The Thanksgiving Science Fiction Society held a general business meeting on 11 April 2020. The meeting was held online via Discord, with no in-person interaction aside from between folks who live together, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All conversations took place via text chat in Discord. This is a quick-n-dirty Discord transcript of the TSFS General Business Meeting held on 11 April 2020, made in January 2021 by Dave Montuori. All formatting has been lost. Meeting was scheduled to begin at 2 PM EDT. Conversations begin at 12:58 PM. Herveus | Con Ops 04/11/2020 Meeting will begin at about 1400. Say howdy when you pop in. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Early howdy Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Another early howdy Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration goes back to meeting prep Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Jeebus, Firefox is burning memory with only 3 tabs open... Saria | Videogaming, Website o/ Poryshkin | Con Chair OK, I'm here. Somehow, I had written down that the meeting was to be tomorrow. [1:46 PM] Howdy when you pop in. Marilyn Mix Howdy Herveus | Con Ops Tomorrow being Easter, it was a poor choice of day. Poryshkin | Con Chair Anyway, I managed to inhale a bit of bread, and the coughing fit that followed nearly laid me out. I'm going to do my stuff early, then pop out of meeting, I need to deal with lingering breathing issues. [1:51 PM] Treasurer's stuff: $10,440.69 in the accounts. Marilyn, you overpaid by $5 on your membership: staff pays the previous year's membership rate, regardless of when they actually register for the current year. It's the one compensation we're allowed for the hard-working staff. Do you want the $5 by return PayPal, or hard-copy format (check)? If the latter, I'll need your street address. Marilyn Mix You may refund via PayPal. Thanks. Poryshkin | Con Chair And if you were required to do the $50 instead of the $45 due to website registration issues, let Saria know, she can pass the message on thos those of more practical concern. [1:54 PM] I believe the only other issue I was going to have input on is the possible shifting of membership rates, due to the pandemic. I am against this, because we already changed the cut-off dates onece: the "last year" rates usually apply through December, and were delayed until St Patty's Day; the current rate I think, usually cuts off somewhere in the middle of summer, delayed to Halloween this year. [1:55 PM] Gonna try dealing with lying down now. Herveus | Con Ops Thank you. Rest. Saria | Videogaming, Website I think extending the discounted rates is more than fair. [1:59 PM] this will be a question for when he can return to look over this, but has the hotel made any statement or contacted us in light of the pandemic? My fear is the matter going on long enough that we would have to cancel again, and losing the money, and I feel like a good contingency to continue is whether the hotel will refund us. They should since this isn't in anyone's control, and I certainly don't want to see us resorting to canceling, but I'm a habitual worrier. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I was going to ask if there was a Force Majeure clause in the contract. It never occurred to me to ask if we had cancellation insurance in case of circumstances beyond our control. Herveus | Con Ops OK. It's 2pm. Let's convene. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Adsum! Herveus | Con Ops Next business meeting: do we need one before next quarter? Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Present and accounted for. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration @Herveus | Con Ops Depends on how the current situation plays out. Herveus | Con Ops Or will waiting until July suffice? We can always adjust. [2:04 PM] July 11 or 12 work for people? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Have we a procedure for calling an emergency meeting if we need to? Herveus | Con Ops I'm not sure there is a formal procedure in the By Laws, but I'd think that notice on the mailing list would suffice. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration July 11-12 weekend works for me AFAIK. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I have no other current plans for that weekend. Marilyn Mix Either of those dates is good for me Herveus | Con Ops OK. Any preference for Saturday versus Sunday. I lean toward Saturday. Saria | Videogaming, Website as far as I know, I have no plans that weekend. as always Saturday is my preference Herveus | Con Ops And if conditions permit, we can meet in person at Panera, but we can settle that later. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I lean towards Saturday too, though not strongly. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming No particular preference for which day. Herveus | Con Ops Well, it's looks like a consensus. Saturday, 11 July, at 1400. Somewhere. [2:09 PM] Poryskin dropped in a treasurer's report before going off to work on breathing. [2:09 PM] We have money. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I just hope we'll have enough in time to put on the con. I suspect that anyone who's not already pre-reg'd is waiting on developments. Herveus | Con Ops I think we don't need a whole lot of registrants to be able to pull it off. More, of course, is better. [2:13 PM] Do we want to mess with the rate change dates? Or is that more trouble than it's worth? [2:14 PM] I think that late November is far enough away that there is at least a decent chance that we will be able to gather. But it is way too soon for anyone to be making hard calls now. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Definitely way too soon at this point. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I don't think pushing rate change even closer to the event is needed. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration The only reason we would have for pulling the plug in the next 3 months is if the state, before July 1, extends a no-large-gathering rule until the end of November. Which isn't very likely and we don't expect it. Herveus | Con Ops Yeah. Unlikely and out of our control. We would simply have to react. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Or if something drastic happens to the hotel. Which again falls into the category of "Officer Obie giving us a medal for being so brave and honest over the telephone." Marilyn Mix I think the current rate schedule is good, since we have already passed the March 17 increase, and changing the Oct. 31 bump won't make a difference. Herveus | Con Ops Waiting on Saria before moving on. Saria | Videogaming, Website July is probably the time to decide if we should extend or give previous deadline rates. I just wouldn't want someone to feel cheated because they weren't sure if they should register [2:18 PM] which probably won't happen when people understand what's going on, but still Herveus | Con Ops OK. I think that topic is done. [2:19 PM] Programming: who we doing? The floor is yours, Marilyn. Marilyn Mix We had an online meeting last month [2:21 PM] I have a draft of the participant invitation email that I'd like to run by people. I'll send it out after this meeting. [2:21 PM] We plan to discuss room allocation at our next meeting. May 17 [2:22 PM] I have been holding off on sending the invite until the COVID response has settled. Herveus | Con Ops Could you send ann announcement of the next meeting date and time to the mailing list, please? Marilyn Mix I will. [2:23 PM] I am debating with myself whether to send the invite in the next week or so. I fear people are still too upset to think about November, but I also want to remind participants that we still plan to put on Chessiecon. Herveus | Con Ops The email could acknowledge the concerns and note that it will be send out again in a month or two if recipients don't want to think about it Right Now. Marilyn Mix That's a good approach. People are so distracted, it wouldn't hurt to send it now and again near the end of May. Herveus | Con Ops I suspect we will see meaningful changes in the progress of the pandemic by then. One hopes they are favorable changes. Unless the stupid really takes over. [2:28 PM] So programming is getting moving, but just starting, then. [2:28 PM] Anything else on programming? Marilyn Mix I need contact info for Bambi [2:29 PM] That's all for programming. Herveus | Con Ops Are you on FaceBook? Marilyn Mix Yes Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration PM sent Herveus | Con Ops Thanks. [2:32 PM] Registration: where we at? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Okay. Hang on. [2:33 PM] We have 9 non-vendor pre-reg's that are not rollovers, and one vendor who covers 3 more. [2:34 PM] Oops. That one vendor was a rollover. [2:35 PM] Non-vendor rollovers: 23 so far. Those have not been formally rolled over into the 2020 database but I have the privileges to do that. [2:36 PM] There are four emails, totalling 7 people, that did not respond to last year's mail at all. [2:36 PM] Should I attempt to recontact those four? Herveus | Con Ops Sure. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration In addition, there were four people that were not on my list to contact last year. [2:37 PM] One of those was a straight comp (no reason given in the DB), and I have been in contact with that person since then. I propose to roll that over to 2020. [2:39 PM] There was one other comp, who earned it by sufficient volunteering in 2018. I didn't have their email at the time. I have it now. I propose to roll that over to 2020 as well, and just letting them know. Herveus | Con Ops Sounds like a good plan. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration That leaves two people who paid for 2019 but I didn't have on my list last year, don't know why. Herveus | Con Ops We can default to rolling them over. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Of those two, one has already preregistered for 2020. o.O [2:41 PM] So I am wondering if I should contact that person and ask about their 2019 prereg. Herveus | Con Ops You could. I'm not sure how we handle it. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Well, I guess either they'll ask for a refund, or convert it to a donation. Herveus | Con Ops OK. Anything else? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration And the last person should at least be contacted so they know we didn't forget them. But I can do that. [2:44 PM] I'll cook up some boilerplate for this round of letters and run it past people for comment. Probably tomorrow or Monday. Herveus | Con Ops OK. Shall we move on to Board Gaming? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Fine by me Herveus | Con Ops Anything to report? Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming No. We're not really scheduling anything yet. Herveus | Con Ops OK. About what I expected. [2:46 PM] Video Gaming: got anything for today? Saria | Videogaming, Website Not much different, I'm probably going to be putting a lot of energy into just one or two big events for the con so I'm not stretching myself thin in this stressful time - my secret challenge, and Calvinsmash. For both of these things I need prizes, but between ThinkGeek's closure and the pandemic I've been a little stumped on where to find good prizes, so if you know good places to find video game themed or generally nerdy trinkets you think people would like, send me links. Herveus | Con Ops OK. [2:49 PM] I think we've covered all the bases. Did I miss anything? [2:50 PM] Con Ops has nothing to say at this time. [2:50 PM] Hotel visit needs to happen some time, but no idea when that might work out. [2:51 PM] The chail will entertain a motion to adjourn. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming So moved. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Seconded. Saria | Videogaming, Website thirded Herveus | Con Ops All in favor? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Aye Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Ate Herveus | Con Ops Opposed? Hah! Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration In the W&M Alumni Band Organization, we have a person who is the Token "Nay" Herveus | Con Ops OK. Thanks for joining. This is one of the biggest crowds yet. Remember that if you attend two business meetings, you can drop the President (me) a note and ask for voting rights. [2:54 PM] And with that, we are adjounred. Should I give Saria a week to compose minutes before nudging? Saria | Videogaming, Website if you just keep this channel up I can copy-paste the chatlog as our minutes, if that's ok 1 Herveus | Con Ops I was in no rush to drop the channel. I figured the chatlog would be the basis of minutes. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Have a good day alla youse. Happy Easter and/or Zissen Pesach to those who are celebrating. My dad is about to tune in the Pope's Easter Vigil, which starts approximately now. Marilyn Mix I got a response from Bambi. She is willing to do the Mythic track.