Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: Tuesday 14th March 2017 Meeting time: 19.10 Meeting Chair: Trish Present: Debbie, Elaine, James, Jeremy, Joseph, Kalen, Martijn, Trish Apologies: Larry Observers: 1 Meeting opened: 19.32, closed 21.05 The directors waived their rights to official notice of the meeting 1. Approvals 1.1 Minutes of the January 2017 meeting posted to the list on 7th February 2017. Preliminary board approval of the minutes (pending final approval by the chair of the meeting (6 for, 0 against) 2. Ratifications 2.1. The decision made on the list on the 10th February to appoint Elaine as Company Secretary. (9 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 2.2. The decision made on the list on the 12th February to appoint James as List Co-ordinator. (7 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 2.3. The decision made on the the list on 12th February to appoint Jeremy and Peter as Bookkeepers. (6 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 2.4. The decision made on the list on the 18th February to appoint David Mery as Chair of Publications. (6 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 2.5. The decision made on the list on the 18th February to appoint Jeremy as Fundraising Co-ordinator. (6 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 2.6. The decision made on the list on the 18th February to appoint Jeremy as Membership Secretary. (6 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 2.7. The decision made on the list on the 3rd March to appoint Debbie as Company Treasurer. (5 for) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 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) Ratified (7 for, 0 against) 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) Ratified (7 for, 0 against) 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) Ratified (7 for, 0 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) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 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) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 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) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 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) Ratified (8 for, 0 against) 3. Proposals 3.1. The list coordinator proposed that we open a new mailing list called the Community list by the 8th of April. (7 for, 0 against) 3.2. The Event Manager requested a budget of £1500 for the 2017 event programme. (7 for, 0 against) 3.3. The Chair proposed 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. -Proposal 3.3 was deferred to the list. 3.4. The Company Treasurer proposed that we reduce non residential full conference fees, and gave 2 options. 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 (2 for A, 5 for B) 4. Follow Ups 4.1. Registrars Report for 2016 (Debbie)- Report received. See Appendix A 4.2. Programme Co-ordinators Report for 2016 (Kalen) No report received. 5. Role Updates 5.1. Chair (Trish) The chair reported that they have been keeping things moving on the list. 5.2. Company Secretary (Elaine) The Company Secretary reported that the Annual Report has been completed. The list policy needs a minor alteration, whilst the Confidentiality Policy and Participants Confidentiality Policy are being looked at by the board. The company address was changed in March. The Annual Report and Accounts are on target to be submitted to Companies House. 5.3. Company Treasurer (Debbie) No report submitted 5.4. Event Manager (Kalen) The Event Manager reported that the organising committee has added two new members, to cover publications and home groups respectively. The board has agreed on the theme, so updating the Call for Proposals is underway. As the board has agreed to have a retro computer games activity at the event, the deposit has been paid. The advert for the event has been placed in Asperger United. 5.5. Honorary Secretary (Jeremy) The Honorary Secretary reported feeling settled into the role in their first month. 5.6. Fundraising Co-ordinator (Jeremy) Nothing to report 5.7. Membership Secretary (Jeremy) Nothing to report 5.8. Tech Co-ordinator (Martijn) The Tech Co-ordinator reported that the process of migrating the Autscape server to a new operating system is ongoing. Meanwhile, the old system remains running as normal, and will be maintained with essential security updates for as long as necessary. -In response to a query, it was clarified that the intention was to run the registration system on the new operating system, and so the pre-registration has been temporarily put in place. 5.9. Venue Search Co-ordinator (Joseph) The Venue Search Co-ordinator reported that a shortlist of suitable venues for 2018 has been presented to the board. The opinion of the Venue Search Co-ordinator was that Newland Park looks like the best option, but that feedback for the 2017 venue will be of assistance for further decision making. 5.10. List Co-ordinator (James) The List Co-ordinator reported that matters are on track for the new Community List to be opened on April 8th. A revised Lists Policy is nearing completion. In addition to James’ role as List Co-ordinator, Kelvin Hanratty and Larry Arnold have been chosen as list moderators. The email address community.moderator@autscape.org has been chosen for contacting moderators. 5.11. Book-keepers (James/Jeremy) The Book-keeping team reported that a rota system had been implemented by the Company Treasurer, to maximise the utility of a team of 3, and that this was working out smoothly. 6. AOB There was no other business reported.
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.