Chairman’s Report: Annual Membership Committee Meeting
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING
Held at the Mariners Club, Hong Kong on the 6th March 2015
16-03-2015
Dear Branch Chairmen and Branch Secretaries,
It is my pleasure to report to you on the recent annual face to face meeting of the Membership Committee held in Hong Kong. This was the first time the Membership Committee had met away from London. The Membership Committee is very grateful for the great organisation and warm hospitality extended by YK Chan, Manson Cheung and all the Hong Kong branch committee.
The Membership Committee had a one day workshop prior to the meeting for the first time and then Membership Committee members stayed for an additional day to assist with the Hong Kong branch’s local Prep day.
The Membership Committee welcomed one new committee member, Austin Dooley from Rotterdam who will represent those members of the Institute who are not directly associated with a branch.
The Membership Committee was very pleased to see that there were 73 new members elected at the last Executive Council meeting in late February. This is a very high number for February and is probably due to the trial examination session held last November.
All members are strongly encouraged to fully utilise the database www.shipbrokers.org to manage and update their details and make their contact details available to other members to successfully network.
Clarifying membership criteria
After a lengthy discussion during the workshop and committee meeting, the Membership Committee discussed the pathway to membership and the need to clarify the criteria for membership and the different levels of membership. It was agreed to develop the pathway to membership for approval by the Executive Council / Controlling Council.
The Membership Committee agreed that the Institute should continue to have stringent entry criteria to preserve the Institute’s high standard in the shipping community. The Institute’s membership numbers should be driven by the quality of members not solely on quantity.
It was agreed that members cannot use the Institute logo on their company business cards as this could be perceived that the Institute is endorsing the company or that the company is a Company
Member which is not the case.
Code of Conduct
Leading on from the discussion on membership criteria, the Membership Committee believes that the Institute should also develop a Code of Conduct for members. Initial ideas were tabled but this will need further work and development before being presented to all branches for debate at the next Controlling Council meeting in November 2015.
Corporate Supporter Scheme
The Membership Committee has now scoped this out sufficiently for the Secretariat to draft a paper to present to the Executive Council / Controlling Council.
Lapsed Member criteria
The Membership Committee reviewed and discussed the feedback from the branches covering branch views on lapsed membership. Thank you to all those branches that contributed. The Membership Committee will now prepare a draft paper considering the feedback.
The Membership Committee is permitted to have 10 members plus the chairman so there are currently two positions available. In the best interests of the Membership Committee, I will also shortly step down from the committee as chairman, since I have taken up the Head of Membership role at the Secretariat. Branches will be called upon in the near future for nominations.
Finally Membership Committee members were invited to share their vision and goals for the Institute over the next five years which proved a very interesting insight into the possible future for the Institute.
The Membership Committee would also like to thank Julie, Eleonora and all the team in Head Office for the valuable work that they do to support the Membership Committee and all members.
The next Membership Committee meeting will be via video conference on the 14th May 2015. The Membership Committee is here to represent the whole membership of the Institute so we always welcome any ideas or suggestions to add to our agenda from Branches or individual members which can be sent to us on email: membership@ics.org.uk.
Best wishes
Robert Hill FICS
Membership Committee Chairman
