FIGT held its Annual Members Meeting on September 11, 2021. Below is outgoing FIGT Executive Secretary, Trisha Carter's report from that virtual meeting.
The FIGT Annual Members Meeting was held on the 11th September 2021. It was only the second time the meeting has been held virtually and again was supported by Members around the globe.
FIGT President, Dawn Bryan, described this past year for the organization as one of “momentum and change” and presented her Annual Report. [You can download the whole PDF here.]
Our Membership, “the glue that holds us together”, includes people in over 50 countries and provides critical income that enables FIGT to exist. The announcement of a new category of membership with a lower price point for those who may have difficulty paying the full membership rate, was a welcome commitment to building a more inclusive community.
Our Sponsors have also been a critical part of FIGT supporting our on-going work throughout each year and playing a vital role in the conference. Dawn thanked each of our Sponsors for their contribution to our work.
News from the Research Network, was shared by Research and Education Director, Anastasia Lidaji. The FRN are currently supported by over 230 researchers, and have held a highly successful webinar series throughout this year. These webinars shared knowledge and supported networking and mentoring. The E-Posters soon to be shared on the FIGT website are a vital record of the FIGT2021 conference that Anastasia initiated and managed.
Affiliates have again played a vital role in creating safe meeting spaces around the world for FIGT Members and Supporters to gather, learn and share experiences. New Affiliates have launched including the interest based, International Education Affiliate and the Melbourne Affiliate has become ANZA (the Australia, New Zealand Affiliate) after a year of virtual meetings supporting people virtually far beyond the initial Melbourne location.
Our Communications Team – the largest group of volunteers within FIGT – shared the results of launching on Instagram, gaining over 300 followers in the first month and continuing to grow over 110% since. While also maintaining information and engagement on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Our first virtual conference held in 2021 had the highest attendance of any of our conferences and was positively evaluated by the attendees.
Planning for FIGT2022 is underway and Program Director, Stephen Toole, announced the theme and new session formats, with many comments and questions from meeting attendees. Applications are now open for speakers so learn all about it here. Stephen also asked for help from Volunteers able to assist with the work in assessing Applications and planning the Conference Program.
Other exciting developments to come in the months ahead shared by Dawn include:
Most importantly our Treasurer, LaShell Tinder, shared a positive fiscal outlook, thanks to “stewarding resources wisely” and positive income results from conference, membership and sponsorship. She also announced a new way to support FIGT through becoming a Sustaining Donor.
Dawn acknowledged that the work of FIGT would not be possible without the more than 100 volunteers, who fill roles from Board Members, to Committees and to the Communications Team. Dawn welcomed the new Board Directors who will take up their roles in October and thanked and farewelled the Board members who will be rotating off the Board.
The past year has been a challenging one for many of us globally. It was encouraging to look back and review the work of FIGT over that time and to look ahead with hope and positivity for the year ahead.
Executive Secretary
Trisha Carter (until September 30th)
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