IARU Region 3 covers Southeast Asia (Japan, Korea, China, etc) and most of the pacific including Australia & New Zealand as well as India & Pakistan. ARRL is a member of Region 3 due to our FCC's administration over American Samoa and the Marshall Islands. Unlike Region 2, where ARRL is the largest and most dominant society, we play a small part in Region 3 with the Japan Amateur Radio League being the largest society here. As such, we are very active in Region 3 and participate in the conference, but not to the extent we do in Region 2.

We do so in Region 2. Being the largest and most dominant society in the region we have a representative that holds elected office as Director and on occasions our area representative has served as an officer. Region 2 is divided into "areas" with Area B comprising the United States, therefore the Area B Director is pretty much who we decide we want. The Area Director still has to be "elected" at the conference every three years, but with ARRL being the only society in Area B it comes down to basically who we want. Rod Stafford has served as our Director for the past several years, but in previous years others have served in this capacity.

In Region 3 we could do the same, however it is very important for ARRL to not be viewed as attempting the dominate the region and therefore we do not seek to hold any officer or director position. There are a number of valid reasons, first and foremost being that JARL is the largest society in the region, provides significant resources in support of Region 3, relates much better than we could to the geographical & ethnic configuration of the region and JARL and ARRL have worked together successfully for years to facilitate amateur radio's best interests in the international arena. With that said, we do have official delegate status at the conferences, participate in the committees and working groups at the conference and vote on the issues that come before the conference, thus the need for our attendance. In addition, the world amateur radio community looks to ARRL for advice and guidance on many issues so while it is most often not prudent for us to get directly involved in "local" amateur radio issues with Region 3 the issues involving amateur radio as a whole are and by far the large majority of societies seek our advice.

An IARU regional conference is not unlike our board meeting. A meeting book is prepared that contains all of the conference documents, the conference begins with a formal opening plenary session with various speeches from amateur radio and government officials after which committee meetings occur to address the topics contained in papers that have been submitted to the conference. The committee structure varies from region to region. In all three there is a Credentials & Elections Committee charged with verify the official status of societies and overseeing the election of Officers & Directors and there is a Finance Committee. In Region 3, two working group committees are seated to address "Policy & Procedures" and "Operational & Technical" issues. This year, a third ad-hoc committee is being seated to address the international monitoring system. Following the opening plenary, the committees break up into individual groups to hash out the business, just like our committees, then on Friday there will be a "Final Plenary" where the committees will present the results of their work along with any motions or recommendations to be considered for adoption.

As I type this, it is just after 2 PM Monday afternoon Christchurch time and 9 PM Sunday east coast USA time. I am attending the Committee 2 meeting (Operational & Technical) and yes, I am paying attention to the discussion which at the moment pertains to third party traffic during emergencies. Interestingly, the emergency communications concern of the pacific rim countries at the moment relates to tsunamis!

Societies are allowed to hold once proxy from a society that is unable to attend. For this conference we hold the proxy of RSGB who, like ARRL, plays a small roll in Region 3 but is a dominant society in Region 1. Also attending the conference as observers are IARU President Tim Ellam VE6SH, IARU Vice President Ole Garpestad LA2RR, IARU Region 1 Chairman Hans Blondeel-Timmerman PB2T and IARU Region 2 Secretary Ramon Santoyo, XE1KK.

There aren't, at least at this point, any controversial issues before the conference, however the week has just begun. I have attached a few photos from this mornings plenary session. The societies are seated around the table alphabetically. As the society "delegate" I get to sit at the front table next to where Rod is sitting (he's not asleep!!!).