This has been a very exciting year for our small group. We are 
              still one of the longest running GS groups in the world, particularly 
              regarding our ongoing seminars and membership. 
            We have witnessed the wedding preparations of two of our most exciting 
              and vibrant members, the 50th birthday and BIG BIRTHDAY hip’n happening 
              party of our esteemed President, and the 92nd Birthday of our revered 
              founder Laurie Cox, this month. 
            New Members We have also been fortunate to have an explosion 
              in new membership through enquiries via the website. Thanks to the 
              follow-up work from Robert and Laurie in organising meetings in 
              Melbourne with our new members, Earl Livings and Tom Valcanis, they 
              have joined AGS and may form a Melbourne Australian General Semantics 
              Group. 
            Robert and Laurie have also had several meetings with Peter, Daniel 
              and Deborah from Newcastle (in May and yesterday), who learnt about 
              our group via the website and Robert is working at getting Daniel 
              Fogarty to be an AGS contact person in Newcastle. 
            UN NGO Conference and AGS Inaugural National Conference In 
              order to nurture the Melbourne group along, we decided to hold our 
              first National Conference in Melbourne, at the Initiatives of Change 
              Centre. After some deliberation, the title of the conference was 
              determined to be “Living Well, through the effective use of language 
              in thought and action, with General Semantics.” I would like to 
              thank Robert for organising the venue, creating a fabulous brochure, 
              and worked out costings etc etc. I would also like to thank David 
              for his tireless work in liaising with the IGS and the United Nations 
              regarding the conference, organising participants, and submitting 
              our proposal to present a workshop entitled "Improve Your Thinking 
              Skills for Better Health" for their 63 DPI Non-Government Organisations 
              Conference. Unfortunately we were not given a spot to present the 
              workshop, so will just be attending as Delegates for IGS. 
            We trust the efforts involved in presenting the Conference may 
              result in an increase of our membership. Recruitment of new members 
              has always been a task that we have not had too much success at, 
              despite many hours deliberating and implementing ways to find and 
              attract new members. I would like to thank Robert for his many hours 
              of work maintaining and updating our website, particularly his interesting 
              summaries of the monthly seminars, which I think is an excellent 
              enticement to people who may be interested. The Website seems to 
              be the best ongoing form of advertising the group to people who 
              are likely to be interested, as they find it themselves, generally 
              through web searches. 
            I got some interest from several people at the NLP Course I just 
              participated in, so I will further follow that up over the next 
              few months. 
            October also beckons the auspicious 60th Birthday of our long term 
              and valued member, Jeanne James, which will no doubt include an 
              expanded meeting of the ACT AGS Group. 
            The Monthly Seminars in Sydney have now found a new and 
              spectacular venue in Bonnet Bay in Sydney’s south. October beckons 
              the first AGS wedding between the current President and our long 
              term Treasurer, Gavan (where did the calculator go!) Callaghan. 
            
            With all members of The Tuesday night group moving in the past 
              year, only 2 members have been meeting on Tuesday nights, with a 
              much more informal focus than in the past. 
            I would like to thank the members who have shared their expertise 
              and presented some very interesting Seminars over the year, particularly 
              Robert, David, Laurie and Dion. Needless to say, it is vital to 
              our group, and building and expanding our knowledge and application 
              of GS to have these generous and enthusiastic members put so much 
              of their time and effort into researching and presenting our monthly 
              seminars. 
            Topics covered in our Monthly Seminars in 2010:- 
              February - ”GS formulations as a system” How do we organise 
              our GS knowledge? Led by David 
              March - Sharing and TeachingGS, How to bring S&S to the masses Led 
              by Robert & Laurie 
              April - Non Violent Communication (NVC) -Led by David 
              May - ”Enemies of Science”- Alternative / Complementary Therapies 
              Led by Dion 
              June - Logical Fate and our premises - P1s /P2s Led by Pauline 
              July - Cause and effect formulations led by David, incorporating 
              time for 2010 AGM 
              August - "Here's Something About GS - A Primer for Making Sense 
              of Your World"- 
              ...The thoughtsof Steve Stockdale', former IGS Director, Led by 
              Robert 
              Fri 27 Sun 29 August - National Conference, Melbourne 
              October -The Four Horsemen of the Problem-Solving Apocalypse A day 
              on how we make errors, 
              ... what to do about it, and problem solving. Led by David 
              November - Scientific Method and Falsification Led by David 
              December 5th - Christmas party 
            Thank you also to David for continuing his work in being Public 
              Officer of AGS, and keeping us “legal”. 
              Thank you to Gav for his tireless work in keeping up with membership 
              dues, meeting fees etc in his work as Treasurer and chief chef and 
              host of the monthly seminars. 
            The AGS Library
              The AGS Library, kindly hosted by Gavan, has continued to grow 
              during the year, so don’t forget to have a peek at it when you are 
              on the way to the bathroom to see if there is anything of interest 
              to your studies. 
            The rest of 2010 and 2011 seems to be an exciting time of ongoing 
              individual learnings, and connection with the wider local and international 
              communites, particularly through the UN Conference, our Website, 
              and by participating in other groups that embrace ways of improving 
              our abilities to strengthen our grip on the map/territory formulation 
              etc. 
            I wish you all a fantastic year!! 
            Kind Regards,
              Pauline,
              AGS President 2010