GENERAL DISCUSSION - Regarding proposed Shizuoka East-West Chapter

This heading will be for General discussion...

I'll begin with a reproduction of the letter to members of Hamamatsu chapter.

Letter from the Presidents of Hamamatsu and Shizuoka JALT

February 11, 2016

Dear JALT Hamamatsu Chapter members,

The Chapter Presidents and officers of JALT Hamamatsu Chapter and JALT Shizuoka Chapter invite members of both chapters to discuss the proposed merger of both chapters into a JALT SHIZUOKA EAST-WEST Chapter.

Currently both chapters are in crisis due to a lack of officers, but have sufficient membership and financial resources. The proposed merger would create an even healthier and stronger chapter with 60+ members with little impact on services provided to the members. The main rationale for the merger is that from this larger pool of members, it would be easier to replace officers as needed.

Furthermore, there would be financial and administrative advantages for JALT national if local chapters reorganized into regional chapters (e.g. Nankyu Chapter in Kyushu), thereby also helping the organization as a whole remain healthy.

The chapter presidents from Hamamatsu and Shizuoka announced an “intention to merge” at the last EBM, clearing initial procedural hurdles to officially propose a merger at the June EBM and create a new chapter with officers in place at the September Chapter AGMs. The announcement of intention by no means binds our chapters to merge, rather it was only a procedural formality and we have no obligation to do so. It is now upon our chapters' members to decide if and how the merger will proceed.

The chapter officers welcome any comments, opinions, concerns, discussions, and debates from the members at this time. Each chapter will conduct their own forum and vote on the merger. Should consensus to merge be reached, the officers will move forward with drafting a motion for the June EBM.

On Friday, March 4th Hamamatsu Chapter will hold an online vote with instructions and a link sent to members prior to that date. To pass the merger resolution a simple majority from the respondents will be required.

We thank you for your attention in this matter.
Jon Dujmovich & Mark Makino
JALT Hamamatsu & JALT Shizuoka Chapter Presidents

My main "problems" with the merger would be twofold: the cost to and from Shizuoka and time spent. I'm sure many people on both sides will have the same problem. However, as an officer, I am hoping that this will be offset? by me not feeling obliged to volunteer every year (a noteworthy, constant problem for smaller SIGs and chapters) because in theory there'll be more people to share the load.
Gregg McNabb

Jane's not keen on joining another forum, but she posted these in an email yesterday. She said she was happy for them to be posted:

• 1. great idea
  
  2. alternate locations as well as dates e.g. Saturdays v. Sundays sounds good
  
  3. variety of presentation types.  For example large panel discussions (many panelists including local members I mean), debates, 2 or 4 or more presenters divide up the time etc.
  
  4.Sometimes I think 2 hours is too long for one presenter tho it clearly depends on the presenter and presentation type!  Would like to see lots of interactive stuff, workshops and so on.  The worst ones IMHO are usually the publisher sponsored ones tho obviously exceptions to that.
  
  5. Most of all I’m interested in what people who live locally are doing I think.  
  
  6. I won’t go every month because of family responsibilities on many weekends in the year
  
  7. Maybe have some be related to JALT SIGs (partnering with SIGs)? GALE might be doing something with Nagoya chapter this year I heard (under discussion)
  
  8. I am personally interested in Japanese language presentations
  
  9. Could try to do an all Chubu event even with all the Chubu sigs or if not all including for ex Toyohashi
  

All good ideas. thank Jane for us.

I'm all up for a merger. There are a few concerns, but I think they can be straightened out. One previous post about travel time, brings up the question, will all future presentations be held in Shizuoka city? I'm sure that there will need to be some balance regarding the locations of presentations throughout the prefecture. The possibility of having a presenter strut his stuff in both Shizuoka city AND Hamamatsu leaps to mind. In addition, the merged chapter may be more motivated to hold events in areas previously ignored by the separate chapters (I can't remember there ever being an event held in Kakegawa).

Will the joint chapter be less active than the two chapters currently are? Perhaps a little reduction in activity would be acceptable, but ideally the merged chapter should be mega-active to cater to the needs of the increased membership it represents. This could be great news for diversity of presentations... Thoughts? Difficulties?

More later perhaps...

Thanks Adam,

- It has been proposed a minimum 3 events be held in each location, East and West/year (meaning Shizuoka-city and Hamamatsu respectively) , with a pragmatic target of 4. In addition perhaps holding joint events in other locations.

Increased events would be dependent on officer and funding resources, but is a possibility.

Jon