Date: December 17, 2023, 2pm
Location: TSFS Discord channel #december-2023-business-meeting
Attendees:
Michael Houghton (Herveus), President
Marilyn Mix, Vice-President, Chessiecon Webmaster and Marketing
Sam Hogan (Poryshkin), Treasurer, Chessiecon 2022 chair
Dave Montuori (Evan), Secretary, Chessiecon Registration
Eric Fleischer (DrG)
Keith Lynch
Patty Daukantas
Agenda:
Next Meeting: January 7, 2:00pm, Sunday. Discord #january-2024-business-meeting
Agenda: Officer elections; Organizational meeting
Called to order: 14:00 EST
Reviewed Action Items:
Treasurer Report:
We have a total of $2,351.07 in the various accounts. This includes all
the recent supporting memberships, accounts for payment of the PO Box.
Discussion of ASCAP licensing fee of about $168. We won’t need to pay it
unless we hold a convention.
Website Report:
I set up a generic website for 2024. The past chessiecon.org websites are
still accessible. We can use that website to post whatever news we have.
Registration Report:
As of December 1st we had 9 supporting memberships for 2023-24: Herveus,
Marilyn, Poryshkin, myself, Dr G, Eva Whitley, Emil Volcheck, Brent Warner,
and Cris Doria-Warner. There's been no action on Paypal nor Square since
then; I cannot speak to any checks that were mailed in and received after 1
December. I am not against extending the deadline for 2023-24 memberships if
folks want to do that.
I've also been contemplating whether lowering the cost of a supporting
membership might bring in more people, enough to offset the lowered fee...
e.g. if supporting memberships were $11 (instead of $21) would we get 20 or
more people?:
Also, with the numbers as low as they are I have not yet tried to stand up a
new membership database. That's a project for 2024 when maybe I'll have more
spoons (and other resources).
General Discussion:
1. Encouraging more supporting memberships:
We had a free-wheeling discussion of the purpose of the organization
and why people should join.
Q: What is the incentive for people to get supporting memberships
other than nostalgia?
A: Technically, the chief benefit is being able to vote at meetings.
A: Maintenance of the organization to the point where we could start
holding some form of Convention again.
If we can't convince enough people to support TSFS, then it could also
be a sign that it's time to lay it down.
I have been thinking that TSFS has outlived its purpose. It is just
nostalgia now. We don't have a core of people to run any event.
2. Future of Chessiecon
Q: How many supporting memberships would we need to even think about
holding a convention? I would think we need a $5k - $10k nest egg to
get a hotel. Even at $21 each, that's 250+ supporters.
A: An in-person convention would cost considerably more than $21 per
capita. We''d still need 200+ people though, by my guess.
A: I'm not comfortable holding an in-person without about $20K,
actually. But trying for an online convention again is still an
outside possibility. I think Herveus is right, though, that's
pretty much a matter of trying to get more support from the wider
s/ff fan base.
A: An online convention could be run at considerably less cost,
but we''d need people. Discussion of whether virtual cons continue
to have an audience. Larger conventions are not including a virtual
part any longer. Smaller cons are either going all-online or just
shutting down.
Officer Nominations:
President:Michael Houghton (Herveus)
Vice President: TBD
Secretary: Dave Montuori (Evan)
Treasurer: Sam Hogan (Poryshkin)
Trustee term ending in 2027: Joanna Dionne
Meeting adjourned: 15:58 EST
Motions:
New Action Items:
Action Items from August meeting:
Action Items from April meeting:
Action Items from February meetng.
Action Items from January Meeting