Final December Minutes Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: Sunday 4th December 2011 Meeting time: 2.00pm BST Present: Elaine, Kalen, Martijn, Peter, Stephen, Yo Apologies Debbie and Trish Following a request by the company secretary, directors waived their right to formal notice of this meeting. 1. Administrative 1.1.The board notes that the chair will require a leave of absence of 4-6 weeks beginning near the end of April. 2.Follow ups 2.1.The announcement about subcommittees and working groups has now been made. 3.Proposals 3.1.The board decided to dissolve the transport working group. (5 for, 0 against). 3.2. 3.2.1.There was a brief discussion of the chair's proposal to make formal meeting announcements for the remaining meetings all at once as soon as possible. The chair made the point that it would be simpler to do them all at once and would avoid having to give it further thought. The Company Secretary pointed out that the disadvantage would be that any change to one meeting would be likely to require reissuing the whole announcement and she thought an automated announcement would be just as simple and efficient and clarified the distinction between the legal obligation to notify directors and Autscape's practice of sending out meeting reminders to all members and the directors. The matter was deferred to the board email list for further discussion. 3.2.2.The board instructed the company secretary to ensure that reminders are issued 2 days before each meeting. (3 for, 0 against). 3.3.The board decided that the remit of wg-tech should be to aid and advise the venue coordinator about potential technical issues that might need resolving or raising with the venue, principally regarding the AV system and IT requirements. (6 for, 0 against) 3.4. The board discussed at length a shortlist of potential themes for Autscape 2012. These were: Autisms - similarities and diversities Independent living* (and the possibility of combining with or changing the wording to include 'Living in the community with autism) Autistic empowerment* Mapping the world of autism Expanding Autistic Horizons/Exploring Autistic Futures Autism through the lifespan Autistic Autonomy The discussion was fruitful in narrowing the list further but a final decision was deferred to the board list. 4. Subcommittee progress reports. 4.1.Sc-prog-formal (sc membership, task list and timetable for the year). The chair reported that as discussed above, a theme shortlist has been drawn up. The subcommittee has also spent some time discussing the balance of presentations vs. discussions. 4.2. Sc-prog-alt (sc membership, task list and timetable for the year). There was no report due to the absence of the chair. 4.3.Sc-fund (sc membership, task list and timetable for the year). The chair reported that they had some possible grants to check out and some other fund raising opportunities. She also reported that somebody who is being sponsored to run the London Marathon would like to nominate Autscape as one of her charities. 4.4.Sc-research (sc membership, task list and timetable for the year). The chair was absent from the meeting but had reported to the board earlier that she planned to start her sc going once the announcement about it goes out and the getting involved page is updated. She also reported looking for creches and having found one or two, although most in that area seem to be franchises, many which Autscape has contacted before. 4.5.Sc-pub (sc membership, task list and timetable for the year). The chair reported that he had contacted five magazines to ask them to send him their advertising deadlines and fees for the next few issues and he was awaiting responses. 4.6.Working group reports Echo, Newsletter, Purchasing, Tech. There was nothing to report. The chair of wg newsletter was asked if he expected to make progress on the newsletter soon and whether there was any prospect of getting one out in the next few months. He replied that he was hoping the announcement will prompt people to join the wg as at the moment there are only three people active in there. 5.Key position progress reports (matters not covered earlier) 5.1.Webmaster (updating website, new email lists). The webmaster reported that the 2 day reminder for the board was now in place and if all is well, it should run for the next meeting. 5.2.Venue coordinator 2012 (planned venue visits). The venue coordinator reported he had not managed to initiate contact with the venue, or coordinate with anyone else who needs to go in the past month. 5.3. Treasurer (bank form, tax return, annual report/accounts). The treasurer reported that he still hadn't had time to do Autscape work but he was aiming to get the accounts done on the CC39a form by the end of today. 5.4.Company Secretary (files, annual report, info@ guidance, legal issues re video). The company secretary reported that she couldn't make any progress on the annual report until she had the accounts. She had also done a few minor things but she was going to continue to struggle for time until end of Jan. She would also like to work on the files but needed tech support. This was offered by Peter. 5.5.Chair. The chair expressed approval that some progress is being made, but cautioned that responsible individual's will need to keep moving on the things they've agreed to do as things gradually get busier from now through May/June at least (longer for some). 6.There was no other business [Part 2 – minutes of closed meeting in separate document} Meeting closed at 16.52 BST