At the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) we recently amended our constitution to allow members to vote via our website. This change was the first step in an overall plan to increase our transparency, enhance our interaction with members, and reduce or eliminate any unnecessary work done by JALT staff and volunteers.

In the past, whenever we had one of our constitutionally mandated twice-yearly Ordinary General Meetings (OGMs) we had to ask JALT members to fill out a paper ballot, sign it, and then mail it to our administrative office. Not only did this process take a lot of effort and dedication by our members, but it also required our chapter officers to remind—if not cajole, plead, or beg!—members to send in the ballots by the deadline so that we could hold an official OGM. As you can imagine, it also took a lot of time for our staff at JALT Central Office to send individual email notifications to all members and then send follow-up reminders to those who had not yet turned in a ballot. Moreover, the process was expensive. Although the ballot printing cost was reasonable, and the ballots were sent out in conjunction with our regular bimonthly magazine mailing, we had to pay approximately USD$1.25 per post-paid envelope that we received.

Thus, once we learned that the Tokyo Metropolitan government would allow electronic ballots, we immediately made plans to ask members to approve the necessary amendments to the constitution so that we could avoid the trouble and expense of using paper ballots and ensure that we could easily meet the requirement of having a majority of the nearly 3,000 JALT members attend the OGM.

First, we consulted with the Tokyo NPO government office about the substantive and procedural requirements involved in making such a change to our constitution. Next, we asked our legal counsel to check the proposed amendments for any potential problems in getting approval from the NPO Office or the way we planned to implement the electronic voting system. Once everything seemed to be in place, we prepared what we hoped would be the last batch of paper ballots for an OGM, mailed them out, and began to receive the filled-in ballots from members. A few days before the OGM in November 2010, we received approval for the amendments from the required number of members. We thus were able to hold our OGM and pass the motions to amend the constitutions. Hooray!

We had hoped that, with all the consultation that we did before drafting the amendments, and all of our care in following the advice we received from the relevant agencies and consultants, the member-approved amendments would be swiftly approved by the NPO Office and we would be able to use electronic voting right away. However, it took more than a year for the changes to be approved by the Tokyo government. As it turned out, there were no problems with our amendments, but the NPO Office was very careful about the way the application documents were submitted and, once they were finally accepted for review, the amendments had to be scrutinized by several departments in turn before being finally approved. But because it took more than a year, we had to use paper ballots for the November 2011 OGM. Understandably, our members found it quite confusing to be asked to fill out a paper ballot again because they had approved online voting one year before.

Thus, the first time we were able to use online voting was for our June 2012 OGM. Our members greatly appreciated the chance to check the financial statements and other important reports online and the ability to vote on their approval with a couple of clicks on a web page.

Thus, the first step in our plan to transform JALT has been accomplished. To continue this effort, we are now planning to move to a web-based membership database and streamline our conference organization system. These projects promise to reduce the amount of administrative time our staff and volunteers need to devote to JALT work and increase the amount of benefits that JALT members receive from belonging to our language teaching organization.

Currently, only officers can log in to the JALT website and the only members-only content is thus material for officers, such as handbooks and minutes of Executive Board meetings. Our membership database is kept at JALT Central Office, and all updates to the database, such as registering new members and updating membership records, is done by our staff. Our plan is to integrate our membership database and our website so that all JALT members will be able to log in and view useful member-only resources, update their contact information, and interact deeply with other JALT members and JALT itself.

Similarly, we currently have a national conference management system that is largely managed offline. After we fully integrate the conference system with our website and membership database, much of the rote work our staff and volunteers do will be made obsolete. Also, we plan to adapt the new system for use by our chapters and SIGs to help them manage their events.

For example, almost all of our SIGs cooperate in holding an annual conference, Pan-SIG. The 2012 Pan-SIG conference attracted nearly 300 attendees. Although this was our largest Pan-SIG yet, it is now very clear that chapter and SIG organizers need to have basic access to the membership database for smoothly registering attendees, accepting payments, and generating name badges, at a minimum. Fortunately, our preliminary discussions with a software developer who is helping us create the specifications for our new system are very encouraging.

Looking back, we learned two lessons from the electronic ballot project that may seem obvious but are proving very useful as we apply them to our work on our new initiatives: (1) don’t be shy in getting expert advice in addition to relying on the expertise of members, and (2) plan for all contingencies, but still expect the unexpected.

Within a year I hope to report that we have a new membership database and management system that has transformed the way we serve our members and the way our volunteers spend the time and energy that they so generously dedicate to JALT.

Kevin Cleary moved to Japan from the United States in 1991 and is now associate professor of English in the International Exchange Center of Tokyo Medical and Dental University. At TMDU he supports international students and teaches ESP classes, primarily to graduate students. He has written 14 ESL textbooks, mostly on science-related topics, with various Japanese publishers. Before becoming JALT president in 2010, he served as treasurer and membership chair at the chapter level and director of treasury (2008–2010).