Agenda for March 2017 board meeting
Meeting to be held at 7:10pm GMT on Tuesday 15 March 2017
at irc.starlink-irc.org #autscape
Apologies: Larry
0. Request for directors to waive their right to formal notice of this
meeting
1. Approvals
1.1. Minutes of the January 2017 meeting posted to the list on 7th February
2017.
2. Ratifications
2.1. The decision made on the list on the 10th February to appoint Elaine as
Company Secretary (9 for)
2.2. The decision made on the list on the 12th February to appoint James as
List Co-ordinator (7 for)
2.3. The decision made on the the list on 12th February to appoint Jeremy
and Peter as Bookkeepers (6 for)
2.4. The decision made on the list on the 18th February to appoint David
Mery as Chair of Publications (6 for)
2.5. The decision made on the list on the 18th February to appoint Jeremy as
Fundraising Co-ordinator (6 for)
2.6. The decision made on the list on the 18th February to appoint Jeremy as
Membership Secretary (6 for)
2.7. The decision made on the list on the 3rd March to appoint Debbie as
Company Treasurer (5 for)
2.8. The decision made on the list on the 24th February to arrange that the
2017 venue will provide 4-6 craft sessions for the programme at a cost
of £15 per session, with any loss underwritten by an anonymous party,
in the event that the Autscape programme budget does not have the funds
to cover it. (8 for)
2.9. The decision made on the list on the 24th February to book the retro
computer museum in Leicester to bring 20 consoles for one day at a cost
of £320 plus venue fees and lunch, with any loss underwritten by an
anonymous party, in the event that the Autscape programme budget does
not have the funds to cover it. (8 for)
2.10. The decision made on the list on the 24th February to book
trampolining for Tuesday 8th August. The offer includes early arrival
and lunch, at a small supplemental cost to participants. Any loss is
underwritten by an anonymous party, in the event that the Autscape
programme budget does not have the funds to cover it. (7 for, 1
against)
Note - the anonymous parties referred to in 2.8-2.10 are not all the same people.
2.11. The decision made on the list on the 28th February to change the
company registered address. (6 for)
2.12. The decision made on the list on the 28th February to select “Autism
in Context” as the theme for the 2017 event
* Autism in Context (5 for)
* Exploring Empowerment (1 for)
* Independence and interdependence (1 for)
* Redefining communication (1 for)
2.13. The decision made on the list on the 7th March to select “Community
List” as the name for the new “chat list”.
* Community List (5 for)
* Exchange List (3 for)
2.14. The decision made on the list on the 9th March to make an adjustment
to the 2017 event fees, to reduce the low income twin fee from £210 to
£198. (8 for)
2.15. The decision made on list (date?) to make and adjustment to the day
fees (subject to completion of vote)
3. Proposals
3.1. The list coordinator proposes that we open a new mailing list called
the Community list by the 8th of April.
3.2. The Event Manager requests a budget of £1500 for the 2017 event programme.
3.3. The Chair proposes that we delegate authority to the Registrar to use
their discretion to adjust day fees to maximise attendance or
facilitate somebody's attendance up to 20% providing we cover our
costs.
3.4. Proposal: Reduce non residential full conference fee to option A or B.
A
One day fee / Two days fee / More than two days fee
Adult: 50 / 100 / 120
Carer: 42 / 78 / 114
Teenager: 37.50 / 75 / 90
Child: 25 / 50 / 60
Infant: 25 / 50 / 60
B
One day fee / Two days fee / More than two days fee
Adult: 60 / 115 / 115
Carer: 42 / 78 / 114
Teenager: 45 / 90 / 90
Child: 30 / 60 / 60
Infant: 27 / 54 / 54
4. Follow Ups
4.1. Registrars Report for 2016 (Debbie) (see Appendix A)
4.2. Programme Co-ordinators Report for 2016 (Kalen)
5. Role Updates
5.1. Chair
5.2. Company Secretary
5.3. Company Treasurer
5.4. Event Manager
5.5. Honorary Secretary
5.6. Fundraising Co-ordinator
5.7. Membership Secretary
5.8. Tech Co-ordinator
5.9. Venue Search Co-ordinator
5.10. List Co-ordinator
5.11. Book-keepers
6. Any Other Business
Closed portion of meeting
7. Roles
7.1 Info@ (candidates James, Kalen)
Appendix A
Registrars report 2016
Registration opened quite late in 2016. Originally registration was meant to
open in May. Shortly before it opened the registrar went to visit the venue.
We were assigned four houses, one with ground floor rooms. The registrar
needed to check these in order to be able to answer participants questions.
While there it transpired that this year Autscape only had three houses and
the venue needed us to decide which house we were not to have. This lead to
us having to redo our fees to encourage people to share more especially as
none of the ground floor bedrooms were singles.
When registration opened in June there was a rush for places. So much so
that over a hundred people booked in the first ten days. These were very
intensive days for the registrar. An improvement Autscape could make here is
to stress to people that its preferred to ask questions about the
accommodation before registration opens. This is especially important when a
person’s decision about whether or not to come depends on the answer.
The board had decided in advance that the first 90% of places would be
allocated on a first come first served basis. The remaining 10% would be
allocated at the end of booking. The rush for places at the start of booking
continued until 90% of places filled. The number of weeks between start of
the queuing system and the date of the draw was too high. People who could
not deal with uncertaincy could not queue and did not come. The system that
was put into place to help those who need extra time to decide and book had
failed for those who weren’t quickest to book. This is another area the
board needs to look at. Maybe Autscape members also have ideas on how they’d
like to see places allocated. Had we had the four houses we had originally
booked the situation would not have arisen so soon.
Towards the end of the registration period there were a number of
cancellations. Everyone who was queueing got a place but unfortunately we
didn’t manage to refill all the places. There wasn’t enough time.
Some numbers: The majority of people booked the standard fee this year. This
was an increase on the year before. We also had a good balance between those
who choose the higher fee and the lower fee. The higher fee subsides the
lower fee. All these things are good as they allow us to lower the amount of
the individual fee that goes to Autscape. 121 people were booked residential
in total with another 32 non residential of which over a dozen attended for
more than two days.