Dear everyone,

I thought it was time I made an announcement on behalf of the new 15th AEC.

Firstly, I must start with a thank you. Thanks to everyone who voted in the elections and for voting in a good team. We have begun already, however, we’ve been a little quiet in the community. This is mostly my fault, I managed to spend my first three days as chair in hospital (no the shock of being chair again was not the reason!!) and then a week later I was back in hospital again. I am now feeling much better and ready to get the show off the ground.

Most of you know the team already, but let me introduce them anyway:

• Lou – she was on the previous AEC and is also Director of the Newsletter, Splash Pool Workshop Leader and Co-Director of Advocacy.
• Richard – A previous AEC chair, Co-Chair of the Chat Programme and Project Leader of the Neopoet Book Publishing Committee.
• Cat – Director of Advocacy and previous AEC committee member.
• Stan – an Advocate who has been on the last two previous AEC’s.

I am sure you’ll agree this is an experienced AEC. The change this term is that the duration of the AEC is 6 months.

We have already begun work on a six monthly agenda and the following have already been mentioned and are being considered:

• Mentor Programme to be launched
• Advocacy Role to be launched
• A daily posting limit
• Categories/tags to be added to posted work in the stream. The tags are to identify the type of poem and theme. E.g. Dark Poetry, Erotic, Humorous, Nature, Love etc.
• Review of AEC Guidelines
• A Random Button?...more to follow on that one later in the term
• Neopoet Book Publishing

This list is not exhaustive and are just a few of the ideas currently being suggested. I would ask everybody to please inform the AEC of any ideas and suggestions you may have that you would like included in our agenda. I appreciate our agenda may change throughout the term, but I do like my lists and goals to keep me focused, and my team busy!

A couple of announcements:

• Cat has now become the Director of Advocacy and Lou has stepped in to be the Co-Director. 
• Nichole has joined the Chat Team and is now Director of Moderators.

I know you'll all join me in wishing them the very best of luck with their new roles.

Recently there has been some unrest within the community regarding accusations and personal attacks towards certain members within our community. The AEC and the Trustees take a dim view of such actions and are keen to resolve any such issues swiftly and appropriately. If you are aware of any such actions going on within the community or have any information regarding such acts taking place, please inform the AEC or the Trustees immediately so we can act. Do not take any matters into your own hands. The AEC and the Trustees are here to serve and protect you the best we can.

I am pleased to see that Profile Themes have been introduced for premium members and appear to be well received.

I am hoping to announce the next AEC Chat Session soon.

Ok, that’s it for now,

Kind regards,

Dan (Chair)
Lou
Richard
Cat
Stan