2013 GA in Vienna, day #2

Yesterday was Day #2 of the FSFE GA in Vienna. After a short night of sleep, we again began the day around 10.00am. The German chapter of FSFE had their own official General Assembly earlier.

This second part of the GA was more focused on the usual, formal stuff. Review of annual reports (executive report, legal activities report, fellowship report… and soon a campaigning report) and Q&A about the reports.

We also planned out the focus for the next 6-8 months. One important detail for FSFE is that not much is going to be achieved on the side of public policy. With ongoing preparations and campaigning at the European Commission and at the European Parliament, everyone has the coming 2014 elections in mind. There isn’t much to do then for our public policy team. (Although that means it’s time for everybody else to get active on the Ask Your Candidates Campaigns.)

One important focus for 2014 is what we talked about on day #1, our strategy as a whole. Where is FSFE going, and more importantly, where should we go. Major organisational work within the organisation is expected. We’ll see more about that in the future.

We’ll have some minor constitutional changes, including typos (look for “enagagements” instead of engagements in the current copy!)

And last but not least, Karsten has been reconducted in another term as President (his 3rd mandate). Matthias Kirschner is now the Vice-President, as Henrik stepped down to pursue other challenges. Reinhard has been unanimously elected Financial Officer, for another mandate (how many does it make? 5?), because he’s excellent at doing it ☺

2013 GA in Vienna

Hello! I’m writing this currently sitting in Metalab, Vienna’s finest Hackerspace, featuring 3d printers, laser-cutting-graving machine, club mate, an authentic phone booth, and a lot of discussions ☺

Looking around me right now, I can spot 6 different nationalities:

  • Austrian
  • Estonian
  • Belarusian
  • Italian
  • Slovenian
  • German

It’s the first time of the day I’m taking a small break on my own, managed my email, and now writing this. [In the process of writing, Heiki and Andrew popped in].

This day, we met and started at 9:30. And we basically all day worked on the strategy of FSFE. Where are we going? What is our core mission? What do we want to achieve? It’s sometimes good to lay back and take a wider look at what’s going on. What difference are we making?

This process is ongoing of course, and will take time. But I’m confident that we have some of the most interesting melting pot of brains and cultures here to fix and handle the situation!

What do you think?