[Chapter-delegates] 2010 'Chapter Development' Planning

[Anne Lord]

Dear Colleagues,

To all those who attended the meetings in Seoul and to those who  
recently contributed to discussions on this list, thank you. We  
appreciate your feedback and will continue to listen as we strive to  
improve our collective support for the important work that you do.

In late 2008 we asked you where the priorities should be for 2009 to  
support 'Chapter Development'. Your responses told us to improve  
funding and to continue to enhance support for ISOC’s activities in  
Public Policy, Education, Standards and Strategic initiatives. You  
also told us to develop common information to support Chapters, and to  
recognise and promote successful Chapter projects. The development of  
a membership system was top of the list and not included in the survey.

With your help, we made significant progress in 2009 but there is  
still a lot of work to be done. Funding was increased through the  
introduction of a "Chapter Events Programme" and the introduction of a  
"Travel Fellowship Programme". The Membership system will be launched  
on November 17th and your help in providing feedback leading up to  
this launch has been critical. The Chapter Handbook will be launched  
at the end of November, and again the Chapters contributions are the  
major pieces of the Handbook. Through the Chapter Handbook, the ISOC  
2008 Chapter Review and through programme efforts like the Community  
Grants programme and the Events Funding, we have tried to promote  
Chapter success stories. With your help, through the Sphere project a  
consultation framework has been developed, while work has begun on  
reviewing Chapter Policies and Procedures, and on defining a  
sustainable policy for document translation (Sphere-translate).  Work  
has also begun on identifying measures of success for Chapters to help  
frame a Chapter Policy review,  and  on developing communications  
collateral to support Chapter outreach activities, again with your help.

In 2010, we would like to continue with the priorities you identified  
for 2009 within the framework of the Chapter Development Plan. Based  
on feedback we received throughout the year about the importance of  
regional needs and communication (which has impacted ISOC's overall  
business strategy), we would like to provide a more regional focus,  
meeting and talking to the Chapters from all corners of the Chapter  
world. The Travel Fellowship Programme will be expanded to support  
"Chapter workshops" where gatherings of Chapter leaders will be held  
regionally, like the recent workshop in Delhi held alongside the INET  
meeting. The workshops will provide a platform to exchange information  
and learn from each other through discussion of the challenges and  
opportunities faced by Chapters and to find solutions together.

The Chapter Events programme will continue, with enhanced funds, to  
provide financial support to Chapters to hold events to increase  
contact with members. In 2010 we want to do better at "sharing our  
success" – learning from each other, helping each other. We will  
continue to provide more information, opportunities for engagement and  
discussion through e-meetings, face-to-face meetings and mailing list  
discussions in order to 'share our success'. We would also like to  
take a bolder step in promoting and recognising the good work done by  
Chapters, by developing, with your help, a Chapters Awards Programme.

There is plenty of scope for continued improvement to be made in 2010  
and much to be done. To accomplish the work, we rely on your feedback  
and help. Please tell us if we are missing anything or if you feel  
feedback from the surveys last year do not correctly reflect today’s  
priorities (http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/docs/nov2008/chapters-individual-members.pdf 
).  We would be very happy to hear from you, on or off list at <chapter-support at isoc.org 
 >.

We look forward to working with you in 2010 and once again, we would  
like to thank you, your Board and Chapter members for all the work  
done to advance the cause of the Internet Society.


Best wishes

Anne
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Anne Lord, Senior Manager                             <lord at isoc.org>
Chapter & Individual Memberships                  http://www.isoc.org
Internet Society (ISOC)                "The Internet is for everyone"
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