4C. Secretary report

Both in his opening statement here and in his incoming meeting opening the President has for the most part "stolen my thunder"

In 2016 the job of the Secretary has evolved into that of a facilitator - I deal with pretty much everything related to Voting Member Assembly meetings including registration of VMs (either in May following the calculation for the next year or through the year) and ensuring they have Forum access, The president looks after most communications with external agencies OTHER than FIDE (which of course is handled by the FIDE rep and is a major job in its own right).

Some of the major files for the coming year are:
- relations with external organizations notably the federal government and the Olympic Committee. (We're not where we want to be yet but have made progress in the past year)
- negotiations with the FQE on the renewal of the CFC - FQE agreement
- bidding on National championships
- improvements to member services and the website

As noted by the president membership is significantly up this year though still below previous peaks. To me this shows an increase in chess activity which is a victory given that with the online era there are so many more venues than just the CFC for people who want to play chess.

A very special thanks to all of you who have made this a challenging and interesting year and I hope for your confidence to allow me to serve you again in 2016-17

Lyle Craver, NTD, IA
Secretary, Chess Federation of Canada