ECF Annual General Meeting 13 October 2012

[benedgell]

One thing I didn't mention in the report, which I imagine might well be of interest, I don't believe the part of Andrew Farthing's report regarding the Forum got mentioned at the AGM.

[Sean Hewitt]

The vote may have been narrow - although not as narrow as the de facto confidence vote in CJ de Mooi at the finance meeting - but a majority still chose Roger Edwards to lead the ECF for the year ahead. I for one am willing to accept that.

I don't think they chose Roger to 'lead' the ECF. The CEO leads the ECF, and that position is vacant. They chose Roger to be the President, but told him pretty firmly to leave his policies by the door as he came in.

[Sean Hewitt]

How many delegates/representatives (delete as appropriate) would have had their positions on the Director elections pre-determined? It just seems slightly surprising that there was little suggestion (or was there?) that Adam might be rejected before the meeting if he was defeated so resoundingly. If large numbers of proxies were pre-determined to vote that way then it might have not been such of a surprise. In the circumstances of him not being present i would have thought that placing the vote on record would have made sense?

I am happy to confirm that I instructed my proxy to vote FOR Adam Raoof as DoMM.

[Alex Holowczak]

I am happy to confirm that I instructed my proxy to vote FOR Adam Raoof as DoMM.

I am equally happy to confirm that your proxy actually did vote for Adam.

[Sean Hewitt]

Adam Raoof was not elected as Director of Membership and Marketing, losing 20-9 on hand- vote. I have to admit that in spite of having stated my wish to vote for him previously, I did change my mind and vote against on the day. The main reason, for my part, for voting ‘none of the above’ was that he offered no election address, was unable to appear on the day (he was organising a rapidplay event.), and offered no details to his proxy of his plans for the role. The key here is the Membership part. I know this is probably the most important issue for a lot of local players at the moment, and by one means or another, details should’ve been provided of his plans to that end. To vote to elect with no knowledge of his plans for this area was too great a risk, in my opinion.

This comment interested me. I wonder how great that risk was in comparison to the situation we now find ourselves in of having no-one in charge of the membership scheme? What did council suggest should be done about that?

[Richard Bates]

I am happy to confirm that I instructed my proxy to vote FOR Adam Raoof as DoMM.

I am equally happy to confirm that your proxy actually did vote for Adam.

That's a significant number of votes for one hand! Perhaps you should have raised two, just to ease the burden a bit.

What do you think the outcome of a card vote would have been?

[Richard Bates]

Adam Raoof was not elected as Director of Membership and Marketing, losing 20-9 on hand- vote. I have to admit that in spite of having stated my wish to vote for him previously, I did change my mind and vote against on the day. The main reason, for my part, for voting ‘none of the above’ was that he offered no election address, was unable to appear on the day (he was organising a rapidplay event.), and offered no details to his proxy of his plans for the role. The key here is the Membership part. I know this is probably the most important issue for a lot of local players at the moment, and by one means or another, details should’ve been provided of his plans to that end. To vote to elect with no knowledge of his plans for this area was too great a risk, in my opinion.

This comment interested me. I wonder how great that risk was in comparison to the situation we now find ourselves in of having no-one in charge of the membership scheme? What did council suggest should be done about that?

Especially as he presumably couldn't have changed anything dramatically without further approval.

Is there a long history of NOTA getting elected in ECF elections, or is it a recent phenomenom? At least at University RON had a more attractive name to get behind... There's a reason why the idea has never wormed its way into 'real' politics.

[Alex Holowczak]

I am happy to confirm that I instructed my proxy to vote FOR Adam Raoof as DoMM.

I am equally happy to confirm that your proxy actually did vote for Adam.

That's a significant number of votes for one hand! Perhaps you should have raised two, just to ease the burden a bit.

What do you think the outcome of a card vote would have been?

I wasn't Sean's proxy. Mike Truran was, but I was sat next to him.

I voted for Adam too, but I think the card vote would have lost. Adam lost the hand vote by more than Roger did (I think?).

[Richard Bates]

I wasn't Sean's proxy. Mike Truran was, but I was sat next to him.

I voted for Adam too, but I think the card vote would have lost. Adam lost the hand vote by more than Roger did (I think?).

Did Sean's 963,000 votes take a common position on the two? Is there some reason why the Non-Exec directorships did (?) go to a card vote, considering the outcomes? Or were the number of votes against Jack and Sean just deductible from the small number of hands?

[Sean Hewitt]

I said in another thread I felt ECF Council was still a body of Organisers and Arbiters. Roger tried to persuade me otherwise, but I think these results do indicate it is still largely the case.

That's largely true, probably by the nature of the activity as much as anything else. Nevertheless, Roger is one of their own and they still had the sense to boot his polices into touch.

[Richard Bates]

http://www.chessit.co.uk/phpforum/viewt ... ?f=5&t=254

is my report from the AGM.

The fallout from an incident that happened during an International Junior Championships in Austria earlier in the year is still rumbling on. If there’s any interest in the background details I’m happy to find details, but the family involved have taken the ECF to small- claims court, and are seeking just under £5k in compensation. I should point out that, in my opinion, the ECF have conducted themselves excellently and entirely correctly in dealing with incident to date.

Joy.

[Angus French]

Andrew Farthing said at the meeting that someone has expressed an interest in the CEO role. No name was mentioned, but fingers crossed that interest will firm up.

More specifically, Andrew said that the person had expressed an interest in the Chess England CEO role but might well be willing to stand in as ECF CEO in the meantime. (Chess England being the commerical part which would come out of the split resulting from the ECF's application for charitable status.)

I wondered: could the person be Adam Raoof who, as Steve Giddins has reported, has set up a Chess England website? Though would Andrew have mentioned the possibility if Adam was the person - given that Council had, by that stage, voted against appointing him as Marketing and Membership Director?

[LawrenceCooper]

http://www.chessit.co.uk/phpforum/viewt ... ?f=5&t=254

is my report from the AGM.

The fallout from an incident that happened during an International Junior Championships in Austria earlier in the year is still rumbling on. If there’s any interest in the background details I’m happy to find details, but the family involved have taken the ECF to small- claims court, and are seeking just under £5k in compensation. I should point out that, in my opinion, the ECF have conducted themselves excellently and entirely correctly in dealing with incident to date.

Joy.

In case it wasn't obvious to everyone, none of the statements attributed to me on the EU Youth incident were made by me, including those publishing my home phone number on various websites and a facebook page. I was asked not to comment publicly whilst a board member and abided by the board's wishes but it's fair to say I was not happy that my elderly parents were placed at risk by my home contact details being circulated on some rather dubious websites whilst I was at the World Junior in Athens.

[LawrenceCooper]

Andrew Farthing said at the meeting that someone has expressed an interest in the CEO role. No name was mentioned, but fingers crossed that interest will firm up.

More specifically, Andrew said that the person had expressed an interest in the Chess England CEO role but might well be willing to stand in as ECF CEO in the meantime. (Chess England being the commerical part which would come out of the split resulting from the ECF's application for charitable status.)

I wondered: could the person be Adam Raoof who, as Steve Giddins has reported, has set a Chess England website? Though would Andrew have mentioned the possibility if Adam was the person - given that Council had, by that stage, voted against appointing him as Marketing and Membership Director?

It's someone who hasn't been involved in the board before but expressed an interest in the international directorship before deciding it would take up too much of their time once it was clear that I wasn't prepared to carry on doing all the organising of events.

[David Sedgwick]

I said in another thread I felt ECF Council was still a body of Organisers and Arbiters. Roger tried to persuade me otherwise, but I think these results do indicate it is still largely the case.

That's largely true, probably by the nature of the activity as much as anything else. Nevertheless, Roger is one of their own and they still had the sense to boot his polices into touch.

I think there may be some confusion here. The responsibility for the attempted clarification below is entirely mine.

I said in another thread I felt ECF Council was still a body of Organisers and Arbiters. Roger de Coverly tried to persuade me otherwise, but I think these results do indicate it is still largely the case.

That's largely true, probably by the nature of the activity as much as anything else. Nevertheless, Roger Edwards is one of their own and they still had the sense to boot his polices into touch.