poryshkin
Fri May 30 17:26:57 PDT 2014
Subject: TSFS General Business Meeting minutes

Minutes of the 17 May, 2014 business meeting of the Thanksgiving Science Fiction Society

Present: President, Treasureer, the former Recording Secretary, 1 other member
 No attendance by video chat
 No proxies

Proceedings:
1. A call was issued for volunteers to staff the fan table at Balticon
2. MOST IMPORTANT: our to-date recording secretary (Marc Drexler) resigned prior to the meeting, due to personal and health reasons. At the January meeting of his election, he informed us that his service in that capacity was temporary and indefinite. We are issuing a call for a new recording secretary, who must be a voting member of TSFS. Nominations (and yes, one can self-nominate) are being accepted immediately. Minutes for the current meeting have been written and prepared by the Treasurer acting in an emergency capacity.
3. A calendar using the business Google account is being prepared. This calendar lists deadlines for various Chessiecon-related events, and may also include related documents such as spreadsheets. This will be shared with Chessiecon staff as needed, and staff will also be enabled to add items to the calendar as necessary.
4. Items for the Chessiecon fan table and push party at Balticon have been assembled and packed.
5. Programming:
a.  There is a proposal for Chessiecon to have a video gaming room-a function space room or regular hotel room is undecided.
b. For the game room, there is an outside group with a CCG that is willing to demonstrate their game, and allow for us to market our convention at other venues we haven’t tapped into yet. The Con Chair has the list of such venues; there is a possibility of 7 other conventions that we don’t’ otherwise have a presence at. This will cost us 2-4 comped memberships, and possibly 2 hotel room nights. Trevor has been contacted about the gaming aspects of the group in question. All up expense to Chessiecon is estimate at about $200.
c. We needed a date for a programming-specific meeting, separate from a general business meeting.  31 May, 2014 at 1300 was proposed and accepted.
d. Three of the former members of Clam Chowder have accepted guest status at Chessiecon.  Programming is asking them to do a panel on the history of Clam Chowder/Darkovercon
6. Treasurer’s report: $20,632.58 in the two (bank and PayPal) accounts. A few memberships and 1 or 2 more dealers’ tables are trickling in.
7. Registration report: Staff should register! Staff will be reimbursed as possible, pending the financial success of Chessiecon 2014. The new Art Show registration system has resulted in 5 artists tod ate, with three of them new to Darkovercon/Chessiecon. To date, we have 119 adult, 1 young adult, 2 children (age 6-12) registrations, 30 dealers’ tables sold, and 30 comped guests/others.
8. Marketing: We should market at numerous other area conventions: Tigercon, Johncon, possibly Intercon, and the Gaithersburg Book Festival were all specifically mentioned, and there are others we should look into.
9. Other:
a. We now have a contact point for mail-in art.
b. A sliding scale of compensation for volunteers has been proposed to replace the $1/hour discounted membership system, in blocks of five in place at the last Darkovercon. The scale is:
$1/hour for 1-5 hours
$2/hour for 6-10 hours
$3/hour for 11+ hours
To be discounted for membership at the next Chessiecon. This will enable a volunteer who works approximately 16-17 hours to earn a full membership. The volunteer coordinator (head of Con Ops) will be responsible for tracking volunteer hours and reporting to Registration such people who are entitled to discounted memberships, and the amount of discount involved.
Next meeting is set for 22 June, 2014 (fourth Sunday in June).