by Joanne Ferguson Cavanaugh

At the SI General Assembly (GA) held in Dijon, France in October, Shyla Esko Bare from Washington and I served on the Secretariat Team.  We kept track of the meeting motions, amendments, decisions, and editing the final minutes. Our duty was to keep track of the Event and Decision made from the minutes that Shyla recorded. Moderator in training on the floor in green Aditya Divya Singh from India.

This year the General Assembly had representatives from 46 countries who participated in person and virtually. Our US representative was US Board Chair Tim Sullivan from Iowa. The General Assembly Moderator was Pramod Kumar (India) assisted by Dr. Hamsa Singh, (India) and Pamela Yang (Taiwan).  Several youth moderators-in-training from around the world assisted.  Mary Lee Behar from North Carolina was on the translation team which enabled any participant wearing a headset to hear translations from Spanish and French. The General Assembly took place over two days with the last morning to approve the minutes so action can be taken on decisions made.

TOP - The author’s view from the 5-person Secretariat desk looking out at the General Assembly. Opposite - Secretariat recording team from behind looking out at the General Assembly: From L-R:  Maggie, Joanne, Salvador, Shyla, Helene.

At the end of the 2^nd day our team gathered to make sure the minutes were accurate for the vote to approve the next morning. This photo does not include everyone who worked on the team. The people are: Back L-R:  Joanne Ferguson Cavanaugh (USA), Pramod Kumar (India), Hamsa Singh (India), Salvador Matta (Brazil), Jonny Saganger (SI Secretary-Sweden), Maggie Ntambi (Uganda), Hélène Périn (France). Front L-R: Pamela Yang (Taiwan), Shyla Esco-Bare (USA), Aditya Divya (Singh-Inda)