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Issue 2013/03: WDSF Members and Presidium Meet for Open Discussions

:::: Barcelona Roundtable Discussions :::: Issue 08/04/2013

The WDSF Presidium acknowledges the fact that there is a need to have better communication between the Presidium and our members.

I am delighted to report to you of a meeting that the Managing Committee conducted on Saturday March 2nd in Barcelona.  This was the first of hopefully many "Open Discussions" and the following countries and persons were present:

 

Estonia

Ivo Kappet

Finland

Leena Liusvaara

Norway

Knut Westbye

Morten Engan

Switzerland

Marc Schaefer

Sweden

Per-Olof Larsson

England

David Corfiel

Mary Corfield

Germany

Heidi Estler

USA

Ken Richards

In order to assist in the conduct of the meeting, Lukas Hinder made an excellent proposal to have the Swiss President Marc Schaefer act as moderator rather than someone from the Presidium.  This proposal was overwhelmingly agreed to by the participants and this proved to be a wonderful mechanism that will assist the free and open dialogue.

The Managing Committee was represented by Lukas Hinder, Marco Sietas, Roland Hilfiker and myself.

During this meeting, Ken Richards was also present representing the USA and the WDSF Presidium.  

The most important issues which were discussed during the meeting included but was not restricted to the following matters:

IDO - WDSF

PROFESSIONAL DIVISION

TECHNIQUE BOOKS

RULES AND REGULATIONS

ELECTIONS AND DECISIONS OF AGM

ADJUDICATING AND LICENSES

EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND EUROPEAN GAMES

RELATIONS WDSF  - WDC

CHAMPIONSHIPS, GRANTING AND RANKING

SECURITY OF DATA INFORMATION

SUSPENSIONS POLICY AND THE FUTURE

MOTIONS FROM PRESIDIUM VERSUS MEMBERS

I believe that all the participants were impressed with the incredibly frank and open dialogue, the excellent atmosphere, and the professional behaviour of all concerned.


In this regard, I explained that the Swiss moderator asked all participants about their impressions of the meeting, and if everyone present was extremely satisfied with the result.  In answering his questions, I specifically mentioned what Leena Liusvaara from Finland stated in the name of practically all present:

"When I came to Barcelona I still was convinced, what I have heard from some persons that there is the Presidium and on the other side the members. Now, I realize that we can all work as one team and all are only one team in the same sense, that we all have the same understanding and that now I'm convinced that we are doing all together we can do things to achieve our best results for DanceSport. I can see that this is the way we are proceeding and that we all are one team."

Based on this assessment, I have no doubt that all the participants left the meeting on the Saturday evening very happy with the results achieved by this first “Open Meeting”.

The WDSF Managing Committee and Presidium look forward to conducting many more of these meetings worldwide.  The next Open Meeting will be held on Thursday 13th June just before the WDSF AGM in Shanghai. 

We look forward to seeing as many members as possible there to share, discuss, plan and build a common future for DanceSport and WDSF. 

Carlos Freitag

WDSF President