The following is the agenda for the CMWC '97 Open Forum. Last year, we started with no agenda, and spent most of the forum creating one, leaving little time to actually decide anything. This year, however, we're starting out on the right foot, with an agenda predetermined. Discussion and inquiry concerning the agenda are heartily encouraged among CMWC attendees prior to the forum; we regard such threshing out of individual opinions as essential for acheiving informed consent. That said, the following are the ideas to be covered in discussion - nothign here is predecided or set in stone - we are here to decide that at this meeting.
a. Convention/Festival/Community Event with a race at the core, as we have now?
b. Potential Olympic event (ie a "real" sport)?
c. Something else entirely?
Currently, the major sponsor of CMWC is us, the messengers, and as such, the event is primarily answerable to, and controlled by, us. The size and nature of the event will determine the level of sponsorship money we need, and that money may come packaged with a type of event and/or level of control they want in return. Big time sporting events cost enormous amounts of money, rendering entrance fees far less important in the scheme of things and leaving the sponsors to contribute the bulk of the needed money, almost undoubtedly leading us to search for large sponsors from outside the messenger community. Are we willing to surrender, even partially, control of the CMWC in order to increase its "credibility" as a sporting event?
IFBMA - International Federation of Bike Messenger Associations - proposed basic idea:
Decisions concerning CMWC, etc are taken at the local level by the members of the local BMA, by consensus, and communicated through the IFBMA to the rest of the BMAs. The IFBMA headquarters acts as an information hub, and levies membership dues of $20/year per individual to cover the costs of mailings and other communications. In return for dues, the individual IFBMA member gets a voice in the consensus (ie forums like this one), and therefore the CMWC/ECMC/NACMC decision-making process. The IFBMA could also be used as a platform from which to launch that ancient dream of a messenger guild/union.
Why do we need this type of body? Accountability, most basically - we've been confronted year after year with questions of why and how decisions came about, who or what decided them, and with what mandate. An IFBMA moots these questions by providing a firm working base for the decisions that need to be made in order for the event to exist and move forward. It also requires those who would have a voice in the decisions to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak - many of us are willing to complain about the decisions that are or were made, but what is needed are those of us willing to be held responsible for them.
Why dues? Because whether or not there's an IFBMA, we have expenses external to the CMWC event costs, which exist year-round, and typically come out of the pockets of individuals. The email list, web site and digest mailings all cost significant amounts of money to keep going. Year-round expenses like these aren't part of the budget for the event itself, and they have to be paid for somehow. They benefit all of us, and need a solid funding base.
When?
1 or 2 years in advance? Is 1 year enough lead time? Is 2 years overkill?
Where?
At forums like this? Through mailings or other pre/post-CMWC communication?
Closely linked to the "when?" question.
Who?
Assembled masses @ open forum? Some subset thereof? Redistribution hubs as representatives of their region/city? What is a quorum of the deciding body?
Also see item 2 above.
How?
By consensus at all levels? Representative voting?
As for CMWC, or different? Decision taken by Europeans/North Americans for their respective events?
a. Accomodation?
How much can/should we expect the host city to provide, and of what variety?
b. Type of races?
Should we standardize race format? Do we really want to work as a sanctioning body, developing the event as a sport?
c. Sponsors?
What level of sponsorship? What type of sponsors? How much say do we give them? Is there a right or a wrong type of sponsor? Timbuk2 wants to be available as a continuing sponsor - if we want them as such.
d. Time of the event?
Later in the year to reduce travel expenses? What of places in Northern or mountainous regions which might have trouble with a later event due to weather? Do we fix a date range, or just suggest one?
If we set criteria, how do we ensure that these criteria are met? How do we go about enforcement of rules we may choose to set?
The women racers need to determine how they would best like their race to be run; whether they are run as a separate race from the men, run together but ranked separately, given separate qualifying heats, etc. This could be considered a subset of 5b above, but has been the subject of enough controversy in the past that it requires separate discussion. What sort of mechanism this decision is taken by is not for us to determine, but one needs to be made, and a report to future organizers made.
The messengers@cycling.org e-mail list costs 100 pounds/year, which needs to be paid soon. Who pays costs like these, and those incurred by digest mailings and other communications? They benefit all of us, yet these costs are covered by individuals or steadily decreasing reserve funds. Ties in with item 2 above.