Good Evening IMAT members, sponsors, friends, Board and staff: Welcome to IMAT's 2001 Annual General meeting. A special Thank you to Now Magazine Lounge management for providing this hip and comfortable venue for our AGM. I am Kren Clausen, IMAT President elected last year for a 2 year term and I am pleased to give to you tonight, my address on the "year 2001 in review", the "year ahead 2002" and my "Presidents Vision Statement".

I wish to begin the evening by first acknowledging and expressing appreciation to the IMAT Board, Staff, Executive Committee, Treasurer, Alliance partners and Sponsors for a year of great results and growth. The IMAT staff and management of the IMAT organization are premised on empowerment. These hard working and committed individuals carry out the day to day activities of IMAT with responsibility and accountability for the great successes achieved this past year.

Please stand so the audience may see you. IMAT Staff: Aurel Langlois - Executive Director, Jerry Orban - Program Director, Isabelle Henard - Administrative Assistance. IMAT Board of Directors: Norbert Fortener, Bill Stratus, Myles Kesten, Bruce Cole, John Richardson. IMAT Treasurer, Bob Gold, IMAT Executive Committee: Aurel Langlois - Executive Director, Dianne Bickers, Vice President of Membership, John Cowie - Vice President of SIGS, Norm Mackinon - Vice President of Education.

I am pleased top acknowledge and thank IMAT Alliance Partners & Sponsors: Marketing Magazine, Adobe, Cycore, ForeFront Graphics, Apple, Silicon Graphics, HRDC, The Canada Roadshow, DLL Communications, Pearson PTR Canada, Ontario Media Development Corp., and Internet World.

I will proceed now to deliver to you our "year 2001 in review", followed by our "year ahead 2002". and followed by my "IMAT President's Vision statement".

Year 2001 in review

The 2001 year has been a year of change for IMAT. IMAT at this time last year was operating on a self sustained operating model for the first full year in a long time. This means the revenues that were derived were in fact primarily from membership sales, sponsorship sales, and special event sales. There is small amount of revenues which were booked the beginning of the operating year which came about from a government program that IMAT was contracted with from the year prior.

Certain changes were made this past year in order to better manage the expenses that were to be paid from the revenues, as we entered this past operating year with no government programs contracted ahead of us. For instance IMAT renegotiated certain operating costs such as rent, and supplier costs, and IMAT managed very carefully its membership renewals, new membership sales, and kicked off this past year with a newly created sponsorship package. The results are that membership has grown and sponsorship partnership revenues has reached a record year with every indication that growth will continue in the new year despite the current economy. The reason for this is quite simply that IMAT delivers a great return on investment (ROI) to its sponsorship partners and provides IMAT sponsors with real results in assistance to the marketing and growth of their business or organization.

IMAT has anchored itself through a management philosophy which has been empowered from myself at the President level right though to our Executive, Staff, Board and Volunteer levels on three solid anchor chains. Chain 1. INTEGRITY, Chain 2 PERSERVERANCE, Chain 3 ENDURANCE.

Integrity in all that we do and with whom we work with. Perseverance for all mandates, tasks, projects, goals and milestones - no matter how big the hills are to climb. Endurance in all commitments that we make internally and externally of IMAT, which means "Quitters never win" and "winners never quit". Through these 3 Anchor chains, IMAT has established operations with public sector government departments at all levels (municipal, provincial, national and international). The anchor at each of these anchor chains is "professional development" on both business issues and business needs, and in technical and creative production applications.

1. Increased Sponsorship partnerships
2. Increased membership growth in students, individuals, corporate individuals and corporate categories
3. Expanded business, relationship building, networking and marketing opportunities for its members
4. Established International Promotion and Export services for its members
5. Professional development through continued learning at both IMAT BizTraks and IMAT SIGs which are produced and delivered 2 to 3 times each month at Metro Hall.

IMAT has a value proposition for each of its member categories where professional development is at the forefront whether it is technical, business, or export. For $100 a year, where else can you get this level of learning, new business relationship development and stay current and up to date with the pulse of the interactive industry.

You may have seen that we are focusing on the encouragement of exporting content production services through International co-production arrangements or through fee for services. Canadian New Media producers and creators have an opportunity far beyond the 49th parallel and which can take you to the other side of the globe - where in fact in some countries, English is the primary language. Such tax credit programs as Telefilm and OMDC provide incentives for Canadian and Foriegn producers to work together.

To this end, IMAT has lead, participated in, and/or exhibited at the following events this past year in promotion of our association and its members -- Incoming Trade delegations in new media from Belgium, Korea, Germany, England, USA. IMAT went out to France (Cannes Film festival with a booth sponsorship), California at the Seybold Conference Trade show in San Francisco, Singapore at CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia as part of the Canadian Government delegation and locally at HOT DOCS Film Festival, Bell Habitat at Canadian Films Studies Centre, Montreal Film festival, Toronto Film Festival, Banff TV Festival.

IMAT is encouraging new media production opportunities in various vertical markets, and the markets we have centered on this past year has been TV and Film. Next year we will add new vertical markets which will include mobile telecommunications with the ability now for mobile multimedia.

Year ahead 2002

I am pleased to announce new alliances and government programs will continue into 2002 for IMAT which will augment its revenues in addition to the revenues of membership and sponsorship sales.

1. OMDC Ontario Media Development Corp.
2. HRDC,
3. Ontarget and we will continue to build upon our recently launched subsidiary named for which we are partners with SMART Toronto and Multimediator.
4. The launching of the new IMAT web site for virtual services to our members, sponsors and partners locally and abroad. Jerry Orban will give you a presentation in a few minutes on this.

In effort to further build infrastructure for business growth of our members, I am pleased to announce for the first time, that very recently IMAT has established an official Association Alliance relationship with the Toronto Board of Trade Association and the World Trade Centers Association.

As an IMAT member you will receive a reduced membership fee in these two joint associations by approximately 35%, and you will have full benefits to all the local and international opportunities and learning seminars provided by these two associations. IMAT will bring value to Board of Trade Toronto (BOT), and World Trade Centre (WTC) through our instinctive knowledge base of the interactive industry. With over 9000 members at BOT and WTC, IMAT members have a unique and special door open for business development and business growth opportunities as these members may in fact be potential clients at some point down the road.

Our new Export learning series in the New Year will be a particularly useful area for existing members and it will also attract new members. IMAT is planning now for exhibiting at the Seybold Communications Trade Show during February in New York City which will help IMAT members in working with clients and other production firms there.

IMAT President's Vision Statement

The need which exists now for the interactive industry is that of fostering industry convergence. This is necessary at all levels of government, municipal, provincial, national and international Example Europe. It is also very much needed for industry at large in co-operation with government. We have in Canada a variety of Government incentives such as PEMD (federal), SR & ED (R&D tax Credits), EDC (export dev Corp. Export Receivables insurance up to 90%, Provincial tax credits for labour and Federal Tax credits for producers.

In order to really excel and optimize the assets in Canada of the Digital Media profession, government is there to support us providing that we as industry will lead. Leadership is the core message I am making here, for which IMAT has taken a role with government departments and with industry.

Government must understand not just our digital media industry but the physical and the subtleties of the interactive profession, marketplace and culture.

Some time ago, we were asked as IMAT by Government to consider to consolidate our activities with other associations in some fashion or another, and provide a "one-voice". This is I believe is "A CRING OUT" by government officials saying "help us understand". We don't understand all you different associations,and the different mandates that you have. You all seem to be in the same the same space. Well that is right. We are in the same space, that is the same industry but as all industry and consumer associations, each association stands for something as we have a mandate and purpose.

Toronto will always have a multitude of associations and cluster basically because of the urban complexity of our city across a great frontage of water. Our urban sprawl grows north, south, east and west. Associations are based on community which is both industry centric and neighbourhood driven. Leadership to the interactive industry is the primary focus of IMAT for the New Year ahead and we have set out to deliver our new projects and lead by example.

1. Professional development growth
2. Lobbying at government levels to serve the needs of our industry Convergence
3. Trade and Growth -- To assist and our members and industry to not just think out of the box but to operate out of the box beyond the borders of GTA, Ontario, and beyond the border of Canada. To take advantage of co-production agreements and product distribution opportunities in tandem with co-production relationships.