If all goes as planned, I'll be in Bilbao in a few days for the Global Summit meeting, the first of our two year cycles in the new "conference" structure for the IFVP. As part of that gathering, we'll be holding our AGM on Thursday as a working lunch. We will have a dedicated zoom link available for those who cannot be there physically. This is a good moment to look back at the past year (or two!) and think about where we are going as an organization.
As I've been preparing membership reports, I noticed a few things. First, we want to celebrate a growing China contingent in our membership, thanks to the work of Phil Guo and his team. Second, we are aware that many have been unable to renew memberships in the past two years because of financial challenges. We see you and hear you. We have a plan in place to create a more equitable global membership structure starting in September (watch for more information soon, baby steps in our DEI development...). I also noticed that we have no members in India! I've been on so many meetings in the past two years with amazing Indian graphic recorders and facilitators, so we are seriously going to have to work at this (and our new membership structure may make a big difference here as well).
There will be reports about our finances, our board, the IFVP Institute and the Visual Practitioner Competency Model and the developing certification. It's important to note that the impetus behind the developing certification comes from our members who work in contexts where contracts are often only issued to those who can provide certification documentation in their field of practice, so we recognize that this is not for everyone and is certainly not meant to stifle the heterogeneity and creativity of our innovative community!
We'll also be reporting on our strategic planning outcomes from early 2022 and the initiatives that we are undertaking. We are excited to be focusing on member value for practitioners at all stages of development, from entry level to developing to mature.
Bilbao will be a wonderful regathering after three years since Montclair. And it will be a good launching point for the next two year cycle where we will gather in 2023 regional meet-ups and then again in a 2024 Global Summit (hey teams, get ready to submit proposals to the IFVP soon!). I'm anticipating that when we come to the 2023 AGM we will have many new members and much progress on our work at member value. We're glad you are here!
- Philip Bakelaar's blog
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