I wasn’t aware until today that the IGDA sent out a Member Satisfaction Survey to members via email. If you’re a paying IGDA member, you should have gotten it on July 21st or some time around then. Definitely go back and check your email for the survey link. (I’d link it directly here, but I think it’s a unique URL per member and I don’t want to mess up their tracking.)

It’s vital that the IGDA hear member feedback wherever possible, and for that to happen, you as a member have to provide said feedback.

I noticed this morning that the Silicon Valley IGDA Chapter has worked out a sponsorship deal with a law firm which is providing four 30-minute pro bono consultation slots per month to members of the SV IGDA chapter. That’s a fantastic idea, and frankly one that I wish I’d thought of!

So kudos to Ann Burkett for securing a fantastic benefit for her local IGDA members, and for raising the bar for us all.

Active IGDA volunteer Corvus Elrod is spearheading an effort to get 10% of the IGDA voting membership (about 1400 people) to call a special meeting of the membership to vote on whether to remove Tim Langdell from the IGDA Board of Directors. Per the IGDA Bylaws, 10% of the membership can call a vote on, well, basically anything, including the removal of a Board member. Regardless of how you feel about the Tim Langdell issue, please remember that signing the petition means that you support the membership voting on the issue — you are not saying anything about the issue itself.

Corvus has a nice writeup of his motivation for calling the vote at his blog. The form to enter your signature is available here, and you’ll need your IGDA member number which you can get by logging in here.

I encourage you to sign, provided that you’re an IGDA member with voting rights (not a free forum member, and not a discounted student member).

The IGDA has just announced its new Executive Director: Joshua Caulfield. He’s held the position for a few weeks prior to this announcement, and I’ve had the pleasure of talking with him about the state of the IGDA, the organization’s direction, and other topics. I’ve got to say I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far. In particular, I now realize that bringing on someone with professional association management experience may in fact be just what the IGDA needs.

You can go see his introductory blog post at the new IGDA Staff Blog.