This post was first published in ICAI’s monthly bulletin the Global Buzz.

November has been a busy month for ICAI, and December will be busier.  We have been preparing for the three online regional gatherings and General Assembly scheduled for December – see below for further details, and please join us if you can!  Draft agendas were first circulated to members for consultation when the dates were announced in September, and revised drafts were circulated with further details this month.  Please ask for details if you are interested to join.

Also we have been busy following up the last few responses to the ICAI global membership survey that remain outstanding in advance of these meetings. We are grateful to the 34 ICA locations that have already responded, and are urging the last remaining locations to share their responses now.  Responses from the first 30 locations were circulated to members this month.  These suggest (among other things) that we have at least 152 full-time and 112 part-time employees worldwide, over 170 Board members and 251 ToP trainers; and that over 2,544 people were trained in 193 public ToP courses last year.  ToP training and group facilitation are the most common programme areas of ICAs (23 & 25 locations respectively) followed by education, leadership development and comunity development (20 locations each).

We have updated the global network email list according to the survey responses, and launched new ICAI groups on LinkedIn and Facebook as additional forums for discussion.  Working with the global communications team we have drafted a site map for a new, simpler & cleaner ICAI website to be developed next year.  Meanwhile the team has been working on the new December issue of ICAI’s Winds & Waves magazine.

The December regional gatherings & General Assembly are now only a couple of weeks away. Everyone with an involvement or interest in ICA worldwide is welcome and encouraged to attend and participate in the regional gatherings, so please join us if you can.  Voting at the GA will be restricted to one vote per statutory member ICA.  Please complete the doodle poll to see your own local times and to register for the meetings you plan to attend (scroll down for meeting aims):
·     Europe Africa – Mon 9 Dec 12 noon UK time
·     Americas – Tue 10 Dec 3pm UK time
·     Asia Pacific – Wed 11 Dec 10am UK time
·     General Assembly (GA) – Mon 16 Dec 12 noon UK time

Each meeting will last for up to 90 minutes, and each will be preceded by a pre-meeting 30 minutes in advance for orientation to the online meeting technology and for technical support.  The meetings will be held on Adbobe Connect, and log-in details will be circulated the week before.

Regional Gathering Aims
1. to connect ICAs and ICA colleagues with each other, and help to build & strengthen relationships between them
2. to share information and facilitate peer-to-peer support and collaboration among ICAs and ICA colleagues
3. to hold ICAI accountable to its members, and seek input & support to strengthen our global network and advance our global mission.

General Assembly Aims
1. to take ICAI membership decisions, including approval of Associate & Statutory memberships
2. to take ICAI strategy & policy decisions, to direct the work of the Board and to guide & support the peer-to-peer collaboration among ICAs
3. to hold the ICAI Board accountable to the membership, including by receipt of an annual audited finance report.