Friday July 10, 2020, starting at 9:00 AM Central European Summer Time (CEST), the IOF will conduct its 30th Ordinary General Assembly. For the first time the biennial meeting will be held in a virtual environment, with delegates participating in the meeting proceedings, commenting and voting on proposals and in elections using digital tools.
Conducting the meeting digitally has lead to record participation by IOF members. As of July 1, 48 members had registered their delegates for the meeting. Including the IOF Council and speakers the total number of registered delegates is 131. In comparison, the previous General Assemblies in Sweden in 2016 attracted 74 attendees from 40 countries and the Czech Republic in 2018 had 76 attendees from 35 countries.
– Holding the General Assembly digitally is allowing more delegates from more member countries to have a voice about the future direction of international orienteering, notes IOF Secretary General/CEO Tom Hollowell. – We have discussed the possibility of having digital presence at our assemblies previously but various constraints have stopped us. Sometimes you need that extra push to make changes happen and in this case the Corona virus (Covid-19) situation came along and motivated the change. Let’s wait to evaluate the results and feedback after the meeting, but this makes a lot of sense financially and for sustainability reasons, and also as a way to improve member service and engagement.
In addition to the opportunity for increasing participation among member delegates, the General Assembly proceedings will be broadcast live allowing anyone who would like to observe the meeting as a guest to do so. For information about how to access the General Assembly proceedings please see the instructions provided by our meeting partner Lumi .
All background materials for the General Assembly can be found at the General assembly 2020 page.