13-15 April, Prague, Czech Republic

After many virtual meetings via Skype, the board members finally had the possibility to see each other in person. We met on Friday morning at the YEE head office in the eco-centre Toulcův dvůr. It was really warm welcome after quite a long time and we were really happy to be again together in a different way than using Skype. However, there was no time to spare, a very rush weekend was ahead of us.

During the last Annual Meeting, the General Assembly had decided to conduct the internal audit this year and two auditors had been elected. The internal audit will take place in June, the executive board and the office have to ensure that all the necessary documents will be provided to the auditors. On Friday, our task was to finish guidelines for our internal audit and to decide what we should prepare and who will take responsibility for it.

The main point of the meeting was planning the Annual Meeting for 2012. Time is running very fast, the next Annual Meeting will take place in July at eco-centre Oucmanice (Czech Republic) and the duty of the board members is to prepare everything that is needed to ensure smooth progress of the Annual Meeting. We dealt with an application form for the participants, with the agenda of Annual Meeting and with planning a special event - a presentation of the YEE history which will be organized during the Annual Meeting. This extraordinary event was proposed by Dr. Čeřovský, the honourable member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the aim is to connect the YEE past with the present in order to better face the future. A lot of 'environmental VIP's' will attend the presentation and one of the results should be plan for the celebration of YEE 30th anniversary. Dr. Čeřovský visited us in the office on Saturday and we appointed a preparatory committee for the event.

We dealt with many other smaller tasks. We discussed the possible changes in YEE Newsletter and the website, examined the budget for this year and checked whether it is possible to minimize our expenses. We finished the advertisement for a new Secretary General, because Adriana will leave in summer. We will miss her because we really appreciate her work and we are grateful to her a lot. However, we are aware that changes are important part of our lives and also most of us - the board members - will leave in summer too, to make way for other young people who wish to be part of the YEE organisation. The new board members will have the chance to move YEE forward and to make their ideas come true.

Although YEE is still changing and moving, it is necessary to have direction. The last point of the agenda of the board meeting was discussion about the future of YEE, what should be our long term vision. It was truly intense and lively discussion with various opinions discussed. In the future, YEE can become any shape we would like it to be. So it is up to us - and up to you, to decide what kind of organization we should be. The discussion about the future of YEE and long term strategy will be one of the main points of the Annual Meeting.

All the weekend was intensive and exhausting - and at the same time, it was enriching and enhancing. On Sunday evening we said goodbye to each other and we left, looking forward to our next meeting in person at the eco-centre Oucmanice. And we hope to see you there too!

Tomáš Protivínský
YEE Publications and Promotion Officer