GPS May 2020

President’s Message
Rudi Anders
Annual Meeting ZOOM
Captain Kirk ordered the Enterprise slowed from warp speed as the
ship entered the orbit of the third planet from its distant sun. The giant
screen in front of him flickered and revealed the face of a weary-looking
commander quarantined at the Federation’s only remaining outpost
on the planet’s surface. Ever optimistic, Kirk responded with a greeting:
“Thanks for zooming in.”
200 years earlier - At the time of writing this message, Jerry Jensen,
past President of the GPS, and I are planning to use Zoom* to hold the
2020 GPS Annual Board meeting. We hope that the meeting will take
place by mid-May. Why are we doing this? In the very unlikely event
that Covid-19 will have disappeared later this year, there is no guarantee
that we can hold a ‘regular’ meeting this year. But even if that were
the case, a meeting in May is needed in order to inform the Board of our
finances, present a budget, and plan for next year’s GPS elections. Some
of this could be done by email, but Zoom allows us to discuss issues
and forge a consensus for future action in a meeting-like environment.
Beyond that, we need to be prepared to hold other Zoom meetings –
perhaps quarterly – to more effectively communicate.
Does the GPS face an immediate crisis? NO. But we must look
beyond the next few months and be nimble enough to respond quickly
if issues arise. Let’s focus on two issues: Membership and financial
solvency.
Membership:
I just looked at the April mailing list and find we’re mailing ‘paper’
Specialists to 686 person/entities. Add in the digital Specialists we’re
over 700 members. (We have 19 complimentary memberships – nine
of these are to the German Federation leadership per agreement reach
in 2019). Before getting too deeply into the weeds, what matters: how
many paying members? Answer: 643 regular and 33 life members. (This
includes 39 foreign members – some are life members). Assuming we
remain at same levels we would expect to receive dues of ca. $28,000.
May 2020 149