Poll on future AGM’s, Award Ceremonies and Days of Celebration

After the 2023 Day of Celebration and Awards Ceremony in York, all SDC Members were sent a Poll re future AGM’s, Award Ceremonies and Days of Celebration.  These were sent on 20^th November 2023 (with a re-send to those who had not opened on 30^th November 2023) plus a reminder to all members on 15^th January 2024, noting the end of January deadline.

Whist the communication was opened by 613 in November and 274 in January, only 35 responses (6% of members who opened the emails) were received.

The above table shows that across the years approximately just under half of the 35 respondents attended the awards and the dinner.  There are always more attendees come to the dinner than the Awards, whereas the survey results are very slightly the other way around.  The proportion attending AGMs was slightly lower in the 31-43% range.

When asked which month was preferred for the events to take place it is clear there is quite a spread in preferences.  Whilst few (9%) preferred December, the preferred months were May and November (both with 43%).

The date of the AGM date is not entirely under the domain of the SDC as external Auditors need to examine the accounts after the prior year invoices have all been received, plus the Society’s Board need to approve and sign those accounts and annual report, plus they need to be circulated to members before the AGM. This means an AGM before May each year is an almost impossible task.  Whilst the accounts and report need to be submitted to the Charity Commission by the end of September each year, an AGM could take place later than September (although noting it would cover the prior year up to the December).

The responses to the month for the AGM indicated that May was the most preferred (and dates for the 2024 & 2025 AGMs have already been set as May dates), followed by a decline in preference over the UK summer months and only a slight rise in September and November.

Further to this only 17% of respondents considered awardees should receive their qualifications within 6 months of them being awarded, with 40% preferring the AGM on the same day as the Awards Ceremony and Celebration Dinner and only 17% preferring separate days.  With an AGM preferred month of May and Awards / Day of Celebration preferred months of May or November, this does seem a mixed message, although the overall response rate is low.

As to location for the AGM, Awards and Day of Celebration the highest preference (43%) was for York and 29% stated they had no preference.  In second place was the North of England (37%).

The comments in the poll (and before and after the poll via email) have been very varied.  Comments were made about hotel prices in York being high, for example, and this was attributed to the Christmas Markets being on at the time.  Others though commented the Christmas Markets being on were an added appeal of the timing and available activities.  York is also a very tourist orientated city and has events to draw visitors almost every weekend of the year, so avoidance of Christmas markets would mean holding the events on when another event was being held in York (the https://visityork.org/events website lists 335 York events in 2024 as of mid-February 2024)

The price of attending these events was also something members were polled on.  Only 9% stated the dinner was to expensive whilst 60% disagreed that the dinner was too expensive. Travel to the events was only seen as expensive by 20% whereas 49% did not see travel to the events as expensive.

The time to attend all 3 events in a single day was not seen as too much by 63% of respondents, whilst only % thought it was too much time for a 3-in-1 day event. Encouragingly, only 9% saw AGMs as not interesting, with 60% disagreeing they were not interesting.

No one saw the travel to the events as a challenge due to disabilities, although 3% did see the venues themselves as a challenge.  Interestingly 11% would attend if they had someone to come with – perhaps we need a buddy system for such attendees?  Of those who did not attend at any time it was in 1 in 4 cases due to other work/home demands (as opposed to a lack of desire to attend).

Conclusions

The outcome of the poll was never seen as all implementable in 2024, especially as the 2024 and 2025 AGM May dates are already set and venues etc need to be booked well ahead of time.

There appears to be a May and November preference for the months for the events of AGM, Awards Ceremony and Day of Celebration.  In 2024 if Awards were held before September, then there would be few if any awards to present, as results are released in late summer. Medal nominations are also low so a May Awards in 2024 would see few, if any, SDC Medals awarded at the current point in time. To migrate back to a May Awards Ceremony will require other changes such as Medal Nominations.

The venue of the Merchant Adventurer’s Hall in York received many favourable comments, although we need to consider the Hall is now being used at capacity for the evening Dinner, so a larger venue may be sought for the future.

Hotel costs were recognised as factor for many (and also felt by the Society itself).  Pre-booked reservations well ahead of time can assist and the SDC will look into making more of such available, but it is a post-pandemic fact that UK hotel prices have risen dramatically, even if that rise now seems to be abating.  The total cost of attendance is clearly something the SDC needs to bear in mind too, whilst balancing such costs with available other activities and sights for attendees.

Thank you to all those who did respond to the Poll.  More responses would have made the data more useful and we shall offer a similar Poll each year.  Comments and preferences will be considered as much as possible in planning the 2024 and future events, despite some views being overall disparate.