Last Saturday the Board of Orienteering Tasmania held a very productive meeting at Ross.
Topics covered included membership and how we look after potential new members, the use of technology at events, course setting and event controlling, the annual calendar of events, relationships with Orienteering Australia and with Sport and Recreation Tasmania, plans for holding Oceania 2015, the resource agreement between OT and clubs, managing risks to the sport, and many more.
One of the key discussions focussed on making sure that we communicate more effectively with members and affiliated clubs. The emphasis here was in making sure we consult widely with stakeholders, whether they are clubs or individual members who have particular interests and/or roles. This news item, which will become a regular feature in the eBulletin following Board meetings, is one of the outcomes of this discussion. In addition, full minutes of meetings will be published on the web site, so that all members have ready access. Minutes will continue to be circulated to club secretaries. The Board also resolved to make better use of committees, with representatives from clubs, set up for specific purposes, such as the one which devises the annual calendar of events.
In this space I cannot detail all Board matters. However, some of the Board’s planned initiatives, include the following:
- plans to encourage more orienteers to learn about and to take on course planning and event controlling
- moves to improve the registration of full and particularly casual member orienteers prior to events
- ways to improve event organisation, including a move towards eventually having all orienteers owning an e-stick or p-card
- conducting a review of the structure of the annual calendar of events
- consideration of possible changes to the Resource Agreement that details the financial relationship between OT and the clubs.
- publishing OKnow on the web site as well as maintaining its current distribution
You will hear, or read, more about these initiatives in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please look at the 
Board_Minutes_11_May_2013.doc and ask Board members for details if you are interested.
One of the busiest areas of Board business, and an area where the Board spends substantial funds, is the selection of teams, the support of NOL competitors, and the coaching and management of Schools teams. There are a number of volunteers working in this area of performance and I thank them for their efforts. However, we currently have no representation from this group, or from anyone who would like to take on a coordinating role, on the Board. The Board urgently needs to fill the position of Director (Performance) so that we are better informed about this important area. If you are interested, please talk to Roger Harlow or me.
Warwick Moore
President
