Minutes of ASWA Committee Meeting 7th August 2011, Canberra ACT - 9:45am

Chairman: Greg Sorenson
Acting Secretary: Troy Barrett (Thank you!)
Present: Greg Sorenson, Bryan Juni, Michael Scollay, Shane Ekerbicer, Jane ONeill, Clyve Herbert, Troy Barrett, Lee Scott, Max King and Rowland Beardsell
Absent: Tim Eckert, John Woodbridge, Jason Paterson and David Sercombe.

Agenda

Everyone congratulates Greg on a fantastic effort on the Canberra AGM.

1. Conference/AGM 2011

Bryan puts forward that next years conference be a 'no frills' style conference. Reducing costs by excluding the Friday video night as a formal part of the conference and also by doing a banquet style dinner where people who want to attend must RSVP so we can have correct numbers. The Banquet style should almost halve the cost of the dinner.

As far as meeting location it was decided that the 2012 AGM/Conference will be held on the Gold Coast with an expected date of August 4th and 5th. This was unanimously agreed on by meeting attendees.

2. Active Recruitment

For the next few months, state reps are to try and target Universities, Schools and even photo groups for possible new recruits. Some suggestions on ways this could be done are by flyer drops and presentations to groups. This idea was accepted by attendees of the meeting. Progress to be checked on in a few months.

Jane suggested that we send out a survey to current members/put on website/facebook etc to ask opinions on what people want out of ASWA and ways we could improve. This would be done anonymously.

All above topics were accepted by attendees of the meeting.

3. Fund Raising

Ideas put forward:

• New T-Shirts with a wide range of logo designs via Redbubble (Greg)
• Calendars done up via Redbubble (Greg)
• Petrol vouchers as a part of membership (Lee)
• Raffles
• Possible annual $250 grant to ASWA from Rio Tinto (Lee)

4. Equipment

Suggested that ASWA purchase a projector and screen (www.justprojectors.com.au) for Darwin so they will be able to host meetings to try and tap into the large population of weather enthusiasts located in the top end. Max and Lennie to obtain quotes and put forward to ASWA committee for approval.

5. AMOS

A goldmine for potential new members. Greg will be presenting ASWA conference introduction video at science week meet in Canberra on August 20 2011, and also possibly presenting at AMOS AGM in January 2012. AMOS has lots of students coming through that might be interested in severe weather and will be keen to jump on board. If ACT state has success, then we can possibly broaden recruitment to further states as AMOS is Australia Wide

6. Website Suggestions

A section where members can upload videos/photos and even storm chase reports on to the website, this would need to be approved by an admin first before it became viewable to the public.

It was also suggested that we could make/pursue someone to make an iPhone app for our current website as a trend is leaning towards people using their phones for the internet rather than using a computer. This could allow people to also upload photos to the website via their phones.

7. Possible Member Joining Incentives

• DVD with storm chase/video highlights over past years
• Stickers
• Vouchers

This matter is to be discussed further down the track.

Meeting closed at 10:55am.