Another year begins.

The start of a new year is a good time to look at the work that was accomplished over the past year. It is the right time to take stock, and this year will be no exception.

Once again, 2016 has been a busy year for the FCI Office –we owe it to the extensive activities of our members, of their breeders, of the exhibitors, etc. 2016 has been a year of major and remarkable events. A year during which our new premises have been brought to life as we organised a few receptions and hosted the meetings of several Committees or Commissions.

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Y. De Clercq
Executive Director
The paradox of hyperconnectivity

We may well be technologically hyperconnected, it seems every day brings us closer to a complete people-to-people disconnection. Let’s hope we can escape such disaster!

Nowadays, we’re just a click away from publishing about anything on an impressive range of platforms. One doesn’t really choose any longer who they share information with. We post contents –even sensible data, sometimes– on a sprawling platform, at the mercy of a potentially boundless (re-tweeting, sharing, etc.) and not necessarily identified audience. In terms of risk exposure, this amounts to leaving one’s baby in a station or airport concourse! What is the likelihood of a benevolent soul taking care of our child (of our data) without fail?

Besides –and that’s how contradictory things are–, finding the pieces of information that really matter to us is slowly turning into a most uncertain process – and that’s when the nanny cannot find the baby she should be looking after in the vast lobby!

But what on earth does the whole thing have to do with our Federation?
To extend the metaphor, the FCI is a nanny entrusted with the key-task of showcasing its members, and it has hard time gathering information it would, still, be happy to circulate within the sizeable worldwide community of –if I can put it that way– the people bitten by the dog-addiction bug.

The Secretariat General of the FCI has reliable tools available (website, on-line newsletter, Annual report, Facebook page) for promoting the members’ activities, incentives and projects, yet it would be desirable the Federation be provided with all the information required for setting up promotional campaigns. It is disappointing to note that it isn’t (always) so. While it is true that our headquarters in Thuin handle huge volumes of data they strive to share with the Federation’s members, the informational potential of our various organs is regrettably far from reaching us.

Who has a key role to play in the communication process within our institution?
What information (amongst others) are we struggling to gather in order to try and be as comprehensive as possible? Here are a few examples of data that should be spontaneously supplied to the FCI
By our members, the national canine organisations (under the responsibility of the NCOs’ respective Presidents or Administrative Managers):

  • any change in the presidency of a canine organisation (the NCO supplies an official document stating when the term of office begins and providing the new President’s full details and email address, etc.)
  • the name and full details of the person in charge of communication flows within the NCO; notify us of any change (departure, replacement, etc.)
  • the key events within the NCO (death of a judge or President, NCO’s anniversary, banners of the NCO-organised European or World shows + link to the websites dedicated to these events)
  • the yearly statistics (volume of registrations in the studbook, number of judges, etc.)

By the FCI Commissions’ (Presidents):

  • one annual activity report on the work of the Commission
  • the banners of the events (championships, trials, etc.) organised under the authority of the respective commissions + link to the websites dedicated to these events
  • an account of the events (championships, trials, etc.) organised under the authority of the respective commissions with photographs and lists of results

And what about the sense of belonging?
It is important that everyone –within the large community of workers and stakeholders involved in any way in the activities of the FCI and its members– participates actively so that our Federation takes its performance to the highest level.

By the way, there definitely is nothing stopping anybody from showing how proud they are of being part of this huge community! For the NCOs, this involves sporting its colours by displaying the FCI logo alongside their own on their websites, on the front cover of the NCO’s magazines, and on their Facebook pages, provided there is any. And showing them in big in all events organised under the authority of the NCO, itself under the patronage of the FCI of which it is a member. Being a member means a lot!

Sure, there’s room for improvement, but the FCI works pretty well!
A positive and constructive outlook on our activities can only be beneficial to our hobby. It would be good to start with emphasising things that work well more often: our Federation works, delivers projects and carries out lots of activities in the broader concert of no fewer than 92 countries, the FCI’s member countries. We’re connected across differences. Steered by rules we have vowed to respect, we go hand in hand towards commons goals and... it has proven effective for the last 106 years! This is cause for rejoicing: our achievements are outstanding for many reasons.

FCI : we belong !

Marie Luna Durán
FCI Marketing and Public Relations Manager