Agenda for October 2014 board meeting
Meeting to be held at 3pm on Sunday 19th October at
irc.starlink-irc.org #autscape
Attendance:
Apologies:
1. Request from the honorary secretary for directors to waive their right to
formal notice of this meeting.
2. Proposals:
2.1. Booking a venue. Stephen proposes we choose a venue to book for
Autscape 2015 from the options Elaine has been providing us over the
past month. An incomplete list of these being:
Smallwood Manor (Low cost, 140 capacity but averages 4 per room)
Hothorpe Hall (Fixed rate cost rather than per delegate making it
awkward to compare to previous venues cost wise, mostly doubles and
twins, lots of child places which wouldn't really be usable by
adults, capacity caps out at 153 adult places and 45 child places)
Belsey Bridge (Might be slightly smaller in 2015 compared to this
year. No longer qualify for introductory rate, which could result in
a large difference between standard and en-suite rates)
High Leigh (Would need to push for 150. Same price as Belsey
Bridge.)
Hayes (Would be sharing with another group, but apparently good at
dividing. Same price as Belsey Bridge.)
2.2. Sensory materials storage. Proposal: that we decide how to
progress with storing Autscape's sensory and other materials.
Rationale: see Appendix B.
Options:
• Assign a budget to Peter to get the boxes to Yo.
• Terminate the contract with Yo and let Peter keep them.
• Continue to pay Yo, but have Peter store the boxes, to keep
our options open.
2.3. Peter proposes: To close the TSB bank account.
Rationale: see Appendix C.
2.4. Recombining programme subcommittees. In order to streamline the
organisation of the conference programme, Martijn proposes that the
Formal Programme Subcommittee and Alternative Programme Subcommitee
be reunited into one Programme Subcommittee. Rationale: Appendix A.
3. Follow ups:
3.1. Future Research Requests (Deferred from previous meeting)
3.2. Personal Data Retention Policy
3.3. Guidance for splitting conference organisation from governance
3.4. Outstanding Minutes
3.5. Chat list moderator powers
3.6. Website Files
3.7. Newsletter
3.8. Amended Honorary Secretary job description (Stephen).
(See Sept '14 meeting, item 2.1)
4. Role reports:
4.1. Chair (Martijn)
4.2. Treasurer (Peter)
4.3. Company secretary (Debbie)
4.4. Honorary secretary (Stephen)
4.5. Web systems (Martijn)
5. Any Other Business
(Closed portion of meeting)
6 Role assignments
6.1 Chair (Last year Martijn; Candidates: Martijn)
6.2 Vice Chair (Last year Elaine; Candidates: )
6.3 Treasurer (Last year Peter; Candidates: )
6.4 Vice Treasurer (Last year None; Candidates: Stephen)
6.5 Web Systems (Last year Martijn; Candidates: Martijn)
6.6 Honorary Secretary (Last year Stephen; Candidates: Trish, Stephen)
6.7 (Formal) Programme Coordinator (Last year Martijn; Candidates: )
(It is not proposed to seek to elect a venue coordinator until the
venue is known)
(End of closed portion of meeting)
Appendix A - Rationale for 2.4
Martijn writes:
I think we should undo the split between the formal and the alternative
programme, and reunite the two subcommittees into one programme
subcommittee.
The split was an experiment. While it has produced some interesting new
initiatives, it has also created chaos. Particularly for the schedule,
splitting the organising of it between two subcommittees is simply a
disaster. For last Autscape, Elaine ended up having to do almost all the
work to fix the mess, on top of her already too-heavy workload.
It started out as the Youth programme and then was supposed to be a
lighter alternative to the main programme. But in practice, it never
turns out as an alternative to the main programme, but instead it's
scheduled so that the two don't overlap. So, it has become integral to
the conference.
So I think the two should be combined. I think there should be one
Programme Coordinator coordinating the entire programme schedule.
Appendix B - Rationale for 2.2
We are currently in a contract with Yo to store the sensory equipment in
her garage, but Autscape's stuff is currently in storage in Peter's garage,
thus we are paying Yo to keep the space for Autscape but not currently
using it.
Appendix C - Rationale for 2.3
We've previously discussed an intention to close the TSB bank account, but
we have never taken a formal decision to do so. This account was formerly
the Lloyds TSB bank account before the banks split up. This account now
has no money in it - that has been transferred to the CAF bank account.