Final Agenda for July 2013 board meeting Meeting to be held at 2pm on Sunday 21st July 2013 at irc.starlink-irc.org #autscape Attendance Apologies - Trish 1. Request from the company secretary for directors to waive their right to formal notice of this meeting 2. Announcement 2.1. On 30th June 2013 the board ratified (6 for, 0 against) it's decision to accept the Belsey Bridge contract for Autscape 2014 at the special rates offered, in the knowledge that it requires a minimum attendance of 80 adults + 10 children (90 total) and that failure to achieve this will require Autscape to pay a charge of £78.66 for each unfilled place. 3. Ratifications 3.1. Our decisions to: 3.1.1. approve the 2011/2012 annual report and accounts (5 for, 0 against, 1st-2nd July) 3.1.2. co-opt Agnes Fairhead as a director/trustee of The Autscape Organisation, with the intention of her becoming treasurer (7 for, 0 against, 30th June - 1st July) 3.1.3. agree in principle to the film makers coming to Autscape (subject to them agreeing to our terms and conditions) (5 for, 1 against, 4-8th July) 3.1.4. delegate finalising the terms and conditions with the filmmakers to Elaine, provided that (a) they are broadly in line with the draft versions previously posted to the board email list and (b) Elaine has the agreement of least one other director on the final wording (4 for, 0 against, 15th-16th July) 4. Proposals 4.1. To recommend to the membership at the 2013 AGM that they elect as directors (see Appendix A for further information): 4.1.1. Liz Pellicano 4.1.2. Debbie Finucane 4.1.3. Agnes Fairhead 4.2. To delegate a budget of £300 to Debbie for the purchase of sensory equipment 5. Follow-ups 5.1. Replacing the company secretary (retirement on 16/09/13) 5.2. Scheduling and room allocation (Martijn) 5.3. Information pack (Martijn) 5.4. Trustee Insurance (Yo) -- provider CaSE, cost GBP 175.50 incl. tax, renewal 5.5. Event Insurance (Elaine) 5.6. Onsite team final list and arrival days/times (Martijn/Elaine) 5.7. 2014 contract and payment of deposit (Elaine/Yo/Stephen) 5.8. Treasurer and trustee recruitment (Yo) 5.9. Outstanding 2012-2013 minutes awaiting approval (Martijn) 5.10. Autreat/Autscape overlap possibilities (Martijn) 5.11. National Diversity Awards (Elaine) 5.12. Review of Experience list due. The company secretary proposes (unless there are any objections) deferring this issue until October due to current workload. 6. Subcommittee progress reports 6.1. Formal Programme (Chair: Martijn)(guidance for presenters; have all presenters registered?; schedule issues; other issues) 6.2. Alternative/Leisure Programme (Chair: Trish)(double check that budget adequate, finalised plan for interest groups, activities proposed, leisure programme and liaison on schedule, other). Trish's report is in Appendix B 6.3. Publications and publicity (Chair: Martijn)(poster/flyer completion and distribution, information pack draft progress, website redesign, updating website text, other issues). 6.4. Purchasing working group (Coordinator: Stephen) (name badges, confirmation that all supplies needed have been obtained/ordered) 7. Key position progress reports (matters not covered earlier) 7.1. Registrar (Kalen)(Final registration numbers, payment progress and any problems arising, room allocation progress, other issues) Debbie's report while covering for Kalen's absence is in Appendix C 7.2. 2013 Venue Coordinator (Elaine)(menu/catering liaison, advance party arrangements, do venue have a list of our equipment needs, information about venue's requirements (e.g. locking up) for communication to onsite team, matters arising) 7.3. Childcare coordinator (Elaine) (training, times, staffing, finalising cost, anything else?) 7.4. Transport coordinator (Elaine) (arrangements with provider, payment via registration system, onsite arrangements and timings in relation to schedule) 7.5. IT systems manager (Stephen)(website updating, how up to date is the members@ mailing list?, issues arising) 7.6. Interim Treasurer (Stephen)(actions taken under delegated authority, registration payments, paypal handover, liaison with former treasurer (Peter) and treasurer designate (Agnes), contact with bank/accountants, anything else) 7.7. Company Secretary (Yo)(accounts submission, distribution of annual report and accounts to members, AGM notice and preparation, bulletins, charity commission annual return, processing membership applications, actions taken under delegated authority, outstanding issues) 7.8. Chair (Martijn)(actions taken under delegated authority, board functioning and communication, progress so far in 2012-2013 and next tasks) 8. Any other business Appendix A Company secretary's advice to the board on the process of deciding whether to recommend individuals for election as directors Article 20(2) No person other than a director retiring by rotation may be appointed as a director at any general meeting unless (a) that person is recommended for re-election by the directors or (b) [they are nominated via the nominations process]. The intent of provision (a) is to allow the board to indicate to the membership that the board wishes to see elected individuals who possess particular skills which are needed by the board in order to carry out its functions effectively. It also ensures that the board can allow such individuals to stand even if they have not also been nominated. Directors who were previously elected and are retiring by rotation do not need to be recommended and can stand in the election anyway. Directors who joined the board by being co-opted MUST either be recommended by the board or nominated (or both) in order to stand in the election. Directors are reminded that they are under a duty to vote for or against a recommendation on the basis of their independent and considered views as to whether the board recommending to the members that they elect a particular individual is in the best interests of Autscape and not on the basis of personal views of any kind (positive or negative). Directors should consider the balance of skills on the board, the suitability of the person in question to fulfill the requrirements of being a director (see http://www.autscape.org/organisation/director) and the overall interests of Autscape. Under the Bye-laws, the current maximum number of directors is 9. Appendix B Alternative programme subcommittee chair's (Trish) report: I have been held up with in depth discussions on and off list about the home groups so there are still a number of things in progress or to be done however a lot is already in progress. Lifeguards confirmed (will need some cash to pay them), in progress with offers of activities from people (I have sent one query to board re Kabie's and there is another query to come re Dinah's, please can I have any concerns on these asap). Still to do request for films (we have all the licences in place don't we) and entertainment evening. Working on stuff for info pack and schedule as fast as I can. Debbie looking at sensory items - see request for money. Am I responsible for quiet room and venue tours? Will get request for rooms to Elaine and Martijn asap. That is pretty much it actually, will update if I think of anything else. Update to add to this - I have now sent Dinah's info to list as well. Appendix C Registrar's report (Debbie while covering for Kalen): Current numbers: 115 in total of which 107 residential. Two infants. Seven between the ages of 5 and 17. 14 carers. On track for handing Elaine final figures on Monday. Issues and comments: A. Some non payers go silent. This happens every year. Its impossible to tell when a silent person is silent because they no longer want to attend and perhaps don't know how to tell us or they are not seeing their emails. Either way these people cause a lot of extra work. People tend to notice cancellation emails but they may come as a shock to them. Some year we may find someone missed a cancellation email and turns up. I'd like to consider the following changes to address this problem. 1. Ability for people to cancel their booking via the web interface - that is not interact with a human. 2. Option for people to provide a mobile number and we text payment reminders to those whose email addresses seem to be not working. None of this is urgent and it can be discussed during or after Autscape. Others involved in this task may also have ideas - Kalen, Stephen, Peter, Elaine (info address) and Agnes. B. People with complicated bookings who don't book until the very last minute leaving us much less time than we'd otherwise have to try to accommodate them. I don't know what the solution here is. We tried once to have an earlier booking deadline for those with extra needs, but that resulted in someone pretending they'd no needs in order to book. Human behaviour being what it is. C. We'd a mistake in the registration system whereby it said all bedrooms had sinks. This was true last year but not this year. This year only some rooms have sinks. An email to all those not in en-suites was sent so we could identify those who need wash basins in their room. That in turn led to much room shuffling. Ackworth is a difficult venue in this regard. D. We filled all the bedrooms. An email went out to all those in single rooms asking for volunteers to share their room so we could fit in our waiting list. We are very grateful to those who volunteered. E. The diet information was passed to the venue co-ordinator at Thursday lunch time. F. All registration materials have either arrived or on order. I have a bulk order due to arrive on Tuesday.