1999 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The 1999 Annual General Meeting of the Guild was held an Saturday 6th November at Gilroy's, St Leonards, Sydney.

The meeting was chaired by outgoing president Ross Linton.

A new executive and committee was elected:

President - Stephen R Smith
Vice- president - John Haeny
Secretary - Andy Postle
Treasurer - Steve Murphy
Committee members:
     David Glasser
     Peter Grace
     Phil Keros
     Rob Stalder
     Rod Pascoe
     Mark van Kool
     Gary Wilkins (Victoria)
     Graeme Hicks (Queensland)

It was the intention of the outgoing committee to streamline the administration of the Guild and to that effect we voted on several rule changes.

Put simply, the major effect of the changes was to expedite the membership approval process, which will now take place at the next committee meeting after receiving an application rather than the three months it previously took.

We also created two new categories of membership - Honorary Life Member and Student Member.

Qualifications for Honorary Life Membership:

(1) A person is qualified to be an Honorary Life Member of the association if, but only if, that person:-

(a) has made a substantial contribution to the profession of screen sound; and
(b) has been nominated for Honorary Life Membership of the association as
provided for in Rule 7; and
(c) has been approved for Honorary Life Membership by the committee of the
association as provided for by existing Rule 24
(2) Honorary Life Membership may on be bestowed upon a maximum of two
persons per year.

This status has, so far, been bestowed upon the recipients of our Lifetime Achievement Award given over the last two years at the annual Screen Sound Awards. Ron Purvis and Peter Fenton in 1998 and Clive Cross this year.

Qualifications for Student Membership:

(1) A person is qualified to be a Student Member of the Association if, but only if, that person
(a) is undertaking a recognised full time course of study in screen sound, and
(b) can produce proof of that full time student status.

Both new categories, as do the previous Full Member and Associate Member categories, require a nominator to sign the application form. The nominator must be a financial Full Member.

However, if an applicant does not know anybody, do not despair, please send in your application - with a CV and any contacts you know within the industry.   (They don't have to be Guild members.)

The final decision rests with the Committee, who will attempt to verify your qualifications.