2020 Annual General Meeting

The annual general meeting of members of the Event Atlantic Society was held virtually on Thursday July 23, 2020 at 1:00pm AST.

 Welcome and Introduction
At 1:05pm Chair Seamus O’Keefe welcomed all to the 5th annual meeting of the Event Atlantic Society and served as Chair for the meeting. Stefanie Turner acted as secretary for the meeting.

Credentials
The scrutineer report showed there were 23 individuals present and 15 members in attendance were authorized to vote and cast a ballot. The requisite quorum of members was present.

Approval of the Agenda
Motion to approve agenda as circulated: Aaron Kennedy
Seconded: Dawn Allan
All in favour. No objections.
Motion Carried

Approval of the Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes of the 2018 Annual General Meeting minutes as circulated: Laurel Lea
Seconded: Tanya Haywood
All in favour. No objections.
Motion Carried

Organization Report
The initial mandate of Event Atlantic was to establish a membership. The groundwork for this has been laid and benefits are currently evolving.  Membership numbers are constantly growing with current numbers being 14 in Nova Scotia, 20 in PEI, 4 in New Brunswick, 6 in Newfoundland and 1 from outside Atlantic Canada. The beginning of 2020 has created a hiccup, but the organization is headed in the right direction.
The organization is 6.5 years old, a lot younger than other organizations like CST who are celebrating 20 years, so the organization is still evolving and growing and trying to prove itself in the industry.  Currently the organization is connecting on all platforms including the website which remains the main platform for disseminating information amongst members.  A quarterly newsletter, created as part of the membership program, has been well received. The newsletter represents the region well and includes facility reports, event updates and ‘ask an expert’ profiles.
The organization has overcome financials struggles in the initial years thanks to hard work from the board.
Seamus acknowledged Grant MacDonald and Canada Sport Tourism for the work being done by their Bouncing Back task force. Atlantic Canada is well represented on the task force by Jillian Somers, Wayne Long, Sheena McCrate and Neal Alderson.
In closing, Seamus wanted to thank all those who put their names forward to join the board this year.  

Financial Report
Bobby Depres provided the overview of the association’s financial statements.
Motion to approve the 2019 financial statements as circulated: Brodie O’Keefe
Seconded: Tanya Haywood
All in favour. No objections.
Motion Carried

Approval of the Acts of the Directors
Motion to approve the Acts of the Directors for 2019: Jennifer Shebib
Seconded: Aaron Kennedy
All in favour. No objections.
Motion Carried

Election of Directors
A vote was called for the open seats in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.  A vote was also required for a 1-year term Prince Edward Island seat recently vacated. Bio’s were circulated electronically to all registered attendees prior to the AGM.  A live vote took place during the virtual AGM.  Seamus O’Keefe was the successful candidate for Newfoundland, Jennifer Shebib was the successful candidate for Nova Scotia, and Brodie O’Keefe was the successful candidate for Prince Edward Island.

The following slate of candidates were nominated for two-year terms (2020-2022):
Denis LeBlanc – Shediac, NB
Seamus O’Keefe – St. John’s, NL
Jennifer Shebib – Sydney, NS
Wayne Long – Charlottetown, PE

The following candidate was nominated for a one-year term (2020-2021):
Brodie O’Keefe – Charlottetown, PE

Motion to approve the slate of candidates for one and two-year terms: Laurel Lea
Seconded: Matt Moore
All in Favour. No objections.
Motion Carried

The Board will subsequently appoint the Officers for the positions of President, Vice President and Treasurer/ Corporate Secretary.

Other Business
Seamus O’Keefe requested Grant MacDonald, chair of Sport Tourism Canada COVID-19 Task Force, provide a brief update.
Grant informed attendees the task force, comprised of 30  members who represent all segments of the industry,  is currently halfway through the mandate.
A strategy is scheduled to be released in September to help the industry “Bounce Back” from the pandemic.  The strategy will include tools that can be used at local and provincial levels, addressing the 3 phases – the response, the recovery and resiliency.  The strategy takes the opportunity to reimagine what sport bidding and hosting can look like in the future in Canada.

Seamus informed the membership of a current webinar collaboration underway between Event Atlantic and Events Nova Scotia.  Further details on the project will be released to the membership in the upcoming weeks.  

Adjournment
Motion to adjourn at 1:26 pm AST: Jennifer Shebib
Seconded: Laurel Lea
Motion Carried