sagesaria (Margaret Hogan) Mon Sep 16 21:33:12 PDT 2019 Subject: Minutes of September 8 Meeting ------------------------------------------------------------------------ feel free to offer any corrections or additions that I've missed. Also please pardon any grammatical errors; minutes were dictated through voice software. 13:10 Margaret Hogan, Sam Hogan, Michael Houghton, Yakira Heistand, Rachel Cluster, Fred Blonder, Dave Montouri, Marilyn Next meeting, Saturday October 26th, 2:00 PM Final decision for hotel: after much consideration, Sam has sent a letter of acceptance to Lord Baltimore. He requests input on items to enter on our contract with the hotel. Meeting date with hotel for the contract has not been set yet. contract entries that were discussed in meeting; - do not agree to arbitration by default (unsure what to do if not on option). - make sure we'd be able to sing hallelujah chorus at midnight and other sound level requirements, - possibility for using our own locks or holding our own keys - verification of what surveillance and alarms are in what rooms - hotels should come to hotel liaison, con ops, or con chair regarding any room changes, and to not take guest requests of such at face value one concern that room allocation will need to be aware of is the Versailles room; a decent location for dealers, but is only accessible by half a flight of stairs .There is a lift for wheelchairs and scooters, but there is only one, so traffic jams may be a concern. there is a side alley from which dealers can transport their goods into the room. Marilyn attended the meeting mainly to get a feel for what the organization does. She is interested in helping the convention, possibly in the programming committee, but is not committing to anything yet. Overwhelming preference for pre-con assistance rather than at con. Rachel is also considering joining programming committee, and Margaret still needs to contact Alex Villanueva about programming committee. treasurers report: total of $11,045.75. Arisia is not counting their $5000 loan in their books. this is barely enough to run a convention. If we lose money this coming year, the convention is over. Encouraging marketing to attract more crowds. Suggestions were made around the room for how to make extra money. Suggestions included; selling our excess volunteer mugs from previous years (not ideal, since we intend for those to be volunteer incentive); a prize raffle for charity at the Thanksgiving dinner (would need to make sure Maryland gambling laws would not be violated); selling copies of Tom Smith's concert from the first Chessiecon (would need to be with Tom's permission); selling an anthology of all of our past Turkey awards entries still planning for Thanksgiving dinner at the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg. They already have a Thanksgiving buffet, $45 per person. The idea has been beaten around of some musical entertainment, and video gaming possibly finding a place to set up after dinner for a short game, in an out-of-pocket hotel room if necessary, to offer incentive for those who would be traveling a long way for a $45 dinner. encouragement to bring board games as well. some talk of the possibility of some discount for people staying at the hotel overnight after dinner, we don't know how feasible that is adjourned 14:43 question outside of meeting minutes: do we know what we're doing for guests yet? it's always been ideal to have our guests of honor announced by the time were advertising for the following convention year. This would be a good thing to know by Capclave, so I can advertise during the Gaming party. Did we re-invite our 2019 guests? Do we have anyone else lined up if not? ------------------------------------------------------------------------