Annual General Meeting 2009

• Carolyn McKinlay passed away early this year and will be dearly missed by the Society. Donations are being organised for brain research and members are invited to contact S. Blanksby to contribute.
• A General Staff Travel Award in honour of Carolyn's dedication to the Society was proposed. Carolyn's family has been informed and was supportive of the proposal. The award could be targeted to support travel to ANZSMS conferences and that funding may be equivalent to two student awards to be supported by the Society. M. Buntine strongly supported such an award noting that general staff have less access to funding to travel to conferences.
  • Action (S. Blanksby) - to formulate and provide formal Award guidelines will be put to the Society at the next AGM.
• S. Blanksby conveyed best wishes on behalf of the Society to Michael Guilhaus following news of his illness.
• Funding support of ANU one-day symposium
  • Charles Hocart requested Society Sponsorship of $550 for the ANU one day symposium. The Society has supported the symposium on a number of occasions and was well publicised as a result. This year's symposium is dedicated to Carolyn's memory.
  • A motion to support the symposium was approved (moved: S. Blanksby, 2nd T. Mitchell).
• Changes to Constitution
  • Proposed changes to the constitution to align with regulatory requirements, having been posted on the ANZSMS website and available for comment by members, were approved unopposed (moved: S. Blanksby, 2nd R. O'Hair).
• Changes to membership fee structure
  • A discussion was held on annual memberships losing members in between conferences. It was noted that despite a requirement for membership to attend conferences there was no enforcement of this at ANZSMS22 and as a result many non-members were in attendance contributing to the lower membership this year with further losses likely to occur next year.
  • It was noted that all memberships are up for renewal on Jan 1st, 2010 and that by offering one year only memberships for 2010 there would be an opportunity to synchronise the membership cycle with conferences. It was proposed that two year memberships then be offered from 1st Jan 2011 to realign membership and conference cycles and ensure the Society did not lose track of members.
  • It was generally accepted that providing reduced conference registration fees to members, similar to ASMS conferences, could encourage attendees to become members before attending the conference.
  • Greater coordination between the Executive and Conference Organising Committee is required to ensure the retention and growth of Society membership. This was noted by all Executive members present including the ANZSMS23 Convener.
  • A motion for the annual fee structure for 2010 to remain unchanged at $20 full member, $15 student member and $50 corporate membership was passed unopposed (moved: S. Blanksby, 2nd M. Buntine).
• The Executive committee's nominee for 2010 ANZSMS travelling lecturer, Scott McIndoe who will be travelling to NZ in 2010, was confirmed unopposed (moved: S. Blanksby, 2nd R. O'Hair).
  • Action (R. O'Hair) - to liaise with Scott and regional Hosts: M. Buntine (WA), R. O'Hair (VIC), S. Blanksby (NSW), T. Pukula (SA), S. Nelis (QLD), and N. Davies (TAS).
• A discussion was held on the introduction of Society Membership Status Titles such as "Fellow of ANZSMS". M. Buntine noted that such Titles are increasingly being noticed within higher echelons of academic institutions and supported this as a way to increase the profile of Society membership. This sentiment was reflected in a letter from B. Tattam to S. Blanksby on the topic and that "Life Member" status would provide a mechanism to retain contact with members following retirement.
  • Action (S. Blanksby) - form a subcommittee and report back at the next AGM.
• The Society has been approached to be involved in the first Asian MS conference and was strongly supported as a strategic initiative by members present.
  • Action (S. Blanksby) - indicate Society support to Asian Society and ask for further clarification on what is involved.

• Finalisation of ANZSMS Medals/Awards
  • The donation of a set of ANZSMS medals to the Academy of Science raised by Carolyn McKinlay and agreed on at a previous meeting of the Society was reaffirmed.
  • Action (R. O'Hair) - to follow up and offer a set of Society Medals to the Academy of Science.

• The definition and commentary on the ANZSMS22 success was deemed inappropriate for a financial document and discourteous to the efforts of previous (and future) Organising Committees by R. O'Hair and M. Buntine. The implication concerning the Medal Awardees and the Members of the Executive was also noted as inappropriate by M. Buntine. The absence of the Treasurer to present and speak to the contentious report was also noted.
• J. Traeger noted for the record that membership revenue was down, despite being a conference year, due to the large number of ANZSMS22 attendees that were not required or encouraged to become members.
• S. Blanksby indicated that measures discussed at this meeting and greater interaction between Organising Committees and the Executive will guard against a repeat for future conferences.

• The securing of a venue was held off until the full financials of the Society was known and the amount of ANZSMS22 seed funding returned known. S. Blanksby confirmed that the amount in the Treasurer's Report had now been returned and indicated that seed funding would be available for the ANZSMS23.
• M. Buntine praised K. Downard's success at reaching out to previously under-represented areas of mass spectrometry, such as Geology, during ANZSMS22. In continuing this out reach, the make up of the ANZSMS23 Organising Committee will reflect the different make up and background of mass spectrometry in WA.
• The Committee is taking shape with Mark Buntine (Convenor), Paul Greenwood (Treasurer), Geoff Chidlow (Industry Liaison), Kliti Grice (organic geochemistry expertise), Peter McCafferty (ChemCentre - expertise with inorganic & forensics communities).
• A discussion was held on the ANZSMS23 Organising Committee liaising with the Executive Committee. This could be either from Convener to President or Executive as appropriate to ensure the Organising Committee is well supported in their efforts and the needs of all groups/regions were considered. M. Buntine also noted that he was hoping for a bio-expert to complete the committee.
• Venues were discussed with a variety of options available that may or may not require some transportation from Hotels to the Meeting.
• M. Buntine opened the floor to issues for the ANZSMS23 Organising Committee to consider. Main issues identified were:
  • An increase in the number of student presentations as this is a major development opportunity for our student members.
  • Opportunities for mixing with people were seen as important part of the Meeting, especially for students and early career researchers.
  • Liaison with the Lorne conference to ensure no conflict for proteomic researchers.

• M. Buntine had discussed the ANZSMS site being hosted on the new RACI servers with a RACI Board Member. This was followed up by a formal inquiry by A. McAnoy but a number of technical and security issues were identified with the RACI IT structure and this option was not viable to either organisation.
• The subcommittee investigated commercial internet service providers with at least two local hosting companies able to provide large or unlimited space, bandwidth and local support for reasonable rates.
• A motion for the subcommittee to provide a plan, budget and timetable for the transition of the Society website to a commercial provider for Executive approval was unopposed (moved: S. Blanksby, 2nd A. McAnoy).
• J. Traeger offered to continue as webmaster and serve on the website subcommittee until the website is transferred. George Khairallah, who previously offered to help with the website transition, will join the subcommittee.
• The role of the Webmaster was raised and it was suggested the duties of the Secretary may be considered as a de-facto webmaster (or vice versa) and could be reflected in the Constitution. This will be considered by the subcommittee and options, or required Constitution changes, put forward to a future meeting of the Society.

Stephen Blanksby	President	(R. O'Hair/M. Paine)
Andrew McAnoy	Vice-President	(R. O'Hair/S. Blanksby)
Samantha Nelis	Secretary	(S. Blanksby/T. Mitchell)
Todd Mitchell	Treasurer	(S. Blanksby/A. McAnoy)
Charles Hocart	Public Officer	(S. Blanksby/J. Traeger)
Kliti Grice	Committee Member	(S. Blanksby/M. Buntine)
Noel Davies	Committee Member	(S. Blanksby/R. O'Hair)
George Khairallah	Committee Member	(R. O'Hair/J. Traeger)