The Australian Sign & Graphics Association (ASGA) held it’s Annual General Meeting in Melbourne last Wednesday 29 April, with President Mick Harrold saying the association was in a strong position and looking forward to some exciting plans in the coming year.

The AGM was held at the Stamford Grand Hotel in Glenelg, Adelaide, following the Association’s National Executive Meeting and annual Strategy Planning session.

The executive was confirmed at the meeting, with all members re-elected unopposed. Mick Harrold, Visual Exposure VIC, returns as President with Damian Nielsen, INbrandigo QLD as Vice President and Membership & Events Manager, and Lisa Micalanny, Signageworld, retaining the position of Treasurer. They are joined on the National Executive by Wade French, Complete Projects WA and Marc Martello, from Comcut Group NSW.

Regional sub-committee members this year include Alan Peardon, North Metro TAFE – WA; Clay Wells, Bentleigh Group, VIC; Nigel Reid, Reid Signage Supplies and Charl Taylor, Ci-Advantage, QLD; Michael Palladino, Auto Artisan Group and Paul Richards, TAFE NSW, NSW; and David Fox, Icon Signs, Ian Widdop, Ecept and Julie Rochester, Sign Language SA, all from SA.

Reporting on the year, Mick told assembled members that it had been a very positive one for the Association.

“Overall, it has been an excellent year,” Mick said. “More than that, it has been an excellent five years for ASGA. We have taken significant steps forward each year, and the Association is now stronger, more stable, and providing more value to members than ever before.”

Achievements for the year have included:

• Strong Membership growth
• Successful Golf Day program and social events around the country
• A major revamp of the ASGA website to make it easier for Members and other visitors to navigate;
• Introducing a range of online calculators for Members;
• Adding to the range of legal, IR and WH&S documents, templates, checklists and other resources;
• Adding Classifieds and Businesses for Sale sections to the ASGA website;
• Contributing to future training initiatives through MISA and BuildSkills;

and, most recently

• Partnering with the International Sign Association (ISA) to offer reciprocal membership benefits to ASGA members.

Planning for the Association’s biennial Awards is also well advanced, with the competition already underway and the presentations planned for a Gala Dinner during Visual Impact in September.

“The Association has never provided higher levels of service or stronger support for its members and, in the year ahead, we will continue to build on this momentum,” Mick told the assembly.

“A key focus this year will be promoting the learning resources available through the ISA partnership, building opportunities for the future by supporting training initiatives and connecting apprentices with industry businesses, and exploring new projects involving AI. We are excited about the opportunities our future projects will create for members and for the industry as a whole.

“I look forward to the coming year and to continuing the work of building an even stronger industry association for the benefit of our members and the wider sign, graphics and visual communications sector.”

The night concluded with a ‘Meet Your National Executive’ event at the same venue.