to implement a "drop dead" date for these committments which would include a period of time like 60 days out. If we have enough registration to cover our base costs 60 days out, we run it - if not, we cancel it. It's time to run this like a business instead of a grade 4 class that you have to pester, badger, beg, plead and phone to see if they have done their homework. The previous year, Ingrid and her committee ran a much bigger convention and it still didn't break even because there has not been enough support. Reading parts of this report may offend some people but I took on this job to work in the best interests of the long term future of PPOC-MB and not to try to win a popularity contest.
I have a few observations about our annual Image Salon that was run by Brenda Westwood and Mimi Boulé. I want to thank them greatly as well as Steve Hiebert, Ron Gilfillan and the many other members it took to run this dual province competition. As I mentioned at the banquet, I believe we have reached the time in our association when it is not possible to justify running the Image Salon for PPOC-MB only, without sharing costs with other associations. Members have made it clear in past that a small amateur local judging was not what we wanted and I agree that it has limited value. The desire for an Affiliate judging that can move images up to qualify for the National salon without re-judging requires us to fly judges in from around the country and run it basically exactly the same way and at the same cost as the National judging. The costs of putting this on in our province are somewhere above five thousand dollars and this year, fourteen members from PPOC-MB entered. At roughly ninety dollars an entry, it is financial suicide to do this. Our income would be roughly $1200 so the loss would be about $4000. This loss could be acceptable if all members benefitted but less than twenty five percent of our members participate. I am not saying we should stop provincial image salons! What I am saying very clearly is that we can not afford to do this on our own! I have outlined the financial cost, but there is also a human resources cost that comes with this gig. It is not in our best interests to burn out potential contributing members with the workload associated with holding this event here every year.
It is important for me to acknowledge the great help of our Vice-President, Mimi Boulé. I could not have handled much of what did get done this year without her assistance and advice. There is so much behind the scenes work to keep an association like this running that I think sometimes the general membership do not appreciate what they have. We both have put in many, many more hours than we likely ever anticipated to make this a better association this year. Our entire board displayed a strong committment to PPOC-MB this year.
This year, I have sent many "Messages from the President" to the point you might be tired of them but I have tried to keep you all up to date in the goings on provincially and nationally. I believe, as I have said many times before, that the association is very important to the overall photographic community, the general public and you individually. If you take a short term tough view, "what's in it for me today?" approach, there are going to be days or months when you can say it wasn't worth it. However if you take the long view, it is impossible not to recognize the value of what our association does for you and the profession at large. Aside from professional educational events, I personally had a camera crash this year that left me a little short and a member stepped up and lent me equipment, a few weeks ago a member from another province requested advice about a large equipment purchase of which I had made and I helped him make a business decision - I could go on, but we are a community, no one is an island, and if you are arrogant enough to think you know it all and don't need the support system the association provides, you are mistaken. We live in a very different reality than what was envisioned when PPOC-MB or PPOC was formed and much needs to change. I think there is a very strong desire provincially and nationally to make our association stronger, better and deliver better services to you, the member. Years ago, there were not online seminars and groups like the Digital Wedding forum with all the good things it offers, but keep in mind that you will never earn your "Craftsmen of Photographic Arts" or "Master of Photographic Arts" degrees or Accreditations that help the buying public evaluate your ability to deliver a professional product on time every time. What I am saying is that those associations do not replace what we can deliver. If you are serious about photography as a career, the association is essential and will greatly enhance your potential success. This report has a lot of detail and quite a bit of tough talk because PPOC-MB needs support now, and feedback to continue and prosper. If you have gone through this long document, I thank you for your time. If you would like me to serve one more year as President, I would be happy to do so, to finish some of the changes I would like to see happen to make this association better for you and me and to attract the many, many photographers that are outside our group that should be in.
I would like to leave you with a snapshot of the outcomes I would like to be achieved next year. First, immediate attention to organizing and running a one day New Members seminar to help welcome our new members and take advantage of what we have to offer. I would like two major speakers nailed down with dates as early as they would do it. We came very close to booking Joe McNally of New York, Kevin Kubota and Ben Wilmore of photoshop fame. It would be great to tell you at the AGM that these are the dates for these events right away. I would like to put some responsibility on the members to support one of these major speakers by committing deposits before a clearly defined "drop dead" date. I would like to see a revamp of the website. I think some form of restructuring will take place by the end of this year so it will be important for us to change some things like membership categories to align with the rest of the country. I think we accomplished a lot last year and I think more can be done this year. 
sincerely, Ken Frazer MPA, F.Ph.
President PPOC-MB
