Here follows the transcript of December's TSFS business meeting. Emojis were lost or replaced with a single digit. Some of them were substantive, such as an eye to represent an "aye." If a message consisted entirely of one or more emojis, there will be an excess blank line. Some "smart" characters were replaced with octal digits preceded by backslashes. It should be obvious from context what those characters were supposed to be, or they can be looked up in a UTF-8 table. If you share this with others, please credit me. Thanks. Please acknowledge that you received this, but please don't email the whole thing back to me. Thanks. Keith Lynch ------- Welcome to #december-2020-business-meeting! This is the start of the #december-2020-business-meeting channel. Herveus | Con Ops11/01/2020 Saturday, December 5, at 12:30 pm. After Action Debrief Officer Nominations December 5, 2020 DrGandalfToday at 12:30 PM Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 12:31 PM Adsum Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 12:31 PM I'm here but will be sometimes afk DrGandalfToday at 12:32 PM Here and there Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 12:32 PM Present Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:32 PM Howdy y'all! Rachel Trigg (she/her/Rae)Today at 12:33 PM Apologies, Blaise is going to be a little late. We're driving home from running errands. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:34 PM I'm here, ore or less Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:34 PM OK. Let's go ahead and get started. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 12:34 PM It's chilly out here on the back porch in eastern PA. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:35 PM Next meeting in January: Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 12:36 PM Preferably not the 10th or 16th Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:36 PM The first weekend is Jan 2 and 3 [12:36 PM] Or Saturday the 9th or Sunday the 17th? [12:36 PM] The main thing will be officer elections. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 12:37 PM 9th is good. 17th OK if finished by 4PM Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 12:37 PM Right now I have no preference Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:37 PM Same here [12:38 PM] Keith L is asking to join, is this still set to a private server? Invite-only? Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 12:38 PM Yes DrGandalfToday at 12:38 PM 9th not good for me. Any weekend day I am unavailable from 2:00 to 2:30 Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:39 PM Crap, knock on door, someone please issue an invite to United Individualist #6828 Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:40 PM How about 17 January at 1pm ET? [12:40 PM] And if he wants to join the meeting, he is welcome. DrGandalfToday at 12:40 PM OK except that half hour Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 12:41 PM Jan 17th is fine by me Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:41 PM Done. [12:41 PM] Officer nominations: [12:42 PM] Which trustee exprires this time around? [12:43 PM] Is it Joanna Dionne? Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:43 PM I think that's correct. [12:43 PM] Anyway, was the invite issued? Keith LynchToday at 12:46 PM I'm here. (This is Keith Lynch.) Thanks for the invite. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:46 PM Joanna is willing to continue as Trustee. I'm on the phone with her. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:46 PM I'm willing to continue as treasurer. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:46 PM And I as President DrGandalfToday at 12:48 PM I nominate you both for said positions Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 12:48 PM seconded Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:48 PM There is nothing to vote on at this time. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:48 PM I note we still lack a Secretary, who job is to maintain the membership roles,, y'know, "voting members" vs "associate members", vs "officers" vs trustees" Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:48 PM I nominate Joanna Dionne to continue as Trustee. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 12:49 PM Seconded Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:49 PM Secretary is an officer, which requires voting membership. Trustee requires voting membership for at least two years. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:49 PM Is Margaret willing to continue as Vice President? [12:49 PM] Joanna Dionne was a founding member. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:49 PM Exactly Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:51 PM Note that the bylaws say that the Vice President takes the minutes. The Secretary maintains the membership roll. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:52 PM Exactly, but in the absence of the VP to keep the minutes, we need to rely on someone else, and/or the chat record. [12:52 PM] I think that's why we do these things by text chat. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:53 PM That is a constructive factor. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 12:54 PM However, Discord chat is not really meeting minutes. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:54 PM True. [12:54 PM] So, to summarize: Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 12:54 PM I found it very helpful when I joined to look at the past meeting minutes on the email list Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:55 PM Trustee -- Joanna Dionne [12:55 PM] President - Michael Houghton DrGandalfToday at 12:55 PM But it can be distilled into minutes Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:55 PM OK, I just got hold of a very sleepy saria by phone. She says she's willing to stand for VP again. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:55 PM Treasurer - Poryskin [12:55 PM] Vice President - Saria [12:57 PM] Treasurer: Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:57 PM secretary, rather? Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:58 PM I mean to move on from nominations and get a Treasurer's report, as we have no nomination for Secretary. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:58 PM Ah! Herveus | Con OpsToday at 12:58 PM ambiguity for the confusion Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 12:58 PM Yay! DrGandalfToday at 12:59 PM I'm undecided about ambiguity Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:00 PM We have $10,604.23 in the various accounts. This has temporarily stopped our slide down wards, but it is only temporary. For example, the total cost of the Zoom accounts hasn't been settled yet; I haven't closed them, or rather [1:01 PM] to be completely clear, I haven't given them back to the individual we were sub-letting from; briefly considered using one or more of them for the meeting for wider public access, but, well, see above re: chat and minutes. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:01 PM If we wanted to use Zoom for a meeting, I have a paid account I'd be willing to use. [1:03 PM] Meeting in Discord via chat seems to roughly double the meeting length but provides a better record and people with audible issues avoid them. It does require some typing skill to work well. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:04 PM Otehr expenses coming up: there's the monthly storage space rental; the staff/tech hosts/GoH gifts havent' gone out yet, but I'm planning on eating the cost of shipping those myself, so that's not really an expense. there will be some advertising expenses later in 2021; Gaithersburg Book Festival, for example. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:04 PM I would like to try Google Meet with you all. It has captioning. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:04 PM I have a paid Zoom account I'm willing to offer as backup... Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:05 PM And since we rolled over the hotel contract witht eh Lord Baltimore, the deposit on said contract is already accounted for. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:05 PM What are we keeping in the storage room? Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:05 PM I think that's pretty much it. DrGandalfToday at 1:05 PM I prefer the Discord chat meetings [1:06 PM] Do we know how much we collected for con memberships? Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:06 PM There are the art show panels. The stanchions and chains for crowd control. [1:06 PM] Various office-type supplies for registration and related things. [1:06 PM] I'm not sure what all else. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:07 PM It's quite an extensive list. Electronics for the video gaming room & registration, panels & posts for the art show, electrical cords for merchants, the aforementioned gifts for various people, archival material for past chessiecon supplies, some t-shirts that are left for promotional sales, craft panel supplies,, tablecloths for fan tables, other fan table supplies, Keith LynchToday at 1:07 PM Why not borrow BSFS's art show panels and crowd control stuff? It's only used during Balticon. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:08 PM We bought the old art show panels from BSFS. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:08 PM Because we bought our art show panels from excess BSFS stock Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:08 PM We used to borrow. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:09 PM ...and the logistics of even borrowing wheelchairs from BSFS for accessibility issues is often a problem. The logistics of borrowing the art show panels like we used to do were frequently a much bigger problem/. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:10 PM We may want to inventory the room and get rid of things we don't use, to bring down the fixed costs. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:11 PM Can we get it down to a smaller storage bin? Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:11 PM If you haven't done that recently Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:11 PM I think it's a 5x10 presently. @Marilyn | Programming We may want to inventory the room and get rid of things we don't use, to bring down the fixed costs. DrGandalfToday at 1:11 PM Depends on the price of a smaller room. Might not be enough of a difference to be worth the bother Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:12 PM So we'd pretty much have to get rid of half what's there to downsize. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:12 PM We started out with a 5 x 10, the smallest. We moved up to a 10 x 10, due to the necessity of storing mainly the art shw panels. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:12 PM OK. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:12 PM ...but not only. IOW, I'm not so sure we can really downsize. [1:13 PM] Unless we nuke what was a fairly lively part of our programming. The fact that it diesppeared was much more of a staffing issue than anything else. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:13 PM OK. I just wanted to float the idea. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:14 PM Fair. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:14 PM It's not an unreasonable question Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:14 PM I didn't want to see that constant drain if it was possible to reduce it. [1:15 PM] It might be cheaper to buy things new each year than store it.(edited) Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:15 PM I think we're ready to move into the main topic. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:15 PM agreed Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:16 PM We had a virtual Con a week ago. How did it go? Let's walk through it in an orderly fashion. [1:16 PM] Registration: lessons? thoughts? observations?(edited) [1:18 PM] Were there any issues or concerns about the registration process? Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:18 PM I want to commend Dave for handling "at con" registration so efficiently. [1:19 PM] People were pleased to get their registration turned around quickly. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:19 PM I did get one person who tried to register, but never got us her on-line contact information. She did reach me after the convention; I am mailing her check back to ehr, per her request. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:19 PM Good service. Well done @Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:19 PM Registration database reports a total of 123 registrants, many of which were rollovers from 2019. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:20 PM I really didn't think it needed to me mentioned for an on-line convention, but I guess it does: we need to ensure that we request peoples contact information int he proper format, for either in-person or on-line convention. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:20 PM Of the rollovers it is uncertain how many actually showed up for panels. Keith LynchToday at 1:20 PM Off topic: It's just been confirmed that the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return capsule has landed safely. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:21 PM noice Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:21 PM In the Chessiecon 2020 Discord server, I think we topped out at 96 folks signed up. Some of these were program participants who were NOT in the registration database. [1:22 PM] (Again, number unknown.)(edited) Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:22 PM If we do this type of thing again, it is possible to ask Zoom hosts to record names of attendees, however, it is kinda hard to match up names with handles, unless we request that information as part of contact information at reg. @Keith Lynch Off topic: It's just been confirmed that the Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return capsule has landed safely. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:22 PM yes. They will pick up the capsule in the morning Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:22 PM We have at least a fighting chance of being in person in 2021. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:22 PM And that still won't track things like my wife and me attending the same session in a single Zoom client. Keith LynchToday at 1:22 PM Didn't someone say that many (most?) Zoom users never used Discord? @Yakira - Volunteers and Vendors If we do this type of thing again, it is possible to ask Zoom hosts to record names of attendees, however, it is kinda hard to match up names with handles, unless we request that information as part of contact information at reg. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:23 PM Yeah, I think that should be part of "contact information int he proper format" Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:23 PM True Jim. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:23 PM It's going to be a Hard Problem to correlate the user sets. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:24 PM What does our current reg questionarie look like? Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:24 PM There were a number of miscommunication issues. Mostly related to people misspelling their email address, or misspelling OUR email address, Or in one case, a mail-in registrant not supplying an email address at all. Keith LynchToday at 1:24 PM I know exactly how many warm bodies were on site. :-) Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:25 PM Having a Discord server will probably be useful even for an in-person convention. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:25 PM It may be possible to revamp the reg process to invoke an extra confirmation step to make sure that THEIR email address is at least existing and correct. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:26 PM But as pertains to the Registration Department: [1:26 PM] better collection/verification of contact details (especially email address) is something to look into Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:27 PM For various reasons, I would like to ditch Paypal. I hereby make a formal motion that a small committee be authorized to investigate moving payment processing to Square, with whom we already have an account.(edited) @Herveus | Con Ops Having a Discord server will probably be useful even for an in-person convention. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:27 PM [1:28 PM] I'll second that. [1:28 PM] We do already have the ardware for Square, as well. [1:28 PM] hardware Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:29 PM Discussion? Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:29 PM I agree and have nothing to add Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:29 PM I'm strongly in favor of avoiding Paypal whenever possible. DrGandalfToday at 1:30 PM Never personally having had a problem with Paypal, I defer to others Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:30 PM I second the motion to investigate a different payment processing system for registration. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:30 PM I've been unhappy with PayPal since the beginning, for various reasons. When we first set things up, though, PayPal was pretty much the only game in town. I think we can be flexible with our choice of clients handling our money. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:31 PM We can embrace the power of "and" so people can send us money via Paypal. But shift our primary platform to Square. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:31 PM A valid point. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:32 PM So. I'll call the question: All in favor say something affirmative. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:32 PM Aye Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:32 PM Something affirmative DrGandalfToday at 1:32 PM Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:32 PM Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:32 PM Aye Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:32 PM Anyone opposed? Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:33 PM An I consider it ridiculous for the Treasurer to not be on said small committee, so I'll volunteer. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:33 PM Aye [1:33 PM] And obviously I volunteer to be on the committee. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:33 PM The ayes have it. [1:34 PM] Does said committee need more than two people? Or is there anyone else with a burning desire to be on it? Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:34 PM In all honesty, Herveus, I'd like you to be on it at least in an advisory capacity. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:35 PM OK. I'm OK with that. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:35 PM Mostly because you've got some experience with Square Register. I'm willing to have more folks on the committee if they want, but don't feel it's necessary. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:35 PM I've created the channel for the January meeting and noted as an agenda item a report from said committee. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:35 PM I noticed how soon you jumped on that. Goo djob. [1:36 PM] ...ther'e s a reason I've never tried to server as Secretary. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:36 PM Agenda items for January can be noted there any time. [1:36 PM] So, I think we've mined the Registration Department out well. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:36 PM Can we get a channel for Square discussion? Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:37 PM How about Vendors/Dealers/Merchants? @Yakira - Volunteers and Vendors ? Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:37 PM One of the issues that was mentioned to me this year was the clunkiness in the reg process. Another issue that cropped up this year and also happened in 2018 was the registration process hanging in between Paypal approval and formal completion of the process on our end. These are issues I hope that either will go away, or that we can solve in the coming months.(edited) Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:38 PM Low vendor interest. But no problems Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:38 PM There's a channel for discussing square now Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:38 PM virtual cons don't seem to mix well with selling stuff Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:38 PM Yeah. I think that's the main lesson. @Dave/Evan(damont) | Registration Can we get a channel for Square discussion? Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:38 PM so created. "moving to square" under "topical" category Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:38 PM but no complaints about the process. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:38 PM Did the few vendors we had report any problems? [1:39 PM] I'm hoping they at least got decent business for such a relatively small turnout. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:39 PM I hope so. It's a real shame that Sally doesn't have a website though. [1:39 PM] But that's all I have to report. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:39 PM OK. I suspected that part would be short. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:39 PM I talked to the three vendors; only one seemed to have any real activity Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:39 PM How about Volunteers? Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:40 PM Mostly it was finding and coordinating Zoom hosts. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:40 PM AFAIC, the tech folks pretty much rocked. 1 Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:40 PM For which the con chair thanks you, well done Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:40 PM I mined BSFS DrGandalfToday at 1:41 PM I suspect the best way to make it better for the dealers is to see if other cons (like Balticon and such) figure it out, then copy them Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:41 PM I will say that because music programming came in at the last minute, if it weren't for Hobbit taking the whole track, I would have had a lot of trouble finding enough hosts. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:41 PM I did not have to be called on to pinch hit in Zoom at all. I call that a win. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:41 PM Likewise. DrGandalfToday at 1:41 PM The BSFS crew seems to be the go to bunch for running vCons 1 Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:42 PM The BSFS crew is getting a drink on me once we can actually see each other. 1 DrGandalfToday at 1:42 PM @DrGandalf I suspect the best way to make it better for the dealers is to see if other cons (like Balticon and such) figure it out, then copy them Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:42 PM In talking to Balticon, it seemed to me that the vendors who actually did well there were the ones who had some sort of presentation on their channels; this was the primary motivation for givng vendors their own voice channels when I built the Discord server. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:42 PM I've picked up a useful level of experience on the front line from CapClave and Philcon. [1:43 PM] The only Zoom stuff I did was moving a "party" from Discord to Zoom. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:43 PM We also put the word out that these were the more successful vendors, so in contacting them, we tried to get them to do something along those lines, and shill themselves in the Con Suite. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:43 PM Vendors are still learning how to operate in this environment. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:43 PM I suspect it's part of the learning curve for vendors too. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:44 PM You're probably both right. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:45 PM I do have a page of notes from the gripe session. I will share it in the shared drive, but I will also insert it here where relevent. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:45 PM As I do, but mine is actually fairly short. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:46 PM We may as well incorporate them here in addition to posting them on the shared drive. 1 Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:46 PM @Yakira - Volunteers and Vendors You go first Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:46 PM Feel free to insert anything relevant whenever, @Yakira - Volunteers and Vendors Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:46 PM Part of it is relevant to reg. [1:47 PM] Information dissemination Was mostly manual so very clunky. Was hard to find. Zoom links to panelists seemed to get lost, or they misunderstood. Zoom links pdf sent to attendees for panels/events were clunky and somewhat hard to parse. Was suggested to make a file of \342\200\230emergency\342\200\231 panelist links for last minute scramble in case Zoom host needs to hand them out. Announcements in Discord was a good work around for making sure folks could find panels/events they were interested in. [1:47 PM] The next part is about programming, music track specifically. [1:48 PM] Music programming Was very last minute and somewhat unorganized. Last minute enough that Yakira would have had problems finding Zoom hosts had Hobbit not stepped up. Music did get compliments in the gripe session. Music got compliments from Zoom host and on Discord from attendees. [1:49 PM] everyone digesting this? I have two more chunks Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:49 PM I've got it Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:49 PM Me too Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:49 PM I support the compliments for the music sessions. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:50 PM Badger Pajamas Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:50 PM okay, the next part is pretty much only relevant to this being a remote con. [1:50 PM] Meetings v.s. Webinars Need to be more thought out for certain events, music and readings seemed to do better as meetings than webinars Some folks were confused about how to sign up for panels, not realizing there was no sign up. Zoom hosts were great and were able to turn Webinars into \342\200\230meetings\342\200\231 when the panelist requested. Zoom hosts said that all the panels/events went smoothly once everyone settled into them, and everyone seemed to have a nice time. [1:50 PM] Techie folks seemed to think it was a good thing we had a low attendance because our infrastructure could not have handled many more people. [1:51 PM] General feeling from attendees at gripe session was that everyone had a nice time and enjoyed the content. [1:51 PM] and I'm done with that. Any questions/clarifications? Herveus | Con OpsToday at 1:52 PM Heck, the gripe session was better attended than they usually are. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:52 PM I happen to agree with the techie folks. A significantly larger attendance would have been issueful with the mostly ad hoc setup. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:52 PM A few, frommy notes: Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 1:52 PM The readings were the one things I neglected to check with how the other conventions did it. @Herveus | Con Ops Heck, the gripe session was better attended than they usually are. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 1:54 PM Folks didn't have to budget for travel time. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:54 PM WRT Zoom, we need to capture the zoom webinar panelist links, and ensure the panelists have them. Having the 'emergency' contact, other than by e-mail is a good way to do so, other than follow-up emails. The main issues seems to be, a lot of the links went to peoples spam folders. 1 [1:54 PM] In at least one instance, the webinar invite never got deliverred at all. 1 Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 1:56 PM I'm going to be afk for about 15 minutes. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:57 PM In general, more people want more meeting format vs webinar formats. We should make this explanation clear to participants, and include in their surveys,a question about what they would prefer. This almost necessitates a fnother question about possible objection to the panel/presentation being recorded. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 1:57 PM If someone has a set of panelist links, DM on DIscord becomes a useful method of distribution... Keith LynchToday at 1:57 PM Re spam folders, I recommend that Chessiecon only send from one email address, and that everyone be asked, way ahead of time, to whitelist that email address. And also that no immense emails be sent unless absolutely necessary. 1 Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:58 PM As regards the at-convention communication, we need to build/rearrange the server with more varied, nd possibly specialized discord voice channels in particular @Keith Lynch Re spam folders, I recommend that Chessiecon only send from one email address, and that everyone be asked, way ahead of time, to whitelist that email address. And also that no immense emails be sent unless absolutely necessary. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 1:58 PM We do try and do the latter; perhaps it is not out of place to implement the former. DrGandalfToday at 1:58 PM Meeting format works when you have just a few attendees. When you get over 25 (i.e., one screens worth on most devices) it doesn't work so well. Webinar also decreases the chances of misbehaviour on the part of the attendees [1:59 PM] My attention to the meeting will be intermittent for the next 35 minutes or so. Keith LynchToday at 1:59 PM I was sent an unexpected 174k email by the con. It was blocked due to size. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:00 PM WRT the panels themselves: the writing programs were very popular, as was the little science programming we had-legacy from Darkover-there was a call for more science programming going forward. DrGandalfToday at 2:00 PM Keith, these days 174K is not considered a big attachment for most people. @Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming If someone has a set of panelist links, DM on DIscord becomes a useful method of distribution... Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:02 PM Only 18 of my 29 panelists signed up for Discord. but it would have been good to share that with the Zoom hosts. DrGandalfToday at 2:03 PM Question is why the others are not on Discord. Maybe we need to try to get them set up before the con. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:04 PM Finally, a lot of conventions are doing scheduling with Zambia. From reports from behind the scenes from other conventions, the program we use actually works better, has better features than Zambia (for example, a conflict-checker). But we should look into Zambia for perhaps schedule announcement, etc, since Zambia is becoming a more widely-used and disseminated platform. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:04 PM I sent them Discord invites as soon at Porsyhkin declared the server open. Lead a horse to water....(edited) Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:05 PM Yeah, but monay horses are suspicious that you've tied them to a depth charge. Keith LynchToday at 2:05 PM I can say why I was very reluctant to get on Discord. It demanded my exact birthday, which could be used for identity theft. I signed up as my organization "United Individualist" instead, using its birthday. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:05 PM To be fair, I can understand folks not wanting to join Discord, as there's no easy way to keep random people from DMing you... 1 Keith LynchToday at 2:06 PM The Discord con suite really didn't work very well. I recommend a Zoom con suite instead. Philcon's worked well. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:06 PM Both valid points. There are work-arounds, but they're often retrospective (You can block people, but that doesn't stop the initial, possibly unwanted, contact) [2:08 PM] Anyway, that's pretty much the wrap-up from the con chair. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:08 PM So we've sort of sequed into programming. Do you have more to add, @Marilyn | Programming ? Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:08 PM I sent my report to the staff list. [2:09 PM] I suppose I can summarize some things [2:09 PM] Date and number of participants contacted \342\200\223 Invitation sent 5/1 to 140 guests in the database Date and number responded to first invite - 6/19; 2 responses (email issues, perhaps) Date and number responded to second invite \342\200\223 Invitation sent 8/13; 9 responses Date and number responding to survey and questionnaire \342\200\223 Survey sent 10/12; 32 responses (I think) Date and number responded to preliminary schedule \342\200\223 sent 11/11; 32 responses Date and number responded to final schedule \342\200\223 sent 11/21; 33 responses Final Number of participants attending - 30 [2:10 PM] Number of non-music program items: 36 Number by type: 3 Kaffeeklatsches 6 Readings 12 Panels 15 Presentations Sent thank you note email on 12/1 [2:10 PM] My main complaint was that people did not promptly (with in 2 days) respond to email. [2:11 PM] That goes for committee and program participants. [2:11 PM] This was especially nervewracking in November [2:11 PM] I was concerned that there was not a status meeting between 11/1 and 11/26 when there was so much still in the air. [2:12 PM] Communication with the members was poor. Sunday before the con, my friends were wondering if it was happening. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:12 PM Good point, we really should have had one. Keith LynchToday at 2:13 PM I think part of that might be that because a few days before the con the website was still asking for program suggestions, and didn't seem to have been updated in a long time. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:14 PM And the program schedule was never posted to the website, so no one knew what would be on the program until the day before when the PDF was sent out. Keith LynchToday at 2:15 PM No, the program schedule was posted before the con. (But not the links needed to join the events.) Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:15 PM The links thing was intentional, though: it was supposed to be a registered event. [2:16 PM] And in fact,w as a registered event. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:17 PM Fortunately most of the guests were very eager and willing to do what they could to put on a good program. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:17 PM That part makes sense. For some reason my wife and I never saw the public schedule (without links). Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:17 PM Even those who were not familiar with the Zoom and Discord. [2:18 PM] But many required hand holding and many reminders. [2:18 PM] I gave them a pass because COVID. @Marilyn | Programming But many required hand holding and many reminders. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:19 PM I think that's going to always be the case, so we should probably add that note to the general notes/suggestions going forward. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:20 PM I tried to compare it with an in person con where we would still have to chase people down for their panels. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 2:20 PM Re panelist Zoom training - perhaps there ought to be a question regarding familiarity with these types of things so that we don't have a mini panic, like I did, at the lack of attendance at pre-con training for panelists. [2:21 PM] only 50% of our panelists took the offered training [2:21 PM] and we ought to have had a brief Discord training too Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:21 PM They only had a day's warning for the training dates. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 2:21 PM yes, that too [2:22 PM] mostly my fault, for not quite getting on board with Rodger and him being busy with Philcon, I'll own that. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:22 PM We were running behind the curve most of the way in. Yet we pulled it off more or less. Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 2:23 PM Agree Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:23 PM Through much heroics on the part of the concom and Zoom Hosts. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:23 PM @Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming, anything to note about your part of gaming? [2:23 PM] (Yes, not seeing the scramble back stage is always a thing) Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 2:23 PM afk again Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:23 PM I wasn't really the right person to run it, but I was what we had. [2:24 PM] In retrospect I should have promoted it in con suites, something I'm not good at. [2:24 PM] To my knowledge only two people poked their heads in, and I didn't manage to game with either of them. [2:25 PM] It was confused by the fact that there were two text channels and no voice channels for it. [2:26 PM] I suspect tabletop-gaming-discussion was intended to be a voice channel, but it was created incorrectly. [2:27 PM] That's what I have. @Jim/Blaise | Tabletop Gaming I suspect tabletop-gaming-discussion was intended to be a voice channel, but it was created incorrectly. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:27 PM Crap, you are correct. I never noticed tht, yes, the second channel wa in fac t, supposed to be a voice channel. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:28 PM Both the gaming discussion channels did that. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:28 PM The Discord server setup was suboptimal in ways. [2:28 PM] ...he says [2:29 PM] I think it just got the short end of the attention stick in getting everything set up. @Herveus | Con Ops I think it just got the short end of the attention stick in getting everything set up. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:29 PM Pretty much Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:29 PM ...and then it was too late to do much to restructure it without confusing people. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:30 PM Concur. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:31 PM That was something I expected we would discuss during the Nov meeting. Structure of the Discord server since it was key. [2:31 PM] Conchair needs to learn to delegate 1 Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:31 PM The conchair is a self-described nucking futcase Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:32 PM That might fairly have passed over to Con Ops whose Discord chops are pretty thin. @Herveus | Con Ops That might fairly have passed over to Con Ops whose Discord chops are pretty thin. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:33 PM Exactly Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:33 PM "lesson learned" Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:34 PM If Discord volunteers had been requested at that stage, I'd have volunteered. I've been backup admin on a discord server for a few years now... 2 Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:35 PM Ah, wish I'd known that earlier. But as Herveus says, "Lesson Learned" Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:35 PM Exactly. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:35 PM whistles innocently at the concept of Not Asking For Help. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 2:36 PM While I might have asked my kid for help with the Discord, it's as well I didn't, as he's been down with the flu for 2 weeks now. (And he already had his flu shot. Flu germs just love to make him miserable. And before you ask, he did get a Rona test -- negative.)(edited) Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:37 PM Seriously, though, I was under the mistaken impression that only a couple of us had extensive Discord experience. In retrospect, it would have been better to ask in general, for Justin. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:39 PM We don't have an @Saria | Videogaming, Website for video gaming. Is there anything anyone else wants to add to the record (and she can come in later and add notes) [2:41 PM] OK. Who/what have I left out? Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:42 PM I think that covered everything. [2:42 PM] Other than repeating our thanks to BartenderBot. 1 Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:42 PM Coyotes falling from the ceiling and all that. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:42 PM Actually, who was technically running con suite? [2:43 PM] And have we heard from them? Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:43 PM Oh, there is one more thing to add: Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 2:43 PM BatenderBot was Steve Aines DrGandalfToday at 2:43 PM I have returned from the UK Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:43 PM I want to make sure everyoe one got the message abotu concom/tech host gifts. 1 Yakira - Volunteers and VendorsToday at 2:44 PM yes, and I will pick up Steve's too, next week sometime, will DM you. Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 2:44 PM Yakira, I didn't mean BartenderBot - who was officially in charge of con suite? Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:44 PM I don't think we had anyone formally moderating Con Suite. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:44 PM It's the Chessie mug, available in orange, blue, red, and yellow. If you havne't yet, please send your surface mail address and color preference to: info@chessiecon.org [2:45 PM] I'll get one out to you, but I'm still in self-quarantine for a few more days, , and the packaging materials are at home, so I can't send them out for another few days. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 2:46 PM I sent my info in right after the gripe session. I have been told I get to figure out where to store the mug. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:47 PM I did extend Steve the gift offer; while he wasn't formally moderating the con suites, he was effectivelly doing so, essentially substituting that role for his more usual one of hotel liaison. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:48 PM OK. I think that covers the After Action Review part. [2:48 PM] Are there any other items of business? [2:49 PM] Or should I be soliciting a motion to adjourn? Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:49 PM is anyone writing up the lessons learned? Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:50 PM Yakira & I have already written up most of them. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:50 PM @Herveus | Con Ops I think it would be useful to review the action items from the meeting. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:51 PM I'm thinking that posting them to the mailing list would be wise. Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 2:51 PM Probably both good points. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:54 PM We want to be better at capturing diverse contact information from registrants and participants. [2:55 PM] Dave, Poryshkin, and I (at minimum) will explore switching to Square as our primary invoicing provider. [2:56 PM] Tech training for panelists needs improvement. [2:56 PM] Discord setup needs improvement/delegation. [2:57 PM] Communication to our members was suboptimal. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:58 PM Oh, I just meant Action Items from the meeting, not Lessons Learned for the con. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:58 PM We might want to look at Zambia as a complementary scheduling tool. [2:58 PM] Trying to sort that out is tedious. But as for actual action: [2:58 PM] We have a slate of nominees for the elections in January [2:58 PM] We have a committee to look at switching to Square. [2:59 PM] Beyond that, it's all lessons, I think. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:59 PM Did we decide it was worthwhile to try to reduce the storage space cost? Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:59 PM (is there some way to extract the chat transcript?) [2:59 PM] Not clear. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 2:59 PM Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse Herveus | Con OpsToday at 2:59 PM No problem. DrGandalfToday at 3:00 PM Ctrl A, Ctrl C, Ctrl V(edited) Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 3:00 PM I think it's impractical without dumping a lot of our stuff, is the problem. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:01 PM select all -> copy does not leave the text on my clipboard. Tried that before asking. DrGandalfToday at 3:01 PM It works if you sweep highlight the whole text Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:02 PM That works. [3:03 PM] Sort of. [3:03 PM] Anyway. Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 3:04 PM The reason I asked about Action Items is so that 1) people are clear on what they need to do, 2) at the next meeting, we can go over them and see the progress or problems on those items DrGandalfToday at 3:04 PM If you paste it into word and then save it as a .txt document, that gets rid of the formatting Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:04 PM The trick seems to be getting all the text selected. [3:05 PM] And it's not doing that. [3:05 PM] Thank you @Marilyn | Programming for that nudge. DrGandalfToday at 3:06 PM On windows, left click at the end of the chat, hold the left MB down, sweep up all the way to the top, then copy. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:06 PM And now I think a motion to adjourn is in order. DrGandalfToday at 3:06 PM Here: Herveus.txt 3.46 KB Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 3:06 PM second the motion Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 3:06 PM I move to adjourn. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:06 PM I'm on Mac, and when I did that I only got a portion. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 3:07 PM I third the motion, now that it's been formally made DrGandalfToday at 3:07 PM The file I posted there is all of it up to a couple of minutes ago Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:07 PM No, it's not. It goes as far as "Joanna Dionne was a founding member". [3:08 PM] Which is probably the last chunk it pulled up as it scrolled up. [3:08 PM] But there is a motion to adjourn. All in favor Harumph for the Governor. Dave/Evan(damont) | RegistrationToday at 3:08 PM Harumph! Marilyn | ProgrammingToday at 3:08 PM Harumph Poryshkin | Con ChairToday at 3:09 PM Harumph DrGandalfToday at 3:09 PM Never mind, that didn't work either Jim/Blaise | Tabletop GamingToday at 3:09 PM Harumph! Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:10 PM Thank you all for your time. Meeting is adjourned. DrGandalfToday at 3:12 PM This is supposed to be a way to grab a discord chat: [3:12 PM] https://github.com/Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter GitHub Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter Exports Discord chat logs to a file. Contribute to Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter development by creating an account on GitHub. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:13 PM I just found that, too. DrGandalfToday at 3:13 PM Not sure how to use it Keith LynchToday at 3:13 PM I'm curious how it will deal with emojis and other non-ASCII characters. DrGandalfToday at 3:14 PM The actual program is here: https://github.com/Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter/releases GitHub Releases \302\267 Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter Exports Discord chat logs to a file. Contribute to Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter development by creating an account on GitHub. [3:20 PM] Norton thinks the program is not safe Keith LynchToday at 3:21 PM I'm able to extract about a page at a time (without using that program). I can try and extract the whole thing that way if there's any interest. DrGandalfToday at 3:22 PM I can extract it, but Norton warns me not to. Keith LynchToday at 3:22 PM No, I mean I can cut and paste without using DiscordChatExporter. DrGandalfToday at 3:22 PM I see. Please send a copy to Herveus Keith LynchToday at 3:23 PM (How does Discord decide what to italicize?) [3:23 PM] I don't have Herveus's email address Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:23 PM herveus@gmail.com [3:23 PM] Now you do... Keith LynchToday at 3:23 PM Thanks. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:23 PM You bet. And thank you for the offer. Keith LynchToday at 3:24 PM It may take me a few days. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:24 PM No rush. Keith LynchToday at 3:25 PM But not as long as it took for the person who asked me to recover the text from a punched paper tape. That took me 45 years. [3:25 PM] (I wrote a program to use a flatbed scanner to read it.) DrGandalfToday at 3:32 PM Keith LynchToday at 3:33 PM To be honest, I wasn't working on it for the whole 45 years. :-) DrGandalfToday at 3:40 PM Only subconsciously Keith LynchToday at 3:42 PM It looks like emojis are simply dropped. I hope that's okay. [3:43 PM] Italics are lost, but the text that was italicized remains. Herveus | Con OpsToday at 3:56 PM Sounds reasonable