Minutes of the ASC Annual General Meeting

Held at the University of Warwick, U.K.
Wednesday, 17 September 2003  

1             APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

               John Francis and Hugh Gentleman

2             MINUTES OF LAST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

               The Minutes were agreed.

3             MATTERS ARISING

               There were no matters arising.

4             REPORT FROM THE CHAIR

               The Chair, Steve Elder, reported that during the last year a lot of the effort of the Committee had gone into the planning of this conference.   In other respects it had been a period of consolidation, but with some important new initiatives taken.

               A new Newsletter has been introduced, distributed twice yearly to members.

               The ASC has continued to pursue links with the Market Research Society, the Royal Statistical Society and the Social Research Association.   It also continued to give support to the Triple S Group in it’s promotion of that interchange standard.

               With the Market Research Society the ASC has introduced a new joint award for the Effective Use of Technology.   From the submissions received earlier in the Summer, a short-list will be announced at the end of the conference and the Award will be made at the MRS Awards Dinner in November.

               A number of one day events are already planned for 2004.   A joint meeting with the RSS is planned for January, a Workshop in April and a further one day conference in September.   In addition the ASC is considering inviting the winner of the Technology Effectiveness Award to give a presentation on their project at an evening meeting.

               Some long-standing members of the committee resigned during the year or indicated their intention to step down as from now.   Steve thanked Jen Waterton, John Francis and Thomas Brennan for their past  contributions.

               During the year the ASC has been pleased to welcome Garj Basi and Steve Taylor as co-opted members.

               Steve thanked all his colleagues on the Committee for their support over the last year.

5             TREASURER’S REPORT

               Laurance Gerrard, Treasurer, reported that the finances of the ASC are generally in a healthy state, although 2002 was not such a good year.   The accounts of the ASC  are of a cyclical nature, driven by large two and three day conferences as well as more frequent one-day events.   In order to mount these larger events, it is essential to maintain a healthy bank balance.   Laurance thanked Stuart Manson of the University of Essex for auditing the books and Diana Elder for keeping the accounts.   The meeting agreed to adopt the accounts for the year.

6             PROPOSED INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP FEES

               Laurance pointed out that there has not been an increase in fees for five years and there is a need to cover a larger proportion of fixed overheads.   In order to do this it is proposed to increase the fees as follows:

               Corporate Annual Membership – from £75 to £100 for up to four members
               (Additional members within corporate – from £7.50 to £10)
               Individual Annual Membership – from £25 to £30
               3 Year Individual Membership – from £65 to £70
               New 3 year Corporate Membership - £275 for up to four members
               (Additional members within 3 year Corporate - £20).

               Andrew Cubie proposed that the increase should be accepted and this was seconded by John Hulbert.

7             ELECTION TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

               There was one new nomination – Birju Jani of CfMC, bringing the total committee to 11.   All committee  members standing for re-election were duly elected.

8             ANY OTHER BUSINESS

               There was no other business.