The year has flown by and it’s time for another IAM Board election. Whether you’re a potential voter or board member, read on to learn more about the election and how you can be a part of it.
What is the IAM Board?
The IAM Board is composed of up to 10 representatives who bring the organisation forward by sharing its various responsibilities. The board members bring their own opinions and viewpoints to the table, and work on shaping and developing the IAM on behalf of its members and the memory community
From 2020, there will be 1 board member for each continental region of Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, as well as 5 open board seats regardless of continent, making it a total of 10 seats.
The upcoming election will determine the board members for a term of 2 years and 2 months, from 1st February 2020 to 31st March 2022 (in order to separate the election time from the WMC time).
Who can vote?
To be eligible to vote for the IAM Board, you must:
- be a member of IAM
- be at least 15 years old as at 15th January 2020
- have been active in the memory community in the 3 years prior to 15th January 2020, for example as an athlete, arbiter, or organizer. Participation in any online Memory League tournament or league season is sufficient to qualify as an active member of the memory community.
If you’re not an IAM member yet, you can register here. If you’re not sure whether you’re a member, please email us at elections@iam-memory.org and we’ll let you know.
Which region am I in?
As either a voter or a candidate, your continental region of Africa, America, Asia, Europe, or Oceania is based on your nationality, unless you have never competed before. In that case, your continental region is based on your current residence.
Who can run for the board?
To be a candidate for the IAM Board, you must:
- be a member of IAM
- be at least 20 years old as at 1st February, 2020
- not have a conflict of interest with the aims of IAM
Candidates may run for a continental board seat, or an open board seat, or both.
If you’re interested in running for the board, please read the detailed election rules in full, as well as reading the information below.
Why should I run for the board?
Joining the IAM Board means volunteering to dedicate a part of your time for the benefit of our organisation and community. Board members will be expected to dedicate at least one hour per week for board work, though there is no limit on the maximum contribution one wants to make. Along with that, it brings an opportunity for you to have a significant impact on the development of our organisation.
Being a board member of the IAM also means being close to people. As a board member you will be acting on behalf of the members of the organisation, and it will be important for you to understand their needs. As such you will have a unique opportunity, together with your fellow board members, to establish connections with members from the whole organisation. There will be a lot of ideas, new knowledge and a lot of inspiring moments, and all of these will help to make your term on the board memorable.
How do I apply?
To apply as a candidate for the IAM Board, submit a single document containing:
- your name
- a photo (optional)
- a statement indicating whether you want to run for a continental board seat, or an open board seat, or both
- a short bio
- a motivation statement
The bio allows you to briefly present who you are, both in your personal and professional life, as well as in the memory community. This doesn’t have to be much. A few sentences (up to 2 paragraphs) should be enough.
The motivation statement allows you to address the memory community and explain why you are applying to the IAM Board, what you would like to accomplish during your mandate and why members should vote for you.
The format of both the bio and motivation statement is completely up to you. However, each section should be no more than one page each (a maximum of 2 pages for the whole document), so be concise. Anything exceeding the limits will be cut off and not be presented.
When you have your application document ready, please send it to the election committee at elections@iam-memory.org with the subject “IAM Board Application“. We will then send you a confirmation that we have received your application.
The deadline to apply is the 21st of December 2019, at 23:59 GMT. We are not liable for any technical (or other) issues on your side. Once the application deadline passes, the election committee will publish all of the applications so that the IAM members and the memory community can consider them.
Public question round
In order to give the memory community a better chance to get to know you and what you represent, they will have the opportunity to ask you and the other candidates questions. The question round will be public, in the sense that all questions will be visible to anyone at all times. A question can be addressed to one or more specific candidates, or addressed to all candidates.
Once the deadline for the question round passes, the election committee will gather all the questions that have been asked and forward them to the candidates in private. The candidates will then have a few days to answer the questions in writing, and once finished, they should be sent back to the election committee. The election committee will then publish the candidates’ answers at the same time.
Although the candidates can see the questions at all times, they should not reply directly to them, but rather send their answers to the election committee within the time frame given to them. This way the candidates’ answers will not be influenced by what other candidates have written.
Voting round
The voting round will take place for seven days. Every IAM member who is eligible to vote will receive instructions for this at least 2 days prior to the beginning of the voting round. If you have not received an email about this (also check your spam folder), please contact the election committee at elections@iam-memory.org.
Voters will vote for each candidate contesting the board seat for their own continental region, and also for each candidate contesting an open board seat. Each voter has to vote “yes”, “no” or “abstain” for every candidate. Voters can vote “yes” for more than one candidate.
The candidates with the most “yes” votes are elected. If two candidates receive an equal number of “yes” votes, the one with fewer “no” votes shall prevail.
If there is only one candidate for a continental board seat, the candidate can gain a board seat if he/she has received “yes” votes from more than half of the registered voters of that continental region. “Abstain” counts as neither “yes” nor “no”.
Once the deadline for the voting round passes, the election committee will tally the votes and announce the results.
Election timeline
- 7th December 2019 – Announcement of election and timeline, call for candidates
- 21st December 2019 – Deadline for candidate applications
- 23rd December 2019 – Open public question round
- 28th December 2019 – Close public question round, questions sent to candidates
- 3rd January 2020 – Last day to register as an IAM member to be eligible to vote
- 5th January 2020 – Deadline for candidates to answer public questions
- 6th January 2020 – Candidates’ answers published, emails sent to eligible voters
- 8th January 2020 – Voting opens
- 15th January 2020 – Voting closes
- 16th January 2020 – Announcement of election results
All deadlines are up to 23:59 GMT on the specified date.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about the election process, or if you’re thinking about running for the board and want to discuss further what’s involved, feel free to email us at elections@iam-memory.org.
Or if you’ve already made up your mind to apply, we look forward to seeing your application soon!
Josh and Simon, Election Committee