ISSUE No: 8
 
1. What has Happened to the WOA
2. Resignation of Directors
3. New Chairman and Directors
4. New Web Site http://www.world-ostrich.org
5. AGM
6. Change of WOA Contact Email addresses
7. Changing Your Email Address
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1. What has happened to the WOA?
This is a question asked by Dessi last week. Stan's short answer summed up the reasons. It is now my task to go into a little more depth.
 
The Directors are all very committed to the need for the WOA as an association to fulfil the Mission of the WOA:
 
"To Represent The International Ostrich Industry Through Communication, Dissemination of
Information and Provision of Industry Standards"
 
We are all committed to supporting our members. However, it is only when such an association is operational that the commitment in time is truly understood by all. This time of course is voluntary and has to be fitted in around our revenue generating work. We all understand that the success of the WOA in achieving it's objectives also helps our own and our member's business as well, and hence the reason for us all being prepared to spend that time.
 
It became apparent that with our limited resources in manpower we can either run conferences or we can put in place better programs for membership interaction - that we simply do not have the manpower to be able to do both at this time. As has been seen in trying to do both, we accomplished neither. Since the cancellation of the conference in Bulgaria, we have discussed the new program extensively and made some changes. Those I will now endeavour to outline.
 
2. Resignation of Directors
Due to Personal and Family commitments that have enforced constraints on his time Steve Warrington has submitted his resignation as Chairman and Director.
 
Due to increased time commitments to work, Alan Stables has submitted his resignation as a Director and Country Liaison Coordinator.
 
Your remaining directors have accepted those resignations with regret. I am sure you will all join the remaining directors in thanking them for their service. Both will remain as members of the Association.
 
3. New Chairman and Directors
As Vice-Chairman Stan Stewart has taken over the role of Chairman
 
Under the Articles of Association Prof. Hesham Khalifa from Egypt, who you have all come to know through his contributions to answering Member questions has accepted the invitation to be co-opted onto the board. Welcome to the Board Hesham and thank you for committing to this task. As soon as the other replacement director is known we will let you all know.
 
Your current directors are:
Stan Stewart - UK: Chairman
Daryl Holle - US: President
Craig Culley - UK: Secretary
Fiona Benson - Spain: Activity Coordinator
Maria Isabel Silva - Chile: BOD Member
Prof. Hesham Khalifa - Egypt: BOD member
 
4. New Web Site
One of our major difficulties over the past months has been the administration of the web site, keeping it updated and getting the member's only pages established. As notified last week, we now have a new web site. Our new web address is: http://www.world-ostrich.org

The web site now has:
 
* The entire website is "searchable" for any key word, name or phrase. There is a search link on the main index and a search link at the bottom of every page.
 
* There is an email link to the "secretary" at the bottom of each page.
 
* A "members only" section that is accessible from the Main Index on the home page. This is a USERNAME/PASSWORD protected directory so it will not be accessible until we have set up a USERNAME/PASSWORD system with the membership. Nothing is in the members directory at this time so no usernames and passwords have yet been issued. We will notify you all as soon as that is operational.
 
* The WOA Chatroom is setup and will be Username/Password protected using members Username/Password. Directors use the Chatroom for holding board meetings and it is available also for standard committee meetings. It maybe also serve as a mechanism for holding General Member meetings in the future.
 
* All of the WOA Mailing Lists are ready to go with some being used already. The Members Mailing list is now operational and we ask you all to post your messages to the new members list: [email protected]
 
This association is a members association and therefore the directors would appreciate your ideas as to how the web site can better serve your needs. Please let us have your ideas.
 
Please join me in thanking Daryl Holle in working hard over the last weekend to have our new web site now up and running complete with operational mailing lists and member's only pages. Amongst other things, this now means that we can move forward with the Misinformation program that required interaction with the web site.
 
5. Annual General Meeting (AGM)
The AGM was scheduled to take place at the Bulgaria Conference. As this is no longer possible alternative arrangements will need to be made. The Articles of Association state that all meetings maybe Virtual meetings, with the exception of the AGM that will be a physical meeting. The main reason for this was to encourage 'face to face' communication with each other.
 
Recognising that not all members can travel half way around the world to attend an AGM - even if held at a conference, the articles do allow for virtual participation. Voting forms will be available from the members only pages on the web site. The actual place and date of the meeting along with the agenda will be announced shortly.
 
6. Change of WOA Email Addresses
With the change in the website all email addresses that end in worldostrich.org are no longer valid. Please use:
 
For any communication with:
 
The secretary: [email protected]
The Country Liaison Office: [email protected]
Newsletter: [email protected]
Members List: [email protected]
 
7. Changing your email address
The usual reminder please for any of you changing your email address. Please notify Craig at [email protected]. When providing that notification to ensure it is identified properly, please include:
 
Your Name
Your Current email address
Your New email address
 
When posting messages to the mailing list, please ensure that you are posting using your registered email address so that the Majordomo software recognises your message as coming from a registered member.
 
Any comments or contributions please send either to this list at [email protected] or privately to
[email protected]