b'President\'s pieceASEG newsPresidents piecebetween the time of writing andnumbers over each webinar. Although publication, and Members aremedian attendance is around 50, encouraged to monitor their inbox assimilar to a better-attended technical the early-bird renewal period opensnight in WA, it is particularly interesting about a month earlier than previously. that there is no general correlation Pending normality, the ASEG willbetween webinar attendance continue to offer webinars to theand YouTube views. This suggests membership and a wider audiencethat, unlike technical nights and as a replacement for the technicalconferences, webinar presentations can meetings and as an effort to includetarget different time zones addressing the International Members thatan engaged and motivated Australian comprise roughly 15% of the ASEG.and international audience, especially These webinars may be viewed livewhen combined with promotion At the time of writing, Australia isor at leisure on the ASEGs YouTubethrough social media. Webinars are a about six months into the COVID-19channel, which was reviewed in depthcost-effective method of introducing pandemic. Electronic meetings haveby Ian James, our current webmaster,your work to a wide, and growing, become commonplace, replacingin the last issue of Preview. Figure 1motivated audience. Either the ASEGs physical meetings and associated travel.plots the number of views receivedPresident Elect, Kate Robertson Lockdowns have been imposed, thenby each webinar as a function of days(president-elect@aseg.org.au), the relaxed, then reimposed as localisedafter posting. For those undecided aspresident of your local state branch cases increase. We have not resumedto whether or not to present a webinar(*president@aseg.org.au where * is business as usual and, although thereor wait until a face-face meeting, Ione of act, nsw, vic, qld, sa, tas or wa), are encouraging signs, no clear datecan offer the following. Technicalor I would welcome inquiries about can be set as to when normality will bewebinars have been attended by apresenting a webinar.restored or what normality will look likelarge proportion of ASEG Members,By my count, that makes nine references when it is. mostly from Australia as expected, butto Members in this Presidents piece. In preparing this column, I could notwith significant representation fromAlthough around half as many as Steve help recalling a Microsoft ConferenceSouth Africa, India, USA, Canada andBallmers "developers", ASEG Members in which the then CEO, SteveNew Zealand. Videos subsequentlyare no less important, and, in any case, it Ballmer, opened his presentation byposted on the ASEGs YouTube channelwas never a competition.bouncing around the stage screaminggenerally acquire between one view "developers" at least 14 times in anevery two days and one view eachDavid Annettseffort to impress upon the audienceweek. As with pre-COVID technicalASEG Presidentthe target market of the Windows 2Knights, there is some variability withpresident@aseg.org.auoperating system that Microsoft was introducing at the event. Copies can be found on YouTube, and it remains an extreme example of the passion exhibited by a famously passionate individual. At its core, the ASEG is not about developers. The ASEG, as with this Presidents piece is fundamentally about Members.The COVID-19 pandemic forced a rethink of the strategy and planning day that immediately follows the AGM. In 2020, instead of devoting single day to planning over a number of topics, three longer more focussed sessions were held, and all covered aspects of the ASEG membership including structure, conditions, finances and education. Suzanne Haydon, our current Memberships Chair, has been central to focusing and orienting membership classesFigure 1.Views of ASEG webinars as a function of days after posting on the ASEGs YouTube Channel on and conditions for the future.12 September, 2020. Most webinars acquire an extra view every two - three days. There are a few exceptions. Several actions resulting from theseThe large number of views of webinars by Pradhan and Segura appears to be a function of promotion on discussions will be implementedsocial media networks.OCTOBER 2020 PREVIEW 2'