Australian National Square Dance Conventions Board Inc
ARBN: 629 222 635 REG: A0053841S ABN: 79 414 241 880
All Correspondence should be sent to: Executive Secretary
admin@board.ansdc.au
Menu
ARBN: 629 222 635 REG: A0053841S ABN: 79 414 241 880
All Correspondence should be sent to: Executive Secretary
admin@board.ansdc.au
Menu
These are some items that I have identified as needing amending or at least discssing
If you have any further items you can upload them at the bottom of the page and they will be posted here.
The idea is so that all will have time to discuss, add, comment befor the meeting so as to save time by going over repeatedly.
Kevin Thomas
These are just my personal views, please feel free to add yours.
00 GENERAL
Replace “childcare” with Creche”. everywhere (Search and Replace) to comply with conditions of our insurance policy.
01. DEFINITIONS
1.08 The operating expenses of the Board is referred to as the Board Levy, including, but not confined to the cost of maintaining and storage of the records mentioned under Clause 51, shall be included in the cost of the Convention. This amount is based on a per delegate basis at the time of the Bid being approved.
This clause should be deleted as it is not currently relevant, or rather than deleting in perhaps is could be reworded in case the Levy needs to be reintroduced.
In which case reworded to something like this:
1.08 The Board reserves the right to impose on the Convention Sub-Committee a levy to cover the operating costs of the Board. This is to be referred to as the Board Levy, including, but not confined to the cost of maintaining and storage of the records mentioned under Clause 51, shall be included in the cost of the Convention.
This amount is based on a per delegate basis and the Sub-Committee will be advised of this at the time of the Bid being approved.
3.014 To impart and exchange knowledge and ideas concerning Square Dancing, Round Dancing, Clogging, Contra and other forms of folk and/or country type dancing.
Rather than list the individual dance forms a simpler wording be used.
Replace with
3.014 To impart and exchange knowledge and ideas concerning Square Dancing, Round Dancing, Clogging, Contra and like dance forms.
Nowhere is it explained what the Welcome Kit is so, should like to rewrite this to read
5.01 The initial Bid can be prepared by following the advice given in this Manual and applying it to the circumstances.
Access to the Welcome Kit which has been prepared by previous Convenors to guide future Convention Sub-Committees, shall be granted by the Board upon application to the Board Executive Secretary
7.04 It shall be made up of as many members and sub-committees as desired, but shall include as a minimum the following 5 (five) persons: –
I am questioning the need for a d) Publicity Manager.
Why? Well, The Convention caters for experienced dancers who will already know about National Conventions, from club activities and National and Local square dance publications.
Conventions are preaching to the converted.
By all means have a Publicity Manager if wanted, but I do not believe it should be compulsory.
10.0 PUBLICITY
This needs rewording as I don’t believe it is how we operate.
Proposed rewording
1.01 Advertising for a future Convention may begin as soon as the Convention Committee has been elected. However, care needs to be taken to ensure that such advertising does not detract rom advertising for any current and future Conventions.
18.04 The decorations shall include the hanging or otherwise displaying of all Australian
States, Territories, Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island flags
18.04.1 When flags are displayed vertically. (most common in convention halls)
After the Australian National Flag which is to the left as being viewed, the order of precedence of flags is: national flag of other nations (in alphabetical order), state and territory flags, (correct as at May 2024)
18.04.2 When fags are not displayed vertically (as in 18.04.1)
Please refer to the Australian Flage Booklet which is available from the Department of the Prime Ministers website at: https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/australia-flag-booklet-fa-accessible.pdf
While this would be ideal, it should not be mandatory, I believe the word should be changed to read
19.018 Ideally a Programming Board should be displayed on the stage or a nearby area. This should be augmented by an Electronic Programming Display if available.
Question:
Is a post office box really required?
It is a cost of approx. $500 over the 3 years
Just asking
20.051 The Cheque Account is a working account and will be used for all receipts of funds and payments of accounts. This account does not earn interest.
20.052 The Savings Account is a holding account and will be used to store funds transferred to and from the Cheque Account. Regular transfers are recommended as this account earns interest. As larger amounts accumulate in this account and will not be required for 3 months or so, Flexi Accounts should be set up within this account.
With the use and acceptance of cheques being withdrawn from general service.
Should we be looking at rewording this section to reflect current trend?
Just asking
(i) Liability Policy with a $20M Limit of Public Liability plus the Management Liability Extension with a limit of $2M. (ii) Voluntary Workers Cover providing cover for up to 100 Volunteers.The Convention Committee will be invoiced by the Board in the year of the Convention.
Do we actually need this clause here as the same information is contained in clause 24 INSURANCE ANS SECURITY
If kept we need to delete the sentence:
The Convention Committee will be invoiced by the Board in the year of the Convention. 22 DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS FOR DISCUSSIONNew Clause (something along these lines)22.04 As a Guidance the distribution of any surplus funds should be along the following lines:Australian Callers Federation 30%Round Dance Association of Australia 25% State Society (of the State in which convention is held) 20%National Square Dance Society of Australia Inc 15%Special Projects (maybe give some support to promotion) 10%22.05 Funds shall not be distributed to any individual or non-incorporated body. Hopefully with the new structure there may not be a lot of funds to distribute.However, this is just an idea to create conversation on how to distribute any surplus funds fairly and give the maximum value to Square Dancing and related activities in Australia.
Can we simplify the Registration Form?
The more fields we have, the more difficult it is to extract the relevant data.
Sure, we can use third party booking agencies such as “Tri-Booking” etc, but we really should go for cheaper options
2009 had minimalistic form which was a start, but we have now moved back to a cumbersome form.
Do we really need to collect data such as:
Gender (Maybe even illegal nowadays)
Sessions intended to attend (This is irrelevant as they may not actually attend marked sessions)
Any thoughts?
Refunds
There does not appear to be a “Refunds Policy”
Suggested New Clause
26.074 The Sub-Committee shall reserve the right to grant or deny a refund.
Any claims for a refund must be made for consideration must be made within 30 days of the commencement of the said Convention.
As the Square Dance Conventions Board has agreed to cover some of the Convention Sub-Committee costs to enable a cheaper registration cost to the dancers, the following is an idea to be considered.
01. That all future orders for the Convention Ribbons be placed by the Conventions Board.
02. The Board will pay for the Ribbons and pass them on to the Convention Sub-Committee at Nil Cost.
Advantages:
01. The Convention Sub-Committee will not have any costs for the Ribbons
02. The Ribbon Colours and size will be standardised for every Convention.
Disadvantages.
The Conventions Board will have an additional Task to do in arranging purchase and distribution.
Actual Proposal is to amend the current clauses to read
Preamble
Currently these are ordered via the National Square Dance Society, who once given the registration numbers attending, by the National Convention Sub-Committee.
The National Society will usually round this amount off to the next 50 or so
and place the order.
This is to help cover late registrations and the balance becomes stock to resell as replacements.
All the Year Bars are then sent to the Convention Sub-Committee.
The left-over year bars are returned to the National Society, who will in return, invoice the Convention Sub-Committee for the Year Bars used.
As the Square Dance Conventions Board has agreed to cover some of the Convention Sub-Committee costs to enable a cheaper registration cost to the dancers, the following is an idea to be considered.
Proposed amendment
Delete 27.07 to 27.074 and Replace with the following
27.07 The Convention Committee shall give, as part of the Registration Package, a Year Pin for the Australian National Convention Badge.
27.071 A Year Pin shall be given to each Delegate.
27.072 Orders for the Year Bars shall be placed on the Conventions Board by the Sub-Committee not less than 60 days prior to the commencement of the Convention.
27.073 The Board will pay for the Year Bars and supply them to the Sub-Committee
27.074 The Sub-Committee will return any surplus Year Bars within 30 days of the Convention Closing.
27.075 The surplus Year Bars will be passed on, at nil Cost to the National Society for resale as replacements.
27.076 The Convention Committee shall provide any necessary space, free of charge, for the sale of the Convention Badges.
Advantages:
01. The Convection Sub-Committee will not have any costs for the Year Bars
02. The National Society will not have any upfront costs (or holding Costs) for the Year Bars
sales stock
Disadvantages.
The Conventions Board will have an additional Task to do in arranging purchase and distribution as well as picking up the cost of the Year Pins that are not used.
But does it really matter if the Board pay for say 400 Year Pins or 375?
Neutral:
The National Society will still have to organise, the sales booth at Conventions (Exactly the same as is currently done.)
This still gives the National Society to chance to promote themselves at National Conventions just as they have done for many years.
I am only guessing, but I do not believe that members of the board would want man the stales booth at National Conventions, Maybe I am wrong.
Under this proposal let’s decide who will do what.
For the Board
Either the Treasurer or the Executive Secretary would be the contact to receive and place the Year Bar orders.
Ideally, to avoid double handling and freight costs. The Year Pins could be shipped directly from the supplier to the Convention-Sub Committee.
For the National Society
The Merchandising Officer (But that would be decided by them) would receive the unused Year Pins from the Convention Sub-Committee.
All this should be discussed with the National Society before proceeding to the next stage.
DOES THIS NEED TO BE A WRITTEN PROCEEDURE?
48.08 To assist Sub-Committees to keep the costs down and therefore lower ticket prices. The Conventions Board has available at No Cost a web sub domain and hosting of websites. This is so that the dancers have a static, one point of contact regardless of which year it is. The Convention Sub-Committee are encouraged to use this service.
48.09 Facebook is another great way of informing dancers of the Convention and its use is to be encouraged.
Rather than have two lists, the downloadable list on the website could be used, it is now in the same format as the Manual.
Saves doubling up on work to update
??. BOARD SUBSIDIES QUESTIONWith the increasing number of subsidies being provided by the Board, I wonder if all these should be removed from the body of the manual and contained within an Appendix?
This way they would all be in one place and if added to or deleted, the Main Body of the Manual need not be amended.
Just a thoughtFOOD FOR THOUGHTAlthough it is written elsewhere, I suggest that we have a new clause giving an outline of financial support that the Board gives to Convention Sub-CommitteesSuggest something along these lines The following items required for the running of a National Square Dance Convention are provided for by the National Square Dance Conventions Board by using consolidated funds derived from surpluses from previous National Square Dance Conventions.This is in order to assist in keeping the cost to the dancer as low as possible.01. The Public Liability Insurance cover for the Convention02. The Freight between Conventions for the “TRUNK” that contains smaller items used at al Conventions. Such Items are listed in Appendix No 4 of the Conventions Operations Manual.03. ` The State Ribbons for all dancers.04. The “Year Pins” for the registration packs.05. The payment of the Hard Copy of The Convention Edition of the Australian Square Dance ReviewOr maybe we could use it as a promotional item as not many really know what the board does.,Just a thought”
?? THE MANUAL
As we all know updating the Manual is an enormous job.
Perhaps we should bring back an idea that was used in the past.
That was when the Manual was divided up into equal sections and the Board Members were put into groups of 2 or 3 and then given a section of the manual to go through and make recommendations for changes and updating.
Many things have changes over the years and some things are no longer relevant.
These things should be identified and either updated or removed.
It the old proverb of “Many Hands Make Light Work”
The Manual contains approx. 64 pages and the board members are 17
This means that each member has only about 4 pages each to review,
That is in in its simplest form.
However, it the members were to be placed in to groups of two, then each group would have 8 pages to review (but by 2 people).
I believe that this would be more manageable.
The groups need not be in the same location and they can confer electronically but is many cases, this could be done at the same location.
How would we do it,
My suggesting that we nominate the groups and get the “Documents Officer” to allocate the pages to each group.
Because of where the current clauses start and finish, there may be more or less than 8 pages.
The ”Documents Officer” will choose what pages are sent to each group .
There should be a timeline of say 2 weeks to review the pages and get recommendations back to the documents officer.
Once all pages are returned, the “Documents Manager” will combine all responses and send them out to all board members for final review.
I meeting should be called to deal specifically with this issue only.
From start to finish, I estimate that we should be able to have this finalised in about 4 to 6 weeks.
Suggested Groups
?? PROGRAMME BOOKLETS
With the increasing use of technology. Is there need to print as many hard copies of the programme booklets.
Maybe there should be a question on the rego form asking if they want a Booklet or not.
Or another idea is to ask them at pick up, after a few conventions we would have an idea on how many hard copies to print
Is this another area where the Board Can assist?
Just a thought