annual meeting: Norway 1994

Guidelines for the ELASA Meetings

Introduction

As an initiative of the former Education Group (now called Contact Group), these guidelines are the result of a mini-co-operation between Switzerland (Andi Schlaepfer) and the Netherlands (Abe Veenstra).

When we look back on the meetings which have been held until now, we think there is certainly progress in the way ELASA is organised and is developing itself. In order to make sure this will continue we think it is very useful if not necessary to have guidelines for the annual meetings, in which we make clear how we would like to see the ELASA-meeting in the future.

Guidelines

1. Before the meeting.
   It is important that before the actual meeting the agenda of the reps meeting as well as the reports from the Contact Group (see 2a point 4) are available for the representatives of each country. Therefore one responsible person (probably also the chairman of the reps meeting) from the organising committee will have to make this agenda and sent it around together with the reports.
   We suggest that every rep who has a topic he or she wants to de discussed during the reps meeting, will send this suggestion to the responsible person/chairman (see 2a point 6). This can be done together with the application form for instance.
   It might be useful to have a list with the names of all the participants at the beginning of the meeting.
2. The meeting.
   The meeting should consist of three parts:

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   1. The Representatives Meeting,
   2. The Participants Programme and
   3. The Exhibition.

   The organising committee makes sure that there are persons who are responsible for each part of the meeting, so that it is clear for everybody who is to be contacted in case of questions or problems concerning a certain part of the meeting.

   1. The Representatives Meeting
      One member of the organising committee is responsible for the reps meeting. The chairman doesn’t necessarily has to be from the organising country.
      The following agenda shows which topics should be discussed every year. Points 6 and 7 can and will vary each year.Agenda:

      
      

      
      

      
      

      
      

      1. INTRODUCTION
         The introduction to the representatives meeting will at least deal with the following subjects:

         
         

         
         

         
         

         
         

         • short explanation about the reps meeting (specially for newcomers)
         • review of what happened last year (short résumé)
         • making clear the link between the report of the meeting of last year and the agenda of this years meeting;
      2. MINUTES
         A person is chosen who takes the minutes (writing the report).
      3. REPS REPRESENTATION
         The representative of each country gives a short impression of the things which happened in his or her country the last year, concerning ELASA, landscape-architecture and education (national landscape architecture student organisation, workshops, what ELASA means in this country, etc.)
      4. CONTACTS REPRESENTATION
         Each person who is responsible for a certain contact (EFLA, IFLA, ECLA, ERASMUS etc.) should have written a short report, dealing with the most important topics concerning this contact. This report will be sent to the representatives before the meeting together with the agenda. From now on the group within ELASA dealing with the following contacts will be called the Contact Group. It consists of the next three sections:

         
         

         
         

         
         

         
         

         • education
           The education group presents a short report which consists of the reports of the contact persons representing ELASA in EFLA, IFLA, ECLAS etc.
         • funding
           Report presentation from person(s) responsible for funding or persons who have contacts with organisation from whom ELASA hopes to get sponsorship (see point 5).
         • other contacts
           Contacts with any other organisation.
      5. INFO-CENTRE:
         The information-centre will be handed over during the meeting. It has been decided that the country organising the annual meeting will also be responsible for the info-centre the following year.

         
         

         
         

         
         

         
         

         • publications
           Matters concerning the publications and the info-centre can be discussed. The Info-centre will produce two kinds of publications:

           
           

           
           

           
           

           
           

           • The Yearbook
             The Yearbook will also include a report of the last meeting and a catalogue of the exhibition (if possible).
           • The Newsletters
             The deadlines for the newsletters will be announced during the meeting.
         • finances and contribution
           Until now the info-centre has been financed by means of the profits from the previous meetings. To guarantee the continuity of ELASA there is a need for ‘ELASA-money’ or an ‘ELASA-fund’ apart from the ‘meeting-money’. This is necessary because we have to consider the possibility of one year not having a meeting, or an organising committee not being able to make a profit out of the meeting. This ELASA-fund will consist of money obtained by sponsorship and the profits of previous meetings. There appears to be a need for a more permanent address. Especially organisations like ERASMUS and TEMPUS would like us to have one. Most likely it is possible for ELASA to use the address of the EFLA secretary for contacts like this. The EFLA secretary will know the right address of the info-centre each year and will send the information through.It has been decided that the organising committee will indicate which % of the participation fee will be used for the information centre. This can on the one hand make it easier for some countries to get funded in their own country for the information (f.i. the professional body or school wants to pay for the Yearbook & Newsletters) and on the other hand it makes it possible for countries, not able to come to the meeting to pay an amount of money for the information (on a voluntary base; ELASA will send the info to all the countries). This amount of money can be seen as a voluntary contribution; by paying this countries show they feel responsible for and involved with ELASA.
      6. DISCUSSION-TOPICS
         During the meeting it has to be decided which topics are worth while discussing about in smaller groups.
      7. ADDED TOPICS
         The topics which have been sent to the chairman can be discussed.
      8. VOTING
         We suggest each country got 2 votes; 1 vote per Rep or 2 votes per Rep if there is just one Rep. A vote is won on a majority of 50% of the votes. The chairman has casting vote if “yes” and “no” is equal.
      9. EVALUATION MEETING
         Report of the reps meeting
         A report has to be made during the meeting itself so that the reps have the decisions written down at the end of the meeting. The person who has taken the minutes makes sure that such a report is available at the end of the meeting.
   2. THE PARTICIPANTS PROGRAMME
      The following points considering the ‘informal’ part of the meeting should not be seen as guidelines, but more as points to consider when organising this programme. One member of the organising committee is responsible for the participants programme.workshops & excursions
      ELASA being a organisation for landscape architecture students, it is obvious that the workshops and excursions should deal with topics related to this profession.

      
      

      
      

      
      

      
      

      evening programme
      It would be nice to get a taste of the culture of the country we’re visiting and to have other activities relating to this.

      information point / meeting point
      It would be very useful to have an information point, where you can find all the relevant information concerning the meeting (the programme, times, changes in the programme etc.). This could also be a place where people can exchange information themselves; for instance people who are looking for accommodation in another country, info about workshops etc.: a newsletter during the meeting!

      24h-a-day-place for reflection / refreshment
      This needs no comment.

   3. THE EXHIBITION
      One member of the organising committee is responsible for the exhibition.The Catalogue
      The participants bringing their work need to make a short written explanation about the projects exhibited. This to inform the people at the meeting itself but also to be printed in the catalogue (chapter in the Yearbook).
3. AFTER THE MEETING.
   The Swiss have made a handbook during and after the meeting in Rapperswil, in which a lot of useful information is written down about their experiences concerning the organisation of the meeting. We suggest this handbook will be updated by the organising committee every year and handed over together with the info-centre, so this information can be used for each meeting.
4. AFTER ELASA?
   At this moment there are some ideas about life after ELASA… There seems to be a need for ELASA-dinosaurs to keep contact with each other and to be informed about ELASA after graduating. This group has no name yet but is refered to as Old-ELASA until now. Contact person is Simon Lisney from the UK.

Procedure

These Guidelines are a result of a proposal made in January ’94 and revised at the 94-meeting in Norway.
The Guidelines should be open for discussion!

De groeten,
Abe Veenstra