GM Aug 2011

During the FAB7 conference, the first annual general meeting of members of the international Fab Lab Association will take place. With this letter we formally invite you to attend it.

The International Fab Lab Association is an association with members, a Board and an Academic Council, etc. As it is a democratic organization ruled by its members, it organizes at least once a year a general members meeting. Our first annual general meeting is going to happen soon.

With this message, the Board of the International Fab Lab Association invites you to attend its first annual general members meeting:

Place: Fab7 Conference, Lima, Peru (exact locations to be announced), and online (URL to follow).

Dates and times

 * Session-1: Tuesday, 16th of August 2011, 3:30-5:00PM Lima time, physical session
 * Voting process: Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th of August 2011, all day Lima time, voting process
 * Session-2: Friday, 19th of August 2011, 1:30-2:00PM Lima time, physical session

The Board of the International Fab Lab Association also will contribute to the Fab Foo session on Wednesday, 17th of August 2011, from 1:30PM.

Agenda
The Board has prepared the following agenda:


 * Session-1: Tuesday, 16th of August 2011, 3:30-5:00PM Lima time, physical session (all voting is postponed till session-2)
 * Opening the meeting and welcome to the new association
 * What do we want to accomplish during the coming year? (incl. policy plan, budget 2012, membership fee)
 * Fab Charter and rite-de-passage ( adopting Bylaws; a draft text will be published five days in advance)
 * Running the association (Election of Board members, Audit Committee, and start-up of Academic Advisory Council)
 * Motions
 * Reports and Queries


 * Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th of August 2011, all day Lima time
 * Voting process (also e-voting)


 * Session-2: Friday, 19th of August 2011, 1:30-2:00PM Lima time, physical session
 * Outcomes of the voting process
 * Concluding of the meeting

More information
The members will decide on the intended activities of the association in 2012. This will be written down in a policy plan and related budget. The Board will have to orchestrate the implementation of this plan.

We want to give our Fab Charter and Rite-de-Passage the attention they deserve. In fact we will propose to adopt so called Bylaws where they have been written down explicitly. We will pub;ish a concrete proposal later.

The members further may decide on the number of Board members (beteen 3 and 9; we propose 6 by the way). Thes Board members will resign after 1, 2 or three years respectively.

Every member of the association may candidate him/her self before or during session-1. If you think you can contribute and have some time (about one day a month), please, consider to candidate yourself! And feel free to contact the board members for more information.

We also need an Audit Committee of two members or more. They will check our financial affairs and report directly to the next annual meeting.

The association may have a dedicated advisory council for academic affairs. We recommend to start it up right now. The members may vote the first Academic Council members. Later they may do that themselves.

Later, we will send more details on the various agenda issues to you. We hope to see you and hear you all, either personally in Lima or virtually via the means of communication provided.