sagesaria (Margaret Hogan)
Fri Aug 23 16:40:58 PDT 2019
Subject: Extremely belated meeting minutes:

[Compiler's note: this meeting was held on 8 June 2019, at Panera Bread in Kentlands SC, scheduled start time 14:00.]

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In Attendance: Margaret Hogan, Sam Hogan, Michael Houghton, Marc Drexler,
Dave Montouri, Yakira Heistand

Next meeting was meant to be scheduled on Saturday July 13 1400 Panera
Bread, to be canceled if there was nothing to talk about.  That didn't
happen on account of VP falling behind on her duties and failing to publish
minutes in a reasonable timeframe.  We will need to schedule our next
meeting soon.

Treasurer's report: $11,004.27 in accounts, $41.48 charge outstanding
mistakenly put on card that needs reimbursement.  Virtual total $11,045.75.
Most prepaid vendors have asked for refunds, no requests from general
members, most of them rolled over, one person wants to convert their
registration into a donation. Larry Smith books and E-Spec rolled over.


Hotel stuff: We have solid proposals from three different hotels: Hunt
Valley, Lord Baltimore, and the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg.

Hunt Valley's pros: least expensive of the options, has the advantage of
being mostly on one level, with room to expand.  Good with our trans needs,
easy to reach via light rail.

Cons: Elevator is really far away from the function space, not enough
tables (they can get more but it will cost us), potential issue with con
suite.


Lord Baltimore pros: more space on two levels, accessible by Baltimore
subway.  Offering free parking for one vehicle, more vehicles $10/night.

Cons: More expensive; one person expressed concern about being stuck in the
elevator.  Two function rooms that are only accessible through main
ballroom; if main ballroom is dealer's, those two rooms are not accessible
when dealer's room is closed.


Holiday Inn pros: Cheaper, more space than expected. 14 accessiblity rooms,
no issue with transgender bathroom.  Hotel room set aside as hospitality
suite, another room that could be reconfigured as game room.

Cons: Growth would be limited and we would have to have a smaller
convention.  More spread out.  Further away than our original location,our
audience is split 50/50 about whether moving to Gaithersburg would be more
convenient.


Prices:

Lord Baltimore $119/night

Hunt Valley $109/night

Holiday Inn $99/night


All of the hotels are good with accessibility issues, and all are offering
a discount of 1/40, except Lord Baltimore offering 1/50. Those are the
hotels who have made offers, Sam and Yakira are investigating other options.


Yakira has created a google document with details about the hotels, and
questions to ask them. (which I thought I had in my documents but I'm
unable to find it.  Yakira, can you resend it?)

There is a solid-sounding plan for a Thanksgiving dinner at the Holiday
Inn; they already have a buffet that we can get a private dining room of
30, or go to a ballroom. We would like to make a final decision about hotel
by then so we could potentially sell memberships.


Staffing:  Herveus is taking over as con ops, Sam is taking over as con
chair. Josh has stepped back for now. Steve is about the same on Hotel
Liaison; not willing to reject, not enthusiastic.  Received email from
someone who wanted to do something behind the scenes; offered either
programming or marketing. Thomas is willing to do con suite.  Pyris has not
been talked to yet about board gaming, Steve B is backup.  Someone else not
talked to yet about programming, Crystal is doing music, not talked to
Bambi about mythic yet.  Yakira will be volunteer and vendors coordinator,
have not talked to AMQ about art show. Dave will do registration.  Margaret
will contact Alex Villanueva to get in touch about possible programming
committee member or other assistance. We need a guest liaison, possibly
Rachel.


Guest of honor ideas: re-invite Charlie for 2020, McCaffrey offspring,

Move to adjorn, seconded, thirded

adjourn 1549

I apologize again for the extreme delay in delivering these minutes.  I
will try to improve next time, even if it means asking people to kick me in
the butt about it.  When should we meet next?

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