Newly elected COMMON board members, Bruce "Hoss" Collins, Trevor Perry, and Pete Massiello will face financial challenges guiding COMMON in the future. COMMON's current president, Randy Dufault, described the COMMON Board of Directors as taking "decisive actions" to ensure that the legacy of the 49 year-old organization continues, despite lagging meeting attendance and financial pressures.

The annual meeting and expo held in Reno, Nev., this week faced a drop in attendance from last year by about 48 percent, the group reported. The number of users and others who registered for the event numbered only 967, according to the COMMON staff. At the annual Meeting of the Members, Dufault explained how COMMON would manage budget deficits while sustaining member benefits and all program initiatives.

"Faced with tough choices, we prioritized what COMMON members value most in terms of education, advocacy, and community offerings, and looked elsewhere in the budget for savings," Dufault said. With fewer than 1,000 attendees and only 81 exhibiting companies, the country's weak economic environment has taken its toll on COMMON, as it has on many other associations.

As an example of what vendors and some presenters faced at the COMMON sessions, one director of product management for a mid-sized systems integration company, told MC Press Online that among the two presentations on system integration that he gave, only two attendees came to one and three showed up for the other. "I was able to give those who came some free consulting," he quipped. The company had a relatively large booth at the show, as did several other vendors, and those companies questioned whether the overall cost, including shipping and set-up, was worth the leads they obtained from a group that numbered less than 1,000.

Subsidies Eliminated 

To prevent long-term impacts on COMMON's education programs, certification initiatives, and ongoing programs, the COMMON Board will eliminate certain subsidies related to the annual meeting and volunteer benefits, Dufault said.  "We were able to come to consensus on budget items that were not essential to the quality of COMMON's programs," said Dufault.

COMMON's unprecedented rate of investment in volunteer costs over the years proved to be unsustainable under current market conditions, Dufault said. Over nearly five decades, the costs of many sponsored activities that became popular were absorbed by COMMON once sponsorships ended.  The result has been increasing overhead expenses. In aligning with other membership organizations, COMMON will return to its roots as a" truly volunteer organization," the group said in a statement. Current actions do not affect COMMON's Chicago based staff and will enable the organization to continue its member support and benefits, the statement said.

"Though not as many joined us here in Reno as we would have hoped, the energy here was tremendous and everyone here is completely engaged," Dufault told MC Press Online. "Members I've spoken to are telling me that this was the best COMMON Annual Meeting they've been to in a long time and that's what we wanted to deliver, even in light of the economic situation."

In lieu of attendance at COMMON this year, newly elected Board members are sure to be faced with difficult decisions for future upcoming events, integrating significant changes to survive financially in the stalled economy.

Board Election

In addition to Collins, who was re-elected, Perry and Massielo, who are new board members, Wayne Madden was named COMMON president, Jim Oberholtzer was named executive vice president, Dan Kimmel was made treasurer, and Massiello will serve as secretary.

About COMMON

COMMON is the world's largest users group of midrange IBM and IBM-compatible technology. The organization comprises more than 4,000 individual and corporate members. They represent more than 22,000 IT professionals involved with the IBM Power Systems (IBM i, AIX, Linux) and related solutions. For more information about COMMON, visit www.common.org.