I opened my last President's Report saying that I wasn't sure quite where to start. I confess I'm struggling with the same problem this time around too, but under different circumstances. The challenge is that there's so much going on at the National level·and in so many areas.

I'm not going to try and prioritise what we're doing, indeed each of you will have your own opinions about what's important and what's not. I think the key thing is that I talk about what we're doing and a little about why we're doing it.

I said in my last report that we were well underway with the redrafting of the constitution. This work is now almost complete and ready for the States' approvals. The new constitution is not only designed to be more streamlined than our current document, it's also designed to give AGDA greater operational flexibility.

In tandem with the work being done on the constitution, the National Council is also working on a new organisational structure that will provide the foundations for the Association to move forward towards having its own permanent office which will include a fulltime, paid Chief Executive and the appropriate support staff. Inevitably, funding such a move is a challenge for a not for profit organisation but we're working on that too. We don't yet know when we might be in a position to complete this exercise but we're certainly hoping it will be within the next two years. There's absolutely no doubt that having our own fulltime Head Office will transform AGDA and I'm really excited about the organisation's future once it's in place.

As I said, we're also working on revenue generation and although there's a lot to do in this area, we're already planning a range of initiatives that are all going to offer specific and real benefits to us as members.

A new and major project just about to get underway is the redesign of our web site which most of you will agree is probably overdue. Robert Black and Andrew Lam Po Tang are setting up what will be an all-purpose, handy-dandy, do-it-yourself content management system that'll be able to take us to the moon and back and change our lives forever.

Other important projects include a review of our free pitching document. Free pitching continues to haunt us all·and I suspect it probably always will. However, we need to make sure we're in the strongest position possible to be able help any member who bumps into clients who still insist it's the only way to go·and sadly there are still plenty of them.

Added to all this, as you'll be aware, we're now well on our way towards our 8th National Awards, being held this year in our nation's sunny capital, Canberra and thanks to Simon Mundy at Peptolab, entries can now be registered and paid on-line·plus we've started the planning for our next National Conference which will be held in Noosa again next year.

I think that's pretty much it for now in terms of the key items we're focused on. In closing, I'd like to thank David Pidgeon, Ken Cato and the team at AGIdeas o6 for the collaboration that led to the recent national George Hardie lecture tour. It was a great success with George winning the hearts and minds of everyone who attended. I would also like to thank all the sponsors who helped make sure it could happen the way it did.

The National Council is meeting in Adelaide at the end of July, our last meeting before the State and National elections and AGMs in October. If you'd like to get involved with what we're doing, our AGMs are an excellent opportunity to stand up and be counted·and thinking about it now gives you plenty of time to work out what your contribution might be. For AGDA to be the organisation we want it to be, we have to care enough to want to make a difference. AGDA is no more and no less than the life and energy we all breathe into it.

I'll see you all in Canberra.