2025 AGM Meeting Minutes

Presentation

by Tania Laughton

Rationale

One of the main purposes of the Membership Committee is to support and engage with ATI members. It works on expanding and communicating membership benefits, as well as creating social connections among the members.

 The purpose of the International Committee is to ensure that ATI members of all nationalities and languages can participate fully in all ATI activities and business. This also falls under membership benefits.

 For the past couple of years, MC and IC have been working together in organizing meetings with all of ATI's country groups to deepen connection to members, to provide updates on what’s happening in ATI, to share how ATI is working to promote and support its members, and to hear members' desires for ATI. Together, both committees are in communication with the country liaisons and meet with them twice a year. The two committees have been collaborating together so closely that they are overlapping. Practically speaking, it would be more efficient if we cut down on doubling up the work that two separate committees create: having double the meetings, two Communique reports, finding two Chairs and enough volunteers for two committees, etc.

 This is wonderful news! We have become a truly international organization and having two separate committees has become superfluous.

 The current procedures are listed below. Reminder that the procedures can be changed by the committee, and can be updated as ATI grows.

Text from Relevant ATI Policies and Procedures

 VIII. Committees

Presented by Tania Laughton and Rosa Luisa Rossi

Proposal

The International and Membership Committees merge into one committee.

Rationale

For the past couple of years, the two committees have been supporting each other, working together, and collaborating together so much that they are overlapping. All the projects of both committees will be part of the merged committee. As a pilot project for this year, the two committees acted in unison as one committee and all projects were completed.

Purpose of the New Merged Committee

• To maintain and grow a vibrant international membership.
• Tasks/Projects of the New Merged Committee:
• Membership Renewals - In collaboration with the office
• Languages and Translations - In collaboration with the office
• Country Group and Country Liaison Meetings
• Organize and host 6 country group meetings a year (All members are invited to their respective country group meeting)
• Organize and host two Country Liaison meetings a year
• When needed, find volunteers to be a Country Liaison
• Explain the Country Liaison Guidelines to new Country Liaisons
•  International Workshop Grants
• To support and stimulate local ATI communities to work together
• To support the organization of workshops in countries where ATI is less well-established
• To encourage local or less-well known ATI teachers to give more workshops
• To provide financial assistance for AT workshops occurring outside the USA or in languages other than English.
• Awareness Week
• In collaboration with the office
• Helps promote AT, ATI, and members
• Social Hour
• Various times a year, in different time zones
• To help members from around the world connect with each other

New Merged Committee Members:

• Chair: Rosa Luisa Rossi (Switzerland)
• Members:
•  Ainesh Madan (India)
•  Kanae Tsuneki (Japan)
• Kirika Rotermund-Nakamura (Germany)
• Malané Hofmeye-Burger (South Africa)
• Maria Weiss (Germany)
• Country Liaisons are also part of the merged committee. Moving forward there is a hope that there will always be representation from more than one country.

Member Statistics:

• 50-55% of Members are from the US.
• 45% of Members are from around the world.

The Good News:

Both Committees have evolved from their original purpose. A lot of what the Membership Committee has been working on the past couple of years is creating projects that bring the international community together and the International Committee has worked on projects that are considered membership benefits. The international community is participating more and more. We have truly evolved into a global community.

Additional information from Rosa Luisa – IC Chair

• ATI Membership Committee (MC)
• Committee Purpose and Overview: The Membership Committee works on supporting and engaging with ATI members. It collaborates with the ATI Office on annual membership renewal, along with maintaining and growing the membership of ATI. The Membership Committee also works on expanding and communicating member benefits, as well as creating social connections among the members.

• ATI Policies & Procedures for MC
• Purpose:
• To increase the membership of ATI
• Tasks:
• prepares materials to inform potential members of our goals and objectives
• solicits membership applications
• welcomes new members into the ATI community
• contacts lapsed members to encourage membership renewal
• sets up a monitoring system to track the reasons members join or leave ATI
• produces periodic reports to the board and membership on member feedback
• considers issues affecting membership and makes appropriate proposals.

• ATI Policies & Procedures for IC
•  Purpose:
• The purpose of the International Committee is to ensure that ATI members of all nationalities and languages can participate fully in all ATI activities and business.
• Tasks:
•  reflects on, develops, and implements ways to involve and include all members, especially non-English speaking ones, in all of the activities of ATI in an on-going way
• plans and prepares workshops on international themes for Annual Conference and General Meeting (ACGM)
• responds to questions from other committees, the board, or members about international matters
• encourages contributions to ATI publications from members in all countries
• collects grant applications for international workshops.

• ATI Bylaws VIII. COMMITTEES
• VIII.1. ATI has Standing Committees to do the ongoing work of maintaining ATI and its mission.
• VIII.2. Members at an Annual General Meeting may create a Standing Committee to perform ongoing tasks for ATI and will define that committee’s duties and responsibilities. Members at an Annual General Meeting may also dissolve a Standing Committee.
• VIII.3. Each committee, except the Nominations Committee, shall have a Board liaisons.
• VIII.4. Each committee may determine its internal structure and decision-making process for itself.
• VIII.5. Any ATI member may join any committee, with the exception of Ethics Advisory, whose members must all be teaching members and all elected by the membership. 

• Having separate MC & IC greatly increased the number of meetings required and made it more complicated to coordinate efforts
• Why are we proposing to name the merged committee the “Membership Committee”?
•  The name of our organization is “Alexander Technique International” - the international part is in the very name
•  In naming the committee, we don’t need to create additional redundancy

• Rosa Luisa is fully motivated to lead the merged committee.

Clarifying Questions

• Question to clarify that the name of the merged committee would be the “Membership Committee”.
• Answer: yes. There may be a concern that the name is not listed in the proposal. We can bring this up in the “concerns” section of the process 

Level III Discussion: Resolving Concerns

• Concerns brought up last week have been grouped, as follows, and were addressed in the presentation that Tania and Rosa Luisa just gave us
• Concern about maintaining IC status and work
• Concern about lack of clarity of the tasks of the combined committees
• Concern that the merge could minimize the role of the MC
• Other concerns include concern about regulating membership of a committee, and concern that it would be inefficient to maintain 2 separate committees
• Concern that the name of the merged committee isn’t listed in the proposal

• Clarifying question: if this proposal is adopted, what happens to the concerns? Is there a record of them and this process? Answer: if the proposed resolutions to the concerns resolves the issues, then the concerns are recorded in the meeting notes, but aren’t attached to the adopted proposal. If the proposed resolutions don’t resolve the concerns, any remaining concerns need to be brought forward. If someone stands aside, that is noted with the adopted proposal, but we aren’t yet at that point.
• Concern that the motivation to merge the 2 committees is coming from the specific circumstances that we don’t currently have enough members for the MC. Response clarified that the merger is not proposed because of lack of volunteers, but rather, the committees have already been acting as a single committee, and keeping them separate imposes administrative burdens. If there were more volunteers on the MC, it would be even more cumbersome to maintain 2 separate committees.
• The concern remains, because as part of the presentation, a lack of members on the MC was listed as one of the rationales for the merger
• After further discussion, this concern was withdrawn.

• Comment on natural evolution of ATI. At the founding of the organization, everyone intended for the organization to be international in nature. At a certain point in our history, we needed a separate committee to foster this part of our mission. However, at this point in our history, we are in a different place, and no longer need a separate committee. Our membership is international.
• Concern: people who haven’t served on ATI committees don’t have a sense of how much work it is. There is a potential to burn out member volunteers. Any way that we can become more efficient makes us stronger
• Concern about not adopting this proposal. The present 2 committee structure seems to imply that US membership is the norm and residence outside the US is something other, requiring a separate committee. Even the name “International Committee” doesn’t make sense - to someone living in Japan, the US is international. It is much more in keeping with our values to have one unified committee.
• To resolve a stated concern: Suggestion that we add to the proposal that the name of the merged committee will be the “Membership Committee”. The proposal now reads: “The International and Membership Committees merge into one committee, which will be named Membership Committee.”

Consensus reached- the proposal is adopted

Policy Revision Discussion

1. The Call for Nominations is required to be sent out 3 months (90 days) in advance of the Annual Conference and General Meeting.

 Current ATI Policy:

“Opens nominations at least ninety days prior to preparing the ballot;”

 Nomination Committee proposes the following policy revision:

The Call for Nominations be sent out 75 days in advance of the Annual General Meeting.

 2. Policies require that Nominations present the ballot results within 2 weeks of ballot date closure and prior to the Annual Conference and General Meeting. The policy requiring notifications prior to the Annual Conference and General Meeting should be deleted.

 Current ATI Policy:

“Communicates the ballot results to candidates within two weeks of the ballot date closure and prior to the Annual Conference and General Meeting.”

1. If a person has been on the ballot and they are attending the AGM, they will find out if they have been elected. If they are not attending, they will find out when the whole membership is notified. Is that the intention?
   1. Answer: I send emails to everyone who has been elected congratulating them and letting them know that they have been elected. However, that is not required.
2. Is there anything in the procedures about notifying people if they have won an election?
1. Answer: Not currently. Procedures can be altered by whoever is on the Nominations Committee according to needs of the moment. It becomes difficult to change if we put things into policy.
3. The current policy reads “Opens nominations at least 90 days . . .” The new policy deletes the “at least”. Why?
   1. Answer: for brevity. The Board Secretary will need to revise the Policies and Procedures if this policy is adopted

Policies and Procedures concerns:

• The policies and procedures manual is instructions for the next committee. Concerned that procedures will not be carried through to the new chair. It's essential to notify candidates of election results prior to general announcement so they can take on the work.
• Concern that we are making our policies too rigid. We need to adapt to changing conditions. We could be hamstringing ourselves. Policies could actually be procedures allowing greater flexibility.
• We may not be in compliance with bylaws and they may have to be changed. Bylaws refer to board only. Clarifying that we are free regarding committee member elections
• Does the bylaws schedule currently have a ballot timing (clarifying question) 

• Regarding the concern that, if the AGM is held before the conference, we could have a situation where, for example, the Site Committee chair position turns over shortly before the conference.
• The relevant section of our Bylaws is as follows:
• “IV.5.1. Terms will begin on the fourth Monday of October, or at the close of business of the Annual General Meeting at which election results were announced, whichever is later. Each term will continue until the close of business of the second Annual General Meeting after the beginning of that term, or until the fourth Monday of October of that year, whichever is later.” This is part of section IV of the Bylaws, relating to Board positions
• So if the AGM happens before the conference, that wouldn’t be a problem - the board/committee chair positions wouldn’t turn over until the end of October. We don’t do business at the conference, so it won’t be a bylaws issue if the conference is held at another time of year
• The Board would take these issues into consideration when setting the dates for the AGM and conference
• Bylaws only refer to Board members, not committee chairs and the changeover for committee chairs could be at a different date, determined by Policies and Procedures.
• We could resolve this issue by approving a separate proposal specifying that we never have the conference after the AGM.
• This topic is really outside the purview of this particular proposal.
• Suggestion to resolve this issue by adding to the current proposal a statement that newly elected positions will become effective after the AGM or Conference, whichever is later in the fiscal year.
• Concern about this proposed resolution: We cannot change a bylaw at this time. If we wanted to make this change, we would have to submit a separate proposal, with advance notice to the membership.
• Since the start and end of committee chair terms is not specified in the bylaws, we could add to the current proposal: “Newly elected committee positions will become effective after the AGM or Conference, whichever is later in the fiscal year.” This would not be a bylaws issue.
• The Policies and Procedures document discusses elections for board, committee chair, and EAC positions in section X
• Suggestion to resolve this issue by adopting it with an attached unresolved concern about when new committee chairs assume their roles. This issue will be resolved through an update to the Policies and Procedures document.

Consensus reached to adopt the following proposal:

Revised Nominations Committee Policy Revision Proposal

Part 1: The Call for Nominations be sent out at least 75 days in advance of the Annual General Meeting.

 Part 2: Electronic Voting results will be tallied and reported before the close of the Annual General Meeting. Nominations Committee will send a notification of election results to Board and Committee Chair candidates. A subsequent report detailing election results will be available to all Members following the Annual General Meeting.

 This proposal was consented to with the following unresolved concern about when chairs take over, as stated in Policies and Procedures (Section X.A). The Policies and Procedures Manual needs to address the concern that newly elected committee chairs might be expected to assume their roles prematurely for a Conference should the Conference occur after the AGM.

• Agenda Planner: Jennifer Mackerras, Catherine Kettrick

• Notetaker: Rachel Prabhakar
• Meeting Intentions: Harold Rivas
• Facilitator Part 1: Liz Talbert
• Facilitator P1 Asst: Diana Bradley
• Facilitator Part 2: Catherine Kettrick
• Doorkeeper: Debi Adams
• Public Scribe 1: Sara Goldstein
• Public Scribe 2: Judith Saxton
• Peacekeeper: Robin Gilmore
• Advocate: Renee Jackson
• Tech Advocate: Kelsey Gomez-Morrissey
• Language Advocate: Rosa Luisa Rossi
• FC Advocate: Cathy Madden Part 1
• Becoming Community Light & Lively 1: Cathy Madden
• Light & Lively 2: Judith Saxton
• Light & Lively 3: Sara Goldstein
• Timekeeper: Amy Hack

Nominations Committee Proposal

Presentation, clarifying questions, level I and level II discussions - see section earlier in this document.

Board Report with Q & A: Co-chairs Gaby Minnes Brandes and Renee Jackson

• Values: 1. Inclusion 2. Kindness 3. Respect 4. Honesty 5. Integrity 6. Curiosity 7. Flexibility (33 people responded)
• All respondents agreed that they shared the values listed
• In response to the question: “Is this a value you want ATI to embody?”, 30 people responded yes. 2 responded no to kindness, and 1 to honesty
• Question 3 asked, “Do you have concerns about how we described these values?” Responses were as follows: 

• After the meeting, there was a breakout room to discuss the poll. If people have further concerns about how values were defined, please email Catherine Kettrick.
• Question 4 asked: “Any values you want to add?” Responses as follows:
• Collaboration or participation, collective
• Rigor: we seek to embody and practice our values and the principles of the AT to the best of our abilities, with a hope of making deep connections and discovering new insights.
• Balance: this may fall under flexibility, but the need to discern & balance vs. blurting “Honesty”. It may be honest to say something, but it isn't necessary to be hurtful.
• Seeing “Inclusion” in the list, I am wondering about “Diversity” and “Equity”. I’m curious why they aren’t included. Include AT principles like “psycho-physical unity”/”wholeness” and “inhibition”?
• Add the value of Commitment/perseverance
• Excellence: in the teaching and practice of the work/principles of FMA
• Ethical conduct as part of Integrity
• Could we add open-mindedness to flexibility?
• Patience
• Efficiency. We value people’s time and strive to respect the use of it.
• As feedback to Kindness, we also practice kindness by our actions to others and ourselves
• I recommend having a look at the Adlerian definition of respect, central to equality, inclusion. Includes respect for self and others
• The poll will be revised and sent out again next year.

Membership Committee Update: Membership renewal process

• To renew with early bird dues rates, please renew by Jan 12, 2026
• Context: by March 15, 2025 we had 100 members who had not yet renewed. With help from Ashley Adams and the International Committee, we contacted those members individually. Many of them had forgotten to renew their membership.
• ATI is working to set up automatic renewals, so that people can opt in to have their membership automatically renew.

Day 3 Meeting Evalutions

 Seeing Each Other

Meeting Adjourned

• Agenda Planner: Jennifer Mackerras, Marilou Chacey
• Notetaker: Rachel Prabhakar (from the recordings)
• Meeting Intentions: Rosa Luisa Rossi
•  Facilitator Part 1: Manuelle Borgel
• Facilitator P1 Asst: Diana Bradley
• Facilitator Part 2: Gaby Minnes Brandes
• Doorkeeper: Debi Adams
• Public Scribe 1:
• Part 1: Judith Saxton
• Part 2: Belinda Mello
• Public Scribe 2: Sara Goldstein
• Peacekeeper: Belinda Mello
• Advocate: Sara Goldstein
• Teach Advocate: Kelsey Gomez-Morrissey
• Language Advocate: Rosa Luisa Rossi
• FC Advocate: Cathy Madden
• Light & Lively, hello: Renee Jackson
• Light & Lively 1: Morgan Brunketurner
• Light & Lively 2: Tania Laughton
• Timekeeper: David Mills

• A glitch in the electronic voting system resulted in votes for Morgan Brunketurner being lost. Request to elect Morgan by consensus at this meeting.
• Clarifying question: why not redo the election? Answer: it is time consuming, and hard to get people to respond. Furthermore, we need to complete our elections by the end of this AGM
• Suggestion: vote for Morgan during this meeting, rather than use formal consensus, since other positions are elected through a vote. Resolution: a poll will be made available now, for people present at this meeting to vote
• The Nominations Committee is happy to report the following candidates were elected:
• Board Co-Chair - Jilla Roberts, 1st term, 1st year
• Board Secretary - Joy Lamberton Arcolano, 1st term, 1st year 
• Executive Director #2 - Sara Goldstein, 1st term, 1st year
• Executive Director #3 - Judith Saxton, 1st term, 1st year
• Communications Committee Chair: Harold Rivas, 1st term, 1st year
• Membership Committee Chair: Rosa Luisa Rossi, 1st term, 1st year
• Certification Coordinating Committee Co-Chair: Belinda Mello, 1st term, 1st year
• Continuing Education Committee, Chair: Petrea Warneck, 1st term, 1st year
• Professional Development Committee Chair: Eric S. Kildow, 1st term, 1st year
• Ethics Advisory Committee - Member: Harry Hobbs, 1st term, 1st year
• Formal Consensus Planning Committee Co-Chairs: currently unfilled
• Nominations Committee Co-Chair: Morgan Brunketurner, 1st term, 1st year
• Site Committee Chair: Teresa Lee, 2nd term, 1st year

• Thanks to all the brave people who did new things!
• Thank you again to APC for all the work behind the scenes, and to Kelsey for all the extra work on the slides. For everybody caring so much about our organization. Great to see FC process.
• Could we have the awards during the business meetings? Volunteers who work so hard should be acknowledged
• Noticed that the captions during this meeting got worse when we speak too quickly. Translation shows up at a delay, so we need to pause more often.
• Bravo to everyone! A lot of work and a lot to get done. Special shout out to Kelsey for getting time off to spend Sat. morning with us. And Marilou, you are a great tutor! Join APC!
• Having been at many meetings, grateful that we can pass two proposals in one year! We are maturing!
• Old guard - and to all who show up all the time. Thank you for doing the work, being willing and picking up slack and everything you do.
• Considering that Sunday morning is sacred time for some members: Can we consider Friday and Saturday instead?
• Astonishment and pleasure at all the new tools that are available to us (poll and vote). Excited to see new and young names coming into chair positions.
• Appreciation for having the meeting intentions and everything read in languages other than English. Appreciation of the experience of Manuelle facilitating in French, so that more of us can experience what it's like to use captions.
• Could we change time for one of the weekends so members in Asia have more time to attend?
• Thank you to Tanya for preparing the Membership and International Committee merger proposal.
• These meetings "fill my batteries to the top." Fully ready to take on responsibilities.
• Helpful to post links to documents we are discussing. It may not be easy for everyone to move back and forth between tabs, so it was very helpful to see them on screen share - thank you.
• Thank you from the board co-chair as she completes her term.
• Saturday mornings are sacred for some as well.
• ATI is over 30 years old. It is very moving to experience the commitment people have given to ATI. Appreciation for Manuelle's leadership. Marveling at the sustained level of commitment from our members.
• Acknowledging benefit of being able to voice concerns. They strengthen the outcome in this process. Not a criticism, no need to be defended.