Dear fellow Redwingers,

We hope that this message finds you well and even better, able to sail.

This has been a very unusual year and has forced us to change the way we work in many ways. Our National Championship each year is also when we would usually host the AGM. While this years championship has been cancelled, we are going to continue to have the AGM on August 18^th 2020 at 1900 and we will be holding the meeting over ‘Zoom’. I understand that this is far from conventional and is not as nice as meeting in person. It does have its advantages though. Our association members join our group for all sorts of reasons and many are not able or chose not to attend the championship, I hope that more of those members are able to join us remotely for this year’s AGM.

To make it easier/possible to manage the meeting in this format we are circulating lots of information that you would normally receive audibly at the AGM within the agenda document on the password protected page of our website. This information will not be read out during the AGM as it should be read beforehand.

There is lots of information about how to use Zoom on their website support pages (https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us). I will host a range of test Zoom meetings to allow you to see how it will work and to check that your equipment is working as you need it to and so that you know how the meeting will work. I strongly recommend that you attend one of these events if you intend to attend the AGM. It would be disappointing if you missed the AGM due to a technical difficulty and once the AGM has begun, there will not be time to support you joining the meeting or to wait for others to join us.

As you well know, your opinions and contribution to the fleet and association are vital to our survival and are the reason we are thriving while many older fleets have died away. I know it is an unusual format but please do make every effort to attend.

Below I have included a timeline of what you need to do and the date that you need to have done it by. Please read carefully, it is vital the dates are met for the smooth running of the AGM.

With all of our best wishes,

Eric Evans and your NRDA Committee

How will it will work.

Before the 28^th July:

You need to let me know by e-mail if you plan to attend the AGM. If you later are unable to attend, that is absolutely fine. We need to create a list to ensure only paid up members of the association are able to attend. Only those who have e-mailed me and have paid their subscriptions will receive the link to attend the AGM. I need your full name, boat name and number (if applicable) and e-mail address. Please also feel free to send your apologies.

You need to read the detailed agenda which is available on the password protected area of the website and submit any questions you would have raised at the meeting to me by e-mail.

You also need to submit any proposals, items you have for Any Other Business and any initial comments that you have. Please send them to me by e-mail.

From the 29^th of July to the 17^th of August:

Attend a Zoom test session. The dates, times and links for these will be circulated to those who have e-mailed to say they will be attending the AGM. We will hold some trial voting during these practice sessions so that you can see how it will work.

During the AGM:

The standard setting will be that your microphone is muted. We do want to hear what you have to say but cannot hear anyone as soon as more than one person is speaking (I know this as it was tested vigorously during an online stag do I ‘went to’). You can message me to have your microphone enabled so that you can make a specific comment or supplementary question. All initial questions need to be made as stated above. Votes will be counted through the chat function. Your vote will be readable by all just as it is during an AGM in person. The whole meeting will be recorded to enable the minutes to be written accurately afterwards. We will have to ask for your patience as some items such as counting votes will inevitably take longer than usual.

After the AGM:

We will write up the minutes of the meeting and post it as a draft document in the password protected area of the website.