The Thanksgiving Science Fiction Society held a general business meeting on 15 August 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 15 August 2020, made in January 2021 by Dave Montuori. All formatting has been lost. Meeting was scheduled to begin at 2 PM EDT. July 11, 2020 Herveus | Con Ops We will convene on Saturday, August 15, at 2pm. August 14, 2020 Yakira - Volunteers and Vendors I may not be able to attend this meeting. It will depend on stuff happening tomorrow. Either way, I will be able to read the chat. If I can attend I will let you know. August 15, 2020 Herveus | Con Ops [1:52 PM] Howdy, y'all. Saria | Videogaming, Website hi Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Hi. I is here. [1:52 PM] But going to refill my mug. (edited) Poryshkin | Con Chair (welcoming head bobs to all) Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades g'day Marilyn Mix Present Poryshkin | Con Chair 1400 by my clock Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Adsum! Herveus | Con Ops Ah, yup. [2:01 PM] Who all is in here? Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades Alex the helper-in-general Herveus | Con Ops I see Evan, Poryskin, Marilyn, Alex, Saria, and me. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I'm here now. Had to update Discord app. Herveus | Con Ops ...and Blaise is now a voting member. Poryshkin | Con Chair Yeah, that's the way I spent the entire mornign with my computer. Herveus | Con Ops I'll call this meeting to order. [2:04 PM] I expect we will want to meet again in September, no? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I suspect so, yes. Poryshkin | Con Chair We def will Herveus | Con Ops Sunday, 13 September sound good? Marilyn Mix yes Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Any day except maybe the 19th appears to work for me right now, so the 13th is fine Poryshkin | Con Chair Saturdays are usually better, but if you have something to do on 12 September, speak up...I like the idea of us meeting AFTER labor day weekend. Saria | Videogaming, Website as always, I have work at 3 on Sunday, so my attention would be divided if we go long Herveus | Con Ops 19th is Rosh Hashanah, so not good. Saria | Videogaming, Website I'd be fine with the 12th Herveus | Con Ops Should we start at 1:00 instead of 2:00? [2:07 PM] Or is Saturday better? Poryshkin | Con Chair On Sunday, instead of Saturday? Yeah, that actually works for me. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration What's the obstacle for Saturday the 12th? Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I'd be fine with 1, 1:30, or 2 on either the 12th or 13th. Marilyn Mix I have no preferences on date or time Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I don't have a strong opinion, and can start at 1 pm even on Sundays. Just want to be workable for the max number possible.(edited) Herveus | Con Ops OK. Saturday, 12 September, 1:00? Poryshkin | Con Chair Oh, um, actually...I'm likely to have a Capclave/WSFA meeting on Sunday 13 Sep...not set in stone yet, but is likely. I'd much prefer 12 Sep if possible. Herveus | Con Ops Any objections? Saria | Videogaming, Website 12th sounds good to me Poryshkin | Con Chair I'll second Herveus for Saturday, 12 Sep, 1300. If that needs a second. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I'm good for Saturday 12 Sept at 13:00 EDT Herveus | Con Ops I'm not seeing objections, so let it be written. [2:09 PM] Is there anything that needs done before I turn the floor over the the Con Chair? [2:10 PM] OK. Poryskin, you're up. Poryshkin | Con Chair 1st up: Obligator Treasurer's report. $9998.59 in the various accounts. Includes a couple of new memberships, and a mailed-but-not posted payment to ASCAP for our music use license. [2:14 PM] 2nd, related: I had sent out proposed fee schedule to the staff list earlier, I'd like to make that a formal proposal, with one addition: for those neither registered for Chessiecon 2020 (which automatically carries over to Chessiecon 2021), or registering in advance for Chessiecon 2021. A membership rate of $10 for the virtual Chessiecon 2020 only. Both the pre-existing registrations, and registrations for 2021 include a membership, gratis, for virtual Chessiecon 2020. [2:15 PM] If people need a summary of the proposed membership fees, speak up, I can dig that out of the e-mail. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Yes please Poryshkin | Con Chair General memberships for physical Chessiecon 2021 should be $45/adult (18+), $35/young adult (ages 12-17, inclusive), $12/child (ages 6-11, inclusive), under 6 no charge until 2359 hours EST on 31 December, 2020; after, $50/adult, $40/young adult, $15/child, under 6 no charge until 2359 hours EDT on 15 May, 2021; after, $55/adult, $45/young adult, $20/child, under 6 no charge until 2359 hours EST on 15 November, 2021; after, and at the door, $60/adult, $50/young adult, $25/child, under 6 no charge. b. i. Vendors' memberships for physical Chessiecon 2021 to be $100/table, until 2359 hours EST on 31 December, 2020; after that, and until 2359 hours EDT on 31 October 2021, vendors' memberships to be $120/table. Vendors' memberships for 2021 will not be available after this date. Herveus | Con Ops That looks like a motion to me. Do we have a second? (then we can discuss as needed) Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration As long as Registration does not need to be physically present online to deal with weirdnesses ON New Years Eve, Registration has no objections. [2:17 PM] So, seconded. Herveus | Con Ops I note that the email had a bit more. Poryshkin | Con Chair Evan: it shouldn't. System is pre-configured to do change over stuff, or at least, has the capacity to be pre-configured, and institute it automagically. Marilyn Mix I have a concern about charging for 2020 virtual con Herveus | Con Ops ii. All vendors to be limited to two tables each, except for regular, long-term vendor members as follows: Sally Kobe of Larry Smith Books, Chris Cowan of Undiscovered Treasures, and Jane Sibley of Auntie Arwen's Spices. iii. Each table to include a membership for 1 person (vendor or assistant) c. Such memberships paid before 2359 hours on 26 November 2020, to include automatic registration for the virtual Chessiecon 2020. d. Any funds solicited above these membership rates shall include a single "perk" or "reward", regardless of the amount of funds donated. Marilyn Mix But if the motion is just for the 2021 rates, I have no objection. Saria | Videogaming, Website what's your concern? Poryshkin | Con Chair Well, the formal proposal had included that amendment, but please speak up: if you can convince people in general, I'll listen to the committee, and withdrawl the amendment. Marilyn Mix If we charge for access to virtual Chessicon, how do we restrict access to programming (Zoom, Discord, etc) [2:20 PM] It was a pain in the neck for Worldcon Poryshkin | Con Chair It was? I was not aware, haven't heard anything fromt he people I was talking to. But come to think of it, the last time I was talking to them in detail was before the worldcon, so... Herveus | Con Ops As I understand it, Worldcon was charging full rates. We're asking a nominal charge. Poryshkin | Con Chair Zoom is easier to restrict than Discord, etc. Saria | Videogaming, Website Even discord isn't that difficult to restrict, depending on what you need restrictions for. If you're just trying to ensure people who paid get into the server, you could put an invitation link in a welcome email to registrants Herveus | Con Ops And another con that went virtual had no fee, but still had a hard limit of 500 and hit it. They sent out the Zoom links and the password to registered users and asked people not to share. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration KWHSS (the convention Herveus just mentioned) had some early issues with people sharing the Zoom passwords, but the second password emails, with a much stronger recommendation not to share, seemed to work.(edited) Saria | Videogaming, Website my question is would this $10 membership be instead of a gofundme? And if so, how many memberships at that rate would we need to stay afloat to 2021? Herveus | Con Ops Or at least one person sharing who was suitably chastised and embarrassed in the end. [2:25 PM] I think it's reasonably clear that we need some income from the virtual con to cover fixed expenses. Poryshkin | Con Chair Saria: the membership fee for any particular convention, virtual or in-person is independent of anything like a gofundme or other donation platform. Saria | Videogaming, Website meaning that we're doing both? [2:26 PM] I just want to be clear about what's happening Herveus | Con Ops "and" is a lovely word. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Okay. How much money do we need to raise, by whatever means, to keep going until November 2021? $10K? More? Less? Poryshkin | Con Chair Meaning that we have the option to do both. Whether or not we exercise that option is yet to be decided. Saria | Videogaming, Website ok Poryshkin | Con Chair Crap. Evan , that's a very good question I should have considered, and developed the answer to, but havent' yet. Herveus | Con Ops At the moment, I am construing the motion on the floor to include a $10 fee for virtual 2020 if you don't otherwise have a membership for 2020 or 2021. [2:28 PM] What are our non-convention expenses? We have a storage cube. What else? Marilyn Mix I just want us to think carefully about how to manage restricting access to paid members. Lots of good will could be lost if don't do it right. [2:28 PM] And lots of work to scramble to fix problems of people not getting in. Poryshkin | Con Chair Things like advertising fees, for example, we usually get a table at Gaithersburg Book Festival, Taxes, PO Box rental, , we do still hve office supplies, etc on occasion. [2:29 PM] Those sorts fo things. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Music fees (as mentioned earlier) Poryshkin | Con Chair Yeah, licenses, event insurance, guest travel, although the latter two might come under "convention" expenses. [2:31 PM] Or, IOW, convention expenses don't just cover hotel fees. [2:32 PM] Marilyn: is you concern that in restricting access to paid members, we might end up excluding people, or is it that by restricting to a paid membership (regardless of whatever fee we set), you worry that we will end up losing members? [2:33 PM] Gar, first clause should have read, "excluding member people" Marilyn Mix Mainly, any method to restrict access with have glitches. [2:35 PM] Either on our end or on the users end. We need to be prepared to handle them. Poryshkin | Con Chair Yeah, I dont' doubt we'll have to do a test run or two with whatever platforms we have to make sure to check those glitches. Marilyn Mix I'm thinking of the extra staff dedicated to that and the stress involved. Herveus | Con Ops My experience with the KWHSS in Australia was that there were a few glitches and they were able to resolve them for the individuals fairly readily. They used a simple password to limit access. One password across all the Zoom channels for everyone. [2:37 PM] I expect we can get some expert input on this concern from Matthew Shogren if we are going to take him up on Zoom channels. Poryshkin | Con Chair In that light, though note that I am also a WSFA member, and Capclave, which I'm involved in for running the game room, is just a few weeks befroe Chessiecon. They are doing something very similar to what we're trying to do,. Pluse, at the last Capclave meeting, Bill made a specific request to the WSFA/Capclave people who weren't burned out by the virtual Capclave to lend us a hand. Saria | Videogaming, Website I have a feeling we'd have such glitches even in a free access convention tbh Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I will note that KWHSS, with its hard cap of 500, hit that cap which is easily more than double the meximum number of in-person attendees that convention has EVER had. We should be prepared for a cap of 1000 or more. [2:38 PM] If we think we can handle it. Marilyn Mix I just want to make sure you considered the potential problems. I have no objections. Herveus | Con Ops Might it be instructive for some of us to help out with Capclave for the experience (and the good will)? Poryshkin | Con Chair They will NOT object in any way, shape or form. Herveus | Con Ops Gee. Surprise! Marilyn Mix Good enough Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I am shocked! Shocked I tell you! Poryshkin | Con Chair volunteers@capclave.org Courtni will be glad to talk to you Saria | Videogaming, Website my only real concern otherwise is for video gaming, come to think of it; Twitch doesn't really have a privacy feature, as I understand it - there's a way to make the CHAT subscriber-only, but I don't have enough clout with Twitch to do even that right now. And I'm hoping to have video game streams all day, including demos and spectating games that people are playing (where possible). Would we want to make that a screen-share within the convention server itself instead, if we're charging, or would this be the virtual equivalent of people walking down the hall to the elevator and peeking into the room to see what's happening? Poryshkin | Con Chair Most likely the latter; but as I understand Twitch, it is possible to restrict one's casting channel by subscription. Is there any restriction as to how low a 'caster might set the subscription fee (for example, "free, but you have to formally subscribe" ?) You have a bit mroe experience with Twitch than I. Herveus | Con Ops I've got an inquiry in to the Con Chair of KWHSS to discuss their technical stuff around Zoom. Poryshkin | Con Chair BRB, need to bio, in the meantime, Marilyn, I'll let you have the floor, and you can let people know where we stand witht he awesome job & responses you've gotten for guests/presenters. Saria | Videogaming, Website In order to even be able to have subscribers as opposed to just followers, you have to meet very specific requirements that I doubt I'd be able to reach before the convention [2:45 PM] @Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades has managed this, so we might be able to tag team and answer questions? Herveus | Con Ops ...and then we can consider the motion on the floor, if we have thrashed concerns sufficiently. Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades I have the affiliate status! [2:45 PM] so i can take subscribers Marilyn Mix I attempted to send out a second mass mailing to our past presenters. Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades it's $5/month and you can cancel to keep it from recurring Marilyn Mix Some of the messages made it to their distinations. Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades i THINK you can restrict streams to subscribers Saria | Videogaming, Website I would personally like to avoid an additional fee just to get into videogaming Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/subscriber-streams?language=en_US [2:47 PM] unfortunately I can't not do that unless it's an open stream Poryshkin | Con Chair spleen. Saria, yeah, I'd rather not have an additional fee, that's why I was wondering about possible subscription fee minimums. [2:48 PM] Alex, I'll have to look at that later. Saria | Videogaming, Website yeah, unfortunately it sounds like that's on Twitch's side, not ours. If one has amazon prime and links their twitch account to amazon, they get a free subscription where they wish, but that limits the possibilities greatly Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades Yeah, it's just a quick info Poryshkin | Con Chair OH, crap! We gotten a little off track. We have a motion on the floor, and we should be discussing it: focusing on whether or not to include the $10 membership fee for virtual-only convention. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Some of the messages made it to their distinations. @Marilyn Mix If we were attempting to contact folks from many many years ago, I'm not surprised that many of the messages didn't make it. I know most folks are not like some of us chickens who keep the same email address for decades... Herveus | Con Ops So, to recap, the motion is to set 2021 membership rates as described, plus vendor table fees and limits, and also $10 for a membership to virtual 2020 if you don't have one for 2020 or 2021 already. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Do we think that $10 will discourage too many folks from signing up for virtual 2020 only? [2:52 PM] (That was not well worded) Marilyn Mix I have not objection to a $10 membership cost for a virtual con. Poryshkin | Con Chair Perhaps we should proceed as follows: First, to vote to include the amendment, with the understanding that if the amendment is voted down, then the virtual-only membership is "free". Then, vote on the proposal as a whole, with the amendment either included or not includedd, depending ont he outcome of the earlier vote. Herveus | Con Ops $10 feels like a pretty nominal fee that is going to be, at the same time, very affordable for many. And for folks for which it isn't, they would not be even thinking of attending an in person con. Saria | Videogaming, Website what Herveus said. if anything, I feel like $10 for a virtual convention is going to open the doors to a LOT of people as it is Herveus | Con Ops I'm fine with treating the $10 proposal as an amendment to the motion. Saria | Videogaming, Website a lot of my friends I gush about the con to live on the other side of the country and can't justify not only the $50 membership, but also the hotel AND travel Herveus | Con Ops ...which means the amendment needs a second. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I second the amendment. Herveus | Con Ops Thank you. Poryshkin | Con Chair is there other discussion on the amendment? If not, I call the question. Herveus | Con Ops Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Poryshkin | Con Chair Aye Marilyn Mix Aye Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Aye Saria | Videogaming, Website aye Herveus | Con Ops All opposed say nay [2:56 PM] They ayes have it. The motion is amended. [2:57 PM] Is there any further discussion of the motion as amended? Poryshkin | Con Chair OK, so is there any other discussion on the fee schedule? Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I have logistical questions, but those need not be addressed at the meeting. Herveus | Con Ops Hearing none, all in favor of the proposed rate schedule say aye Poryshkin | Con Chair aye Saria | Videogaming, Website aye Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Aye Marilyn Mix aye Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Aye Herveus | Con Ops All opposed say nay Marilyn Mix Discord apparently has a polling feature. We might want to try that for votes in future meetings. Herveus | Con Ops The ayes have it. Poryshkin | Con Chair Marilyn, thanks for the reminder, that's a good idea. Herveus | Con Ops So, we have membership and vendor rates. Yay. Now we can get the website updated. [3:00 PM] And now we can turn back to Marilyn and programming stuff. Poryshkin | Con Chair That, and I've been holding off on th mass e-mailing to past, & potentially future members, I'll send that out ASAP, plus notify Filthy Pierre so he can update his upcoming convention schedule. Marilyn Mix At least some if the messages about the virtual con change got to the past participant. I have very kind responses from 6 people so far. 4 positive, 2 negative. Poryshkin | Con Chair Really? I thought it was more than that. But overall, I've been pleased with the response. Marilyn Mix I got a lead from Zen about T.C. Weber who is volunteering to be on a panel or do a reading. [3:03 PM] His book was a Compton Crook finalist in 2017 Saria | Videogaming, Website I want to backtrack to the subject of video gaming before things go too far off; working on the assumption that all ways to limit twitch access involve asking people for more money, are we okay with videogaming being completely open or would another method be preferred? It will be easy enough for access for people to PLAY to be limited to those in the discord and watching can be free, but I'm also hoping to run demonstrations of some singleplayer games and possibly even a panel about video game music, which feel like they should be more limited if people are paying for memberships. Discord does have a screen share option where members can watch through a voice chat, but that would take testing on games that aren't picked up through discord's tools (IE: games that aren't on steam and played through capture cards) Poryshkin | Con Chair One thing about our presenters: on the follow-up, we need to poll them about not only their preferred schedules, but also, ask them to let us know which time zones they are in. Would prevent a lot of scheduling headaches. 2 [3:06 PM] Well, if we can't limit without asking for more money, we would have to do that as a freebie. Asking for more stuff after they've been presented with a fee schedule is too close to bait-and-switch. Herveus | Con Ops This could also open the door for presenters in Europe/Asia/Australia who would not have to travel but simply be up at odd hours. 1 Saria | Videogaming, Website so you're okay with streaming demos via twitch with no limitations on who can watch? Poryshkin | Con Chair I am, yes. Saria | Videogaming, Website Ok. That makes my job relatively simple at least. And it's easy enough to plug our name throughout the stream, too Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades yeah! Herveus | Con Ops And maybe it entices people to fork over the $10 to see the rest of the show... Saria | Videogaming, Website Hopefully. Like I said playing multiplayer on the stream would definitely be limited to members either way. $10 for the splatoon invite and access to all our panels and concerts Herveus | Con Ops Will we be wanting to make up a program book? Poryshkin | Con Chair As far as other casting platforms: the vague outline that I have in mind so far, at least, is using the Chessiecon Discord server (we can set up a separate server from the staff server, for example Chessiecon2020) as more or less a call center or direction server, then have separate channels for the various, um I guess you'd call them break-out rooms. Things like board gaming, vendors, general announcements. Twitch streaming for video gaming. Zoom for "main" programming. The paid service is the Zoom: but we can pay for a month, we' dont' have to commit to a full year. But we would need multiple Zoom channels. The great thing about Zoom is, there are a couple of different formats, and each Zoom meeting can have ti's own. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I was expecting at least some of board gaming to be on boardgamearena.com... Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration As was I Saria | Videogaming, Website Video gaming would benefit from a channel on the con server, so people can get invite codes/share usernames for invites, and also invite each other to play games outside of me(edited) Poryshkin | Con Chair Jim: Not at all incompatible: basically, the Discord board gaming channel would be the clearing house for game: "Agricola at 1500 on board game arena, Hadara at 1700 on yucata , etc." Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming ok, that makes sense. Poryshkin | Con Chair Does this make sense? Or do you have a better outline for how to proceed? Herveus | Con Ops The outline seems totally sound. Poryshkin | Con Chair I'm certainly open to suggestions, not trying to dictate anything. [3:19 PM] Oh, oen thing about Zoom: Unless my memory is faulty, the things is, each meeting channel is a ine item, so we can't have more than 2, I believe. But zoom, especially with only the presenter of the meeting having casting privileges, can handle a who lot more than can a Discord server. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I'm failing to parse that...(edited) Poryshkin | Con Chair People ofthen complain about Zoom meetings being glitchy or lagging. This is true when everyone in the meeting is trying to say something at the same time. However, there is a format (I believe they call it presentation format, as opposed to seminar format) wherein only the presenter can cast to the meeting. I think we would need this sort of format for concerts. [3:21 PM] for example Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Yes. Very much so. Marilyn Mix Webinar versus meeting Poryshkin | Con Chair And even in the default seminar format, the meeting host can auto-mute people, and asking that they use the 'raise hand" action if they want to be unmuted Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration That, IIRC, is how my mom's church handled their General Session meeting back in May. Poryshkin | Con Chair Thank you! just couldn't remember the terminology Marilyn Mix I have a few more thoughts about programming Herveus | Con Ops KWHSS mostly did that, too. The moderator made the presenter a host and muted everyone else. Poryshkin | Con Chair Anyway, there is one thing we haven't covered, though: accessibility. Herveus | Con Ops It went well. Poryshkin | Con Chair We're going to need to have some limited closed captioning. Right now, I'm thinking of limiting it to GoH events only. I think the price quoted was up to $1200/hr for live captioning. Again, that's from memory, and it could be off. [3:25 PM] At any rate, it's something that I'll have to look into more closely. Marilyn Mix Thomas Atkinson volunteered to do a virtual Masquerade. [3:26 PM] Does anyone know him? Poryshkin | Con Chair Yeah, he's the one who regularly runs our Con Suite Herveus | Con Ops ...so he's a bit more available this year... Marilyn Mix For Balticon and CoNZealand, the Masquerade was basically, everyone send in photos or video. Poryshkin | Con Chair He & Don were formally married at the last Darkover/first Chessiecon, and asked their guests to, in lieu of sending wedding gifts, throw money at the convention. Marilyn Mix Oh, yes, I remember him mentioning Con Suite (forehead slap) Poryshkin | Con Chair He is often to be seen at s/F conventions cosplaying Jedi. Herveus | Con Ops Also Lot's Wife Salt. Marilyn Mix Do we want to take him up on the offer? Saria | Videogaming, Website sending in photos/videos definitely seems like the best way to go about it, since we can't exactly have a Time Traveler's Social Herveus | Con Ops I don't see why not. Poryshkin | Con Chair It would be a good stand-in for TTS...what Saria said Herveus | Con Ops Romans with Ray Guns... Marilyn Mix Cool. I'll let him get started. Do you know anyone who would like to help him? [3:29 PM] Video editing, Judges, etc. Poryshkin | Con Chair Um, I'll track down the people who were previously doing hall costume awards, can't remembe their names of fthe top of my head. Of course. Me and names... [3:30 PM] For video editing, talk to Dr. Gandalf. [3:30 PM] Possibly also Mike Stoddard, who has often run our sound . Marilyn Mix I will ask Dr Karen how things went with the Balticon masquerade, any lessons learned, etc. Poryshkin | Con Chair Dr Gandalf is, of course, on the Chessiecon staff mailing list. I'm not sure Mike is, though. [3:32 PM] Dr G is also involved in Balticon. Herveus | Con Ops Marilyn, you had tried to organize a meeting with Zen, me, Matthew Shogren, and Michael Rafferty to talk about virtual stuff, Zoom, and all that. Marilyn Mix I would like to do that. I wanted you all to settle on what you want a virtual Chessiecon to be. Herveus | Con Ops And Dr. G recommended Archer should be involved as well. Marilyn Mix That's why I started that document. [3:34 PM] I'd like to be able to give that to them as a guide for discussion. Poryshkin | Con Chair Ah, no membory for names, but yes, memory for events: Gr G has actually, already offered to help with virtual masquerade. So, yeah, we can reach out to him, and let him know that's a go. Marilyn Mix Cool. Thanks. [3:36 PM] Even though virtual Masquerades can be short. I found them to be very creative with the filming as well as the costumes. [3:38 PM] I would like to try contacting the past presenters again, but not with the mass email. Is there a way I can send an email as programming@chessiecon.org instead of from my personal account? Poryshkin | Con Chair Thought you already had that ability. Herveus, does she? Herveus | Con Ops Not sure. Marilyn Mix Please send me a direct message or email to sort that out. Poryshkin | Con Chair Let's get her set up with that, if she doesn't. Marilyn Mix I'll wait a week to see if we have more responses. I realize not everyone checks their email daily. Poryshkin | Con Chair Good idea: they're still trickling in. Marilyn Mix So we have interest from:Tom Holtz Elektra Hammond Heather Rose Jones Scott Edelman [3:41 PM] So I'm pleased Poryshkin | Con Chair Kelly Harmon [3:41 PM] Of course, both our GoHs Marilyn Mix The people who declined either had scheduling issues, or lack of the required technology. [3:44 PM] I need to schedule a Programming meeting to brainstorm panel ideas. [3:44 PM] That's all I have to report on Programming. Any questions? Poryshkin | Con Chair Shoudl I try reaching out again to otehr science people, like astronomy & oceanography peeps? I've tried this in the past., but no one has been interested. [3:46 PM] That's for an in-person conventions, we might get a little more positive response for a virtual convention, where they wouldnd have to travel. Marilyn Mix I would be nice to have a couple science panels other than dinosaurs. Poryshkin | Con Chair Not that we don't like dinosaurs... Marilyn Mix Inge Heyer seems always be willing. THere is some cool stuff happening in astronomy lately. Poryshkin | Con Chair (threatening glare) We don't dislike dinosaurs, right (/threatening glare). Marilyn Mix We could also try for some non-local scientists. Herveus | Con Ops Quite tasty they are. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Dinosaurs are always cool. But non-dinosaur science is also cool. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Taste like chicken... Poryshkin | Con Chair Oh, right, wasn't she also the contact person for a fan table exchange a couple of years back? Marilyn Mix Anyway. I'll start a panel brainstorm thread in the #program-plan channel Poryshkin | Con Chair Sounds good. Herveus | Con Ops Have we pretty much run this topic into the ground for now? Leaving things to be done? Poryshkin | Con Chair OK, so we're going on close to two hours, and have seemingly covered useful things. Unless tehre are other things specifically Chessiecon 2020-related, I'll turn the floor back over to herveus, our esteemed President, for otehr TSFS issues. Herveus | Con Ops Is there any other old/new business that needs discussed? I'm not coming up with anything myself. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Registration raises hand Herveus | Con Ops Go Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I have a first draft letter for sending out to folks who are already preregistered. I plan to tweak it just a bit with the results of today's meeting.(edited) [3:53 PM] To whom should I send the draft for review? Poryshkin | Con Chair I'd say the staff list, in general Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Can I be added to the staff mailing list? Herveus | Con Ops Which email address? Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming scadian Herveus | Con Ops Should be in now. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming thanks Herveus | Con Ops You bet. [3:57 PM] Any other items to discuss? Poryshkin | Con Chair In addition to all of that, I am of the opinion that Carthage must be destroyed. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration I would substitute many and varied values for "Carthage". But that's not relevant.(edited) Herveus | Con Ops The chair will entertain a motion to adjourn. (gets out juggling clubs) Poryshkin | Con Chair second Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Moved Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades aye Herveus | Con Ops see! juggling Poryshkin | Con Chair No without the video channel, we don't Herveus | Con Ops Thank you all. See you here in a month or so. We are adjourned. Alex 🔪 Jack-of-All-Trades :acnhisabellewave: Marilyn Mix toodles Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming Au reservoir. Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Laterz everyone [4:06 PM] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-