The President’s Report at the 2023 AGM began with a review of the PAA Organisational Strategy and the projects that have taken place under each pillar.
Work on Natural Therapies Review has continued throughout the year. Thanks to Dr Penny Latey for all the work she has done on the Expert Advisory Panel.
Pilates Science website: I was advised by Enja Schenck that she was shutting down her website on Pilates research. Several people/groups lobbied to take it over, however, she agreed to pass it to us.
She had been manually entering information. It has now been set up with a database which allows more advanced search facilities. Some additional research has been added but still needs more work. The website also has a Facebook page with 2000 followers and is continually growing.
Quite a bit of work was done in the lead up to the APMA’a closure, including holding discussion groups with APMA members where they could ask questions of the PAA.
Whilst we were saddened by the winding up of the APMA , together we will be stronger. I welcome Susie Bond & Donna Oliver to the committee.
We have also been building relationships with media outlets to help get our message out regarding the need for clients to attend classes run by well qualified instructors.
Our primary responsibility as an association is to represent our members. This has meant a rethink about our relationship with Pilates training providers.
The relationship between the PAA & the training providers is extremely important as this is where developing quality instructors begins. The option to hold membership as a training provider has been removed, however we still include the training providers who meet our criteria on our website for potential students.
Whilst we want to increase member numbers, it is also important to keep our current members happy & to ensure that they get good value from the PAA.
Meredith Brooks has done quite a lot of work looking at the quantifiable & non-quantifiable components of your membership. She will cover this in her presentation.
We have sought ways to leverage our strength & expertise. We have been running very affordable mat classes for members only. These have been managed by Eve Fairbairn who has now sadly left our committee. I would like to thank her for her great work on this front.
There has been an increase in member numbers due to APMA members joining the PAA which has also bolstered our number in Victoria.
We have increased our membership numbers from 667 to 936 in the last year which is an excellent improvement.
We are about to trial a lead magnet to attract more members.
A new Mentoring project is in the pipeline for members – thank you to Donna Oliver who brings expertise from the excellent mentoring project run by the APMA. Listen out for more on this project in coming months.
Earlier this year we held our first review of membership fees in over three years. Thank you to Meredith Brooks for her work on this & to the committee for their input. There has been a positive response from members.
New constitution to be voted on later today. Thank you to Mary McArthur & Karen Goh for all their work on this.
We would like to thank Stan Barnes who helped us out of a difficult situation a number of years ago with our member management system. By mutual agreement, he would like to concentrate his efforts on Bookings Essential. We have been researching a replacement system and we are very excited to have found a solution & have just signed a contract with the new system provider.
As part of moving across to the new system, we will also be revamping our website. Thanks to Meredith Brooks & Karen Goh for driving this.
Managing stakeholder focus is a new item identified by Meredith Brooks. We have identified the 3 key stakeholders, allocated resources to these & have started our planning.
More info to come.
Recognising the work and dedication of the Committee and staff
I would like to recognise the contribution of Committee members who have stepped down during the past year: Narelle Forbes, Andree Lupton, Simmone Czer-Pratsky & Eve Fairbairn.
My heartfelt thanks to the entire committee who take time out of their busy personal & professional lives to work for free for our members.
And a huge thank you to our staff Sharan, Kerry & Natalie who put their heart & soul into the PAA.
Bruce Hildebrand who is the powerhouse behind the PAA Podcast – We’re now up to series 7, which has 22 episodes of interviews with conference presenters. Special thanks to Bruce who has done an amazing job. Like so much of what we all do, the work that goes into producing a podcast is tens of time more than the final recording that we all get to hear & enjoy.
Also a big thanks to Daniela Di Fabio who has brought very interesting interviewees to the table such as Vicki Attard from the Australian Ballet.
Thank you Daniela for also writing articles & agreeing to pretty much anything that is asked of her.
Simmone Czer-Pratsky for her work on providing invaluable documentation regarding the NDIS.
Honouring the work of Dr. Penny Latey
We extend a very special thank you to Dr. Penny Latey for
- Working on Natural Therapies Review Expert Advisory Panel
- Rewriting of the scope of practice for professional Pilates instructors
- Development of standards of practice
- Dealing with issues around Circular 69/18
Penny received an honoured member award for her service to Pilates and the PAA.
Vote on the new PAA Constitution*
The new PAA Constitution has been updated:
- Based on the NSW Fair Trading Model constitution for Associations
- Minor changes to wording & definitions
- Modernisation for doing more things digitally
- More clarity around processes
The new constitution is based on the NSW model because we are incorporated in NSW but we have checked constitutions for other states & territories to find the best wording.
We have kept some things that are not in the model, e.g. having a 9 year limit on term on committee.
Changes to Associate Membership Category
For some time we have had a category for Associate Members, who had voting rights. We have decided to split this into 2 subgroups:
Affiliate members – will not have voting rights. This is intended for people with an interest in Pilates but are not eligible for a teacher/instructor membership. We did not believe it was appropriate for these people to have voting rights.
Studio Owners – someone who owns a studio who is not an instructor, should be able to vote and nominate people for the committee, etc.
Change of Name for the Organisation
The most important change in voting for a new constitution is to our name. We are keeping the acronym PAA but recommending Pilates Association Australia.
This is intended to convey the joining of the two associations & to be clearer about who we are.
Incoming Committee
There were no need for elections as we had the correct number of nominations for the available roles.
Welcome to Susie Bond as Vice President.
Welcome back to Lisa Jackson who has previously served on the committee & will be taking over the role of Education Chair.
A big thank you to Chris Lavelle for her nine years on the committee including taking on the role of VP & Education Chair.
And a big thank you to all of our members. Without your support we would not exist.
Robyn Rix
President
* The motion to accept changes to the PAA Constitution, including changing the name to Pilates Association Australia, was later carried unanimously.
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