Chairman’s Speech (2004 AGM – 20/10/04)
Russell Taylor, 3rd Year BE(Aero) / BSc
Welcome to the 2004 Annual General Meeting, and thank you for coming and
supporting your AIAA branch. Basically, the purpose of today’s meeting is to
elect the committee for 2005, plus give a brief wrap-up of the branch activities
of this year.
During the last few years, most of you know that the branch has been fairly
dormant, and Windsoc has not been doing much either. All-in-all this has left a
gap in the student life of the department. Through the hard work of the branch
committee this year, facilitated by our faculty advisor KC, the University of
Sydney AIAA branch has become active again, and not just active but
prosperous, purposeful and well-respected amongst students and staff.
Basically, we have built something out of nothing.
We have tried our best to support students both socially and professionally in
line with the aims we set out at the beginning of the year, and tried to equally
include all students in the faculty across all years. We feel we have been
successful in this, though unfortunately we did run into a few problems that
hindered the smooth running of the branch. In particular these problems were
to do with funding, participation, and also problems left by past committees.
I believe the best aspects of this year were:
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A strong speaker program, with keynote guests and also lunches
provided for audience
AIAA Resource Room cleaned up, and opened to students at least
once a week as a library and a place to study
Organised Aero T-shirts for 2004
Held a few video lunchtimes, selection from School’s Aviation video
library
The workshop campaign, mass student voice had a significant
impact on decisions of the University in preventing or at least
postponing closure of the Aero Workshop for as long as possible.
Note: This pressure needs to be maintained in 2005 to show the CS&T
that we are serious about the closure issue
BBQ’s were very well attended, planning to hold more frequently in
the coming year
Resume Writing & Interview Skills Workshops (particularly the
latter) were very well received and attended, want to increase the
number of such professional development activities next year
AASC 2004 Student Paper Conference has been organized jointly
with the professional branch and with the AIAA in the US; this is a
major national event that needs to be continued with the appropriate
financial and organizational support.
Unfortunately, some events that were planned for 2004 did not occur. In some
cases, this was due to lack of participation or interest from the branch,
inadequate publicity, lack of financial support, or hasty organization. Some
events listed here were going to happen this year but are to be postponed to
early next year as the committee believed that they would be more useful to
the students and the department if run in first semester 2005:
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Trivia Night, was well planned for middle of Semester 2, however was
called off due to lack of RSVP’s. If this (or something similar) is run
next year, it needs more (and earlier) publicity. Also we had set up
arrangements with SUEUA to provide and operate kegs, which they
can provide at short notice at minimal cost. We had also arranged
venues through Anne Robertson (the School’s administrative officer), in
particular the Purcell Room (for a gourmet BBQ and for the kegs), and
the Mechanical Drawing Office (for the trivia night). Attendants were
also arranged through Professor Le, the Head of School (HoS). Should
try to aim for a minimum attendance of 30, in tables of five or so.
Balsa Glider Workshop was planned for end of Semester 1, though
did not eventuate due to lack of organization, and experience to run
such a workshop. However we believe that the interest is there from
the members for such an event. Perhaps hold on a weekend or
afternoon at a small fee?
More speakers, we initially were aiming for one a month throughout
the year. Stuck to this most of the year, though some gaps did exist
around the end of Semester 1 and the beginning of Semester 2. The
pizza lunches which were often provided were very popular, with
turnouts averaging 75 or above. Also the tradition of presenting gifts
(chocolates, wine etc.) to speakers should continue into the future.
Ensure that speakers are diverse, and organize well in advance.
More BBQ’s, only held one due to financial constraints though this was
very popular. Need to manage cost of BBQ’s to ensure that losses are
not made.
MATLAB Fundamentals Workshop has been postponed to early/mid
Semester 1, 2005 to capitalise on the new intake of first year students.
The plan is to charge a small fee ($5) to cover the cost of a MATLAB
tutor (payment of between $100-150) for one or two hours tutoring.
Must be done on the condition that the content of the workshop can be
compiled into a set of notes to be distributed (at a nominal cost –
should be included in the price of the workshop for those who attend)
to students.
First Year AIAA Book Order did not occur this year as the AIAA in the
US took a long time to give us quotes. Ensure that this is publicized
through AERO1560 lectures early in Semester 1, 2005 and get quotes
organized quickly to ensure timely and smooth delivery. Also make
sure that the book order is actually placed by an AIAA member to
secure the member discount. The book that we order usually is
“Introduction to Aeronautics: A Design Perspective” by Steven Brandt,
Randall Stiles, John Bertin & Ray Whitford (AIAA Education Series,
1997)
More field trips, particularly to Kingsford-Smith Airport, Nowra for
Navy flying days, and Temora for flying days. Has not been planned
due to financial and time constraints. Currently planning to organize a
trip to Avalon for the Australian International Air Show in December
2005.
Next year, I would like to see all of the above happen, as well as some other
events and activities that have been on the cards for 2005. Some of these
activities were the ideas of members raised at the first branch meeting of
2004, others were ideas of committee members and other students:
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A tutoring program for first and second-year aero students,
perhaps facilitated by members of the Union’s tutoring program
through the AIAA.
Better use of the AIAA Room / Aerospace Resource Center.
Needs to be publicized more, open more than once a week, and also
made more useful by updating magazines. We were planning to get a
subscription to Air International magazine, which KC has said is
possible at discounted rates as he has been in touch with the
publishers. Also, allot some branch money to the purchase of some
reference books, such as Jane’s or red (military) and blue (civil)
Directories of Aircraft (much cheaper but very useful). Also consider
buying a copy of Mechanics of Flight by A.C. Kermode. KC and
Rodney Fiford arranging to have a computer with scanner and printer
to be placed in the room, with connection to the Internet and School
server. Also consider having a TV and VCR with some aviation videos
available, along with refreshments such as free coffee and biscuits.
Branch finances need to be sorted out once and for all. The
accounts were not managed well this year, and an up-to-date accounts
book needs to be maintained. The branch account and its status
needs to be constantly checked with the Unicom Credit Union (as this
year’s committee found out!). A proper budget needs to be developed
by the Treasurer from now on, it may help to plan out all the events for
the semester early on, then work out a financial plan from that.
Union Funding would be very useful for the branch finances and
publicity purposes. A committee member (probably Vice Chairman)
needs to be assigned the responsibility of ensuring this actually
happens this year, and before the closing date for applications. It may
help to talk to the 2004 Vice Chair, Roxane Jacobs, about this as she
has some contacts inside the Union. If the minimum membership
quota is a problem, consider changing membership process so that all
students enrolled in Aero and/or Space subjects are automatically
members of the AIAA Branch (similar to what happens with SciSoc).
This would solve the dilemma that the committee had this year of
ensuring the branch was non-exclusive and was open and available to
all students in the department. It may also be helpful to explore the
possibility of corporate sponsorship, which several other clubs and
societies at university use as a source of revenue.
Use subcommittees to their full advantage from next year. One
major problem in 2004 was that the committee had full responsibility
for planning, organizing, publicizing and running all branch activities,
which was too much work for four people alone. Subcommittees can
alleviate this workload partially, plus involve branch members in the
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running of events and act as a ‘training ground’ for future committee
members. Ensure that dedicated branch members are invited to join
subcommittees, and form new subcommittees if necessary.
Cocktail Night or End-Of-Year Party would be nice to end the year,
though this depends again on interest and the size of the branch
membership. An excellent suggestion of themed nights (e.g. Battle of
Britain) was made at the first 2004 student branch meeting, and
suitable venues such as the Sydney University Village (SUV) are
nearby and provide licensed facilities at a reasonable price.
Flying Trips/Lessons/Joyflights were suggested at the
aforementioned branch meeting, with enthusiastic support. Not certain
about the financial implications of such an event, though could be run
as part of a field trip such as Temora where joyflights are offered. Also
speak to students who have their pilot’s licenses (e.g. David Wilson)
who might be able to help us out and take some of our branch
members up for a nominal fee. Ken also made a suggestion of having
mystery flights at the branch meeting, which would also be fun if they
could be arranged at a fair price.
More professional development events should be held, such as an
Aerospace Careers Night or something of that nature. Look into the
Royal Aeronautical Society’s Careers Night (held biannually, next one
in 2005), perhaps organize an AIAA-sponsored trip, or publicise
heavily.
Make contact with other AIAA student branches across Australia.
Some headway has been made by the Vice Chair this year, who said
that the AIAA Committee at the University Of Adelaide was very keen
to establish links with us. This would be particularly good as the
Adelaide Student Branch is either the most or second-most active
(after us) branch in Australia. Other possible branches to make contact
with are the Monash and University Of Queensland branches. We may
also want to establish links with the Aero Engineering Department at
UNSW, though there is competition there as a number of established
student organizations exist there already. Closer to home, we should
also involve SUEUA a bit more in our social events - they have a lot of
experience that we could draw from, and a very large support base
which would help in publicity.
This year has been a great start, and I and all of my fellow committee
members do not want to see all of our hard work in making the branch what it
is today go to waste. Again, I would like to say how very appreciative I am of
the dedication of this year’s committee of Angus Leslie, Roxane Jacobs and
Ida Ma, the branch would be nothing without them. To all the members, and
all the students who came and joined in, thank you and we all look forward to
your continued support next year. We hope you enjoyed being a part of the
branch this year, and found the events and activities we organised useful and
fun.
Under the capable stewardship of the new committee, I am certain that next
year will be an even bigger and better year than this one was.
Finally and humbly, thank you for having me as your Chairman this year. I
enjoyed the job very much, and hope that we will continue to see the branch
go from strength to strength so that it may serve you even better for many
years to come.