Society for the History of Natural History AGM 2020
Society for the History of Natural History
Annual General Meeting 2020, 26 June 2020, 2.00pm
Dear Member,
You will all be aware of the seriousness of the Coronavirus outbreak and the impact this is having, and may continue to have, on all our lives. Society’s Council has thought carefully about how we should react to the spread of the virus and as a first step we cancelled meeting in person for the April Meeting of Council to avoid unnecessary travel and personal contacts.
A more difficult decision concerned our Annual Conference and AGM, planned for Cambridge in June. Aware that the outbreak and the restrictions it imposes were likely to continue for some time we took the decision to cancel the conference. This was especially disappointing as the response to the theme “Pioneering Naturalists: Champions of Conservation and Environmental Engagement” had been excellent. We will carry that theme, and Cambridge as the location, forward to a suitable date in 2021.
However, our obligations to the Charity Commission are such that it is imperative that we hold an Annual General Meeting this year. The April Council meeting was held very successfully on an online video conferencing platform. Council therefore agreed that we should hold a ‘Digital AGM’. I recognise that there are problems in holding a virtual meeting for many of you, especially those of you with no or poor internet connectivity or those furloughed or unable to get into work. I can only apologise if you find this meeting difficult to attend, or the documents impossible to access, but I know you will all recognise the problems we are currently facing. We will be sending out paper copies of the AGM papers to those members who we know do not have an email address.
This is unfamiliar territory for many of us, but I do hope you will be able to join us in the virtual environment on 26th June at 2pm.
To join the Digital AGM please note:
- The Agenda for the AGM, and all the supporting documents, are available on the Society’s website (https://shnh.org.uk/events/society-for-the-history-of-natural-history-agm-2020/agenda/). Please read these, or download them if your need to print them out.
- You will soon receive an email from our Meetings Secretary (Jo Hatton) inviting you to join up to an Eventbrite meeting. All you need to do is open the link in that email. On the Eventbrite page there is a ‘Join Event’ button. Please click on this and add in your current email address – this automatically adds you to the list of AGM delegates.
- The day before the meeting you will receive an email from our Host for the Zoom Meeting which will enable you to join the AGM Meeting. Clicking on the link in this email takes you into Zoom – you will have to download this software if you don’t already have it on your computer. If you already have Zoom you can simply open it and ask to ‘Join a Meeting’ and add in the code and password as sent by Felicity.
- Although there are some clever ways of signalling intent on Zoom, when we seek approval for any of the papers and elections we will simply ask you to raise your hand..
We look forward to a virtual meeting with you on June 29th.
Geoff Hancock
Secretary, Society for the History of Natural History
www.shnh.org.uk| @SHNHSocNatHist