Grehan Slams SEMPO - "Cash Grabbing - Couldn't Care Less & Pompous"
Sma-na
Mike Grehan has slammed DUMPO and Babera Coll in particular, DUMPO's chief idiot in the threadlink above after Threadwatch first reported on a telephone conversation between newly formed SMA-NA director Ian McAnerin and Bulshy Babs.
"The vision of SEMPO is to be involved in the industry, not in the members necessarily."
Not only does that vindicate the many comments I've made about SEMPO not giving a damn about its members, it just goes to show how out of touch these people are with the industry. Or hasn't Barbara Coll yet noticed that the members ARE the industry.
And as if the members hadn't been belittled enough by this hugely arrogant organisation, mainly made from micro-firms like Barbara Coll's own, I should add, she then goes on to say:
"I don't think the regional SMA groups are going to focus on the industry, they seem to be about making sure the members are getting benefits."
No, Ms Coll, the SMA movement is about making sure they have THEIR say in the industry. It's about the way the industry develops and probably even ways they can protect themselves from cash grabbing, self appointed couldn't-care-less organisations like SEMPO.
It infuriates me to hear someone, who's own company employs less then three full time people (as far as I'm aware), talking down her nose about how she represents "the industry" and about "the members" as if we lived in a leper colony.
The threadwatch post over the weekend caused quite a stir, it seems that many blogs suddenly discovered Ians new blog all at the same time and reported on the story after threadwatch, fancy that eh? hehe...
Barbera, you're an idiot of the highest calibre and your reputation is in tatters, give it up with good grace for heavens sake and save us all the agony of watching DUMPO die a slow and painful death.
ooops, where are my manners? Thanks Gurtie!
About Time
Where was all this insight and condemnation when SEMPO was first forming and several people stated then that SEMPO was nothing more than a power grab?
Many people were sceptical about SEMPO becoming the industry 'voice". I was definitely one of them. Many of the people that were vehemently defending SEMPO then have now left the organization. Some are now attacking SEMPO openly.
I've never liked SEMPO or its leadership, but I think a war of words between the two organizations (SMA and SEMPO) will only hurt the industry. Any truly professional organization can achieve its goals without getting into a fray with other industry orgs. The politics of this industry get in the way of quite a bit of good intentions and ideas.
I haven't seen enough from SMA yet to form an opinion either way. I've seen far too much from SEMPO to say anything nice.
Personally, I have decided no
Personally, I have decided not to focus on SEMPO any more or make comments about what they do. I will focus my time and energy on making the best of SMA along with all th good people that supports it.
I very much agree that a war between the two, or other, organisations, will not help the industry or anyone within it.
I did support SEMPO to start out with, just as I supported just about any attemp there has ever been of forming a solid industry organisation. However, in my believe SEMPO has failed just as the others did (of which, some did in fact not go far beyond the initial "founding members" picture :))
Thats just how I am: I usually believe the best in people until they proven wrong to me.
The difference to me between the other attempts and SMA is that I have chosen to take a strong personal stake in the project by accepting to lead the working group towards the formation of SMA-EU. This time I will actively do my best to make sure we get the strong industry organisation so many of us want - and are still looking for. I will not just lean back and hope others make the kind of organisation I want.
However, no matter how much work I put into it I can only hope to influence the coming members. Unlike other organisations I don't have any special rights just because I took the initiative in the first place, or because I was elected to be president of the working group - eveyrthing is up to the members. I do hope I CAN indeed influence things and push it in the right direction - but I need your help. So, I very much hope that you will all get involved and make this a good organisation.
>>I have decided not to focus
>I have decided not to focus on SEMPO any more or make comments about what they do. I will focus my time and energy on making the best of SMA along with all th good people that supports it.
GOOD
Can people please get back to making $ on the www.
>> Can people please get back
> Can people please get back to making $ on the www.
Hey, that's how the whole SEMPO thing started...
Sorry, Mr.M but I couldn't resist an opportunity that wide open.
Contact Info and SMA update
Hi all - sorry I've been absent.
We are in the process of setting up the website, and once it's up there will be a place where people who are interested can show their intention to support the organization. This has 3 reasons, first, it gives us a list of people to contact once we actually have the org formed, second, it's a good measure of whether or not the idea is popular, and third, it's a great opportunity to get feedback on what potential members want :)
Some of us from the different SMA's got together this morning and had a conference call just to sort out some multinational issues. the one problem with regional systems is that you want to all be on the same page, especially with things like website design, etc. Right now it's pretty informal but I expect there will be a "mothership" organization at some point, probably after all the regions get set up, just to deal with issues that are bigger than one region.
Nick has mentioned that he's getting IM's about how to contact us. I was really hoping to have the email set up by now, but in the meantime you can send an email to me directly at ianATmcanerinDOTcom and I'll try to get it to the right person. Please remember that it would be our preference to have an sma-na.org address in use instead.
Also remember that Mike Grehan is handling PR for the SMA in general. I expect you'll be hearing from him shortly. Otherwise, I'd love to hear from people who want to contribute either as members or simply wanting clarification.
Ian