In my August Message I continued with my explanation of the various Standing Committees we have in the ITF and introduced to you the workings of the Development Committee.
In this November Message, I now have the pleasure of asking Master Paul McPhail to outline how his Committee operates; The Communication Committee. This is one of our most important committees in the ITF, as it helps keep the flow of information happening between the Board, our Instructors, and our members. This is mainly achieved through our website, and you will be interested to read the number of visitors we receive every day!
It has been a busy year for the ITF with much activity going on behind the scenes, and of course many International Instructors Courses (IIC) being conducted around the World. Next year’s calendar is already filling up, so National Associations are advised to get in very early with requests for IICs in the future.
On behalf of the Board I would like to thank all our members, and in particular our Instructors for their continued support and I look forward to seeing everyone in New Zealand for the World Championship in March 2011. Have a very Merry Christmas and stay safe.
Kind regards
Pablo Trajtenberg
Acting President
[email protected]
Special Report from: Communications Committee
Purpose:
To ensure the quality of communications, both internal and external.
Chair:
Master Peaul McPhail, New Zealand
Members:
Master Frank Vanbergen, Belgium
Mr. Gabby Abousleiman, Lebanon
The Communications Committee was re-appointed in Canada 2007. We have mainly been involved in providing opinions when called upon, in many cases by Grand Master Tran. We have been involved in various discussions and press releases on behalf of the ITF.
Mr Witold Brzozowski
ITF Webmaster
We were privileged to contribute an important role at the time of the tragic loss of Grand Master Tran earlier this year, notably arranging the press releases, website statements, and creating the memorial message site. These most difficult tasks were carried with the with the assistance of Dr Gauthier and Grand Master Bos, for which we expresses our sincere appreciation.
As Chairman, I also continued to monitor the ITF website. I also produced a document proposal for the development of the ITF website which was presented to the ITF Board for consideration in 2009.
The current website is maintained out of Poland by Mr Witold Brzozowski. Mr Brzozowski is 54 years old and has been a Taekwon-Do instructor since 1980. He has dedicated the last 15 years to support the Polish Association with their newspaper, and in 1995 began working on their national webpage. From 2004 he became the webmaster of the AETF site, then was appointed the ITF webmaster in 2005.
The ITF Website receives around 5000 unique visits to the site each day. This is a very healthy volume and in the future we will be looking at ways to maximize our advertising potential for the ITF, without it becoming intrusive.
In recent months I have been involved with the production of the next edition of the ITF Magazine “ITF Generation”. Mr Mark Banicevich of the Development Committee and I have taken on this task at the request of Grand Master Tratgenberg with the goal to provide a showcase publication for our organization. It has fourteen articles in two languages from authors all over the world and will be distributed to all ITF Plaque holders at the World Champs in March 2011.
For the future we propose the following initiatives:
- Increase the number of Communications Staff members. Following on from the contact we have had from the magazine authors, we plan to ask them to be more involved, in particular with website articles. We think that if we can have a committee member in each region around the world then we can appoint them to provide regular news for the ITF website, as well as providing new impetus to the committee.
- Re-design ITF Website. We have been discussing new ideas for some years now, so it is hoped the ITF will allocate the necessary funds so that we can utilize new technology such as “Web2”, where the members themselves drive much of the content.
- Encourage more website news and articles. We plan to work harder to obtain more regular regional news for the ITF website. Although we are receiving several updates each month, we would like this to be even more often. We would also like to take a more active role in monitoring the website in terms of the quality of articles.
- More consultation. We would like to see our committee being consulted more before important information is released to the members and the public. We recommend a review of the policy in this regard to streamline who has authority to make releases and when it must be passed via the Communications Committee.
Can I take this opportunity to invite everyone to New Zealand in March 2011 for the ITF World Championships. Our mission is for it to be the Best World Champs Ever. I hope you and your family will take this opportunity to visit our beautiful country, and witness what will be an amazing event.
Kind regards
Master Paul McPhail
Chairman ITF Communications Committee
