Annual Business Meeting
Molly V. Strzelecki
OT representatives from the state of Michigan implored to attendees, “Buy a car!” during roll call. When called, Nevada announced to the hall, “OTs have the best odds in Nevada!” Not to be outdone, Pennsylvania called out that “It will be heaven in 2011!” And the state of Washington made it clear that everyone should “Eat your apples!”
“Madame President, we have a quorum,” stated AOTA Secretary Sheri Montgomery.
So began this year’s Annual Business Meeting at the AOTA Annual Conference & Expo in Houston. AOTA President Penelope Moyers Cleveland brought the meeting to order and immediately got down to the business of the Business Meeting. After establishing no changes to the rules of the day, and accepting the minutes from the 2008 Annual Business meeting, AOTA President-Elect Florence Clark gave her report on Centennial Vision progress. As we move closer to 2017, AOTA continues to move closer along its Centennial path. A new panel on the Centennial Vision and Diversity has been developed and will celebrate success in that area, and the Association has achieved continued partnerships with AARP, AAA, and others that are helping to push the profession forward. President-Elect Clark also noted that there are PowerPoint presentations available on the AOTA Web site for practitioners to use to help further efforts in reaching AOTA’s Centennial Vision.
AOTA Treasurer Saburi Imara had the daunting task of delivering the report on the Association’s financials for the fiscal year. With the economy in turmoil AOTA faced significant revenue challenges, including declining investments, declining rental income at the national office, and the financial storm continues into FY ’09. However, Imara noted, AOTA is poised to weather the storm. Responses to the downturn, in terms of revenue initiatives, include the continuation of the national partnership programs, AOTA Press products now being offered in Europe, the Student Conclave, the Member-2-Member campaign, Web advertising and sponsorship. Expense initiatives in response to the economic downturn included staff reductions at the national office, reduced capital spending, and reduction in face-to-face volunteer meetings, to name a few.
After hearing the financial news, attendees at the Annual Business Meeting had several questions for Imara and the rest of the Board of Directors on stage. Attendees were curious how much setting up an account with Amazon UK (to sell the Press products in Europe) cost, and how long the Association it would take to be considered a success. AOTA Executive Director Fred Somers responded that the initial cost was around $2,000, and we have already seen more than that in sales, and can confidently plant a flag in the future of this venture.
Somers then gave his report on activities at the national office in Bethesda, Maryland. He pointed out AOTA’s expanded Web presence on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and the newly-launched OT Connections. In the coming year, Somers noted, AOTA plans to improve the architecture of the AOTA Web site to make it easier to search and navigate. In addition, AOTA had a number of victories in the public policy arena, state regulatory victories in Michigan and Colorado. Media relations has increased the presence of AOTA and occupational therapy in national publications and media outlets, and Media Relations is now working with various universities to promote OT research.
This is the fourth consecutive year that AOTA has seen growth in its membership, and at the end of the first eight months of this fiscal year, membership is at 39,415.
Somers took questions about his report, and as with the financial report, many attendees had something they wanted to ask. If we are no longer asking for diversity data on membership applications, one attendee asked, how are we gathering that data? Somers answered that we are still gathering that data, but now we do so via membership surveys.
Yvonne Randall gave the report of the Nominating Committee, announcing those newly-elected to positions within AOTA.
As the questions wound down, the announcements and new business taken care of, President Moyers Cleveland drew the winner of the free membership for a year, capping of and bringing to a close the yearly meeting.