Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation
Meeting date: Saturday 28th May 2017
Meeting time: 20.00
Meeting Chair: Trish
Present: Debbie, James, Jeremy, Joseph, Kalen, Larry, Martijn, Trish
Apologies: Elaine
Observers: 1
Meeting opened: 20.08
1. Approvals
1.1 Minutes of the April 2017 meeting posted to the list on 22nd May 2017.
(5 for, 0 against)
2. Ratifications
No matters requiring ratification
3. Proposals
3.1 The registrar proposed:
i/ To allow the registrar and organisers determine the optimum number
of day and residential places to be made available that will, in their
judgement, provide the optimum balance of places and needs, e.g. the
need for single rooms or to reduce crowding in communal spaces. The
minimum number of places must be at least the number used to calculate
the fees.
ii/ To allow the registrar to determine short day taster and single
lecture fees as required to facilitate access, so long as the fee is
sufficient to meet any cost to Autscape of those participants’
attendance and does not proportionally undercut the non residential fee.
iii/ To allow the registrar to determine any partial residential fee
provided the fee does not proportionally undercut the full residential
fee. and meets any cost to Autscape of those participants’ attendance.
This is for years when we don’t have partial residential fees and it is
to cover exceptional circumstances only.
(8 for, 0 against)
3.2 The Fundraising Co-ordinator proposed to set the Trading
Payment from Everyclick Ltd at 10% of total funds raised.
(8 for, 0 against)
3.3 The Company Secretary Proposed the following change to
Autscape’s List Policy paragraph 2:
Confidentiality: Autscape cannot guarantee that messages sent to the
mailing lists will not be redistributed. However, we expect list
subscribers to be respectful of other list users and treat all posts as
confidential and not repeat or reproduce either part or the whole of a
message in another place unless the sender explicitly states they can.
We will only allow one request to the whole list and not directed to a
specific person, asking for permission to reproduce or redistribute a post.
The poster is then under no obligation to respond either on or off list.
If it is brought to the board's attention that people are being asked by
private email or a post has been reproduced elsewhere without the
originators permission, then the board will take action and may sanction a
subscriber which could result in them being removed from the list.
- Discussion arose when Kalen stated that paragraph 2 seems to be
internally contradictory, as a “request... to reproduce or redistribute a
post” is “directed to a specific person”.
As a result of the developing discussion, the proposal was deferred to the list.
3.4 The Treasurer proposed that the board should close the 2016
fund and return any unused funds to general reserves.
(8 for, 0 against)
3.5 The Treasurer proposed that the board should designate two
and a half thousand pounds to the Autscape 2018 fund and that any income
and expenditure relating to the 2018 event use that fund.
(8 for, 0 against)
3.6 The Treasurer proposed that the board accept the financial
statements which will be included in the annual report.
(8 for, 0 against)
3.7 The Company Secretary proposed that we spend some of our
reserves on governance training, some on additional entertainment for the
Autscape conference and set some aside to start a bursary fund to enable
more people with a low income to attend Autscape.
- Discussion arose when Larry asked for reassurance that a reasonable
level of reserves in line with those recommended would be preserved.
It was clarified that our reserves have exceeded the upper limit amount
allowed in our reserves policy. This proposal was to determine what we
would spend our reserves on to bring them back under this limit. The exact
details of any spending would be discussed at a later date.
The proposal was approved (8 for, 0 against)
3.8 The Registrar proposed the Cancellation policy be amended to
reflect the fact that this year we have a waiting list.
(8 for, 0 against)
See Appendix 1 for the proposed amended policy.
4. Follow-Ups
No matters required follow-ups this month
5. Role Updates
5.1 Company Treasurer (Debbie)
The Company Treasurer reported that payment by instalments by bank transfer
is taking up a fair amount of time to administrate.
5.2.1 Event Manager (Kalen)
The Event manager reported the addition of James and Elaine to the
organising committee. Things are moving along well enough, with
most substantial progress on the programme.
5.2.2 Programme Co-ordinator (Martijn)
The Programme Co-ordinator reported completing the summarising of all the
subcommittee discussions on the proposals we received.
The system should be able to be closed within the next week, at which
point the statistics generated will be presented to the board to create a
“proposal acceptance proposal”.
5.2.3 Registrar (Debbie)
The Registrar reported that registrations have slowed down.
5.3 Chair (Trish)
The Chair reported implementing procedures for tightening up various
matters, for example meetings, to make things easier for all directors.
5.4 Company Secretary (Elaine)
The Company Secretary reported that progress had been made with canvassing
feedback on the annual report, but asked that any further comments be made
asap. After that, there are further documents to update, but the annual
report is of greatest importance.
5.5 Fundraising Co-ordinator (Jeremy)
The Fundraising Co-ordinator had nothing to report, as matters were waiting
until proposal 3.2 was approved
5.6 Honorary Secretary (Jeremy)
Nothing to report
5.7 List Co-ordinator (James)
The List Co-ordinator reported that the Community List has been
functioning well and growing steadily. There was an issue with quoting,
which gave an opportunity to clarify the intention of the guideline.
5.8 Membership Secretary (Jeremy)
Nothing to report
5.9 Tech Co-ordinator (Martijn)
Nothing to report
5.10 Venue Search Co-ordinator (Joseph)
The Venue Search Co-ordinator reported a planned visit to Tonbridge School
in early July.
6. AOB
6.1. Kalen raised the issue of orange stars and other badge
symbols, which needs to be discussed in good time for sorting out
practicalities at the Autscape conference.
Meeting closed 22.01 BST
Actions
3.3 Several directors questioned an apparent contradiction in the proposed
amendment to the Lists Policy, regarding how to request the chance to quote
a specific post from a list.
- It is quite important to resolve this proposal for the purpose of running
the list, and the Lists Co-ordinator makes reference in the relevant Role
Report to an issue with quoting on the Community List.
6.1 Kalen raised the issue of orange stars and other badge symbols, which
needs to be discussed in good time for sorting out practicalities at the
Autscape conference.
- The Chair will revive the discussion of badge symbols on the board list.
Appendix 1
The cancellation policy refers to the money you paid to Autscape for the
Autscape conference. If you booked any extras they will have their own
information on their pages. For Autscape 2017 we have extra fees for travel
and early arrival for the trampolines.
If you cancel in May: There is an administration fee of £20 per booking.
You will be refunded the rest of your conference fee. Please allow up to 28
days for your refund.
If you cancel in June or July: There is no right to refund however we will
try to refill any places which are cancelled in order to give a partial refund
to people who cancelled in this period. There is an administrative fee of £20
per booking. We won't be able to let you know how much we can refund you until
after Autscape.
If you cancel in August: There is no right to a refund however if we are
fortunate enough to find someone to fill the place right at the last moment we
will be able to consider a partial refund at the board's discretion. We won't
be able to let you know how much we can refund you until after Autscape.
Notes
The earlier we hear of cancellations the more chance we have of refilling the place.
We advise that you take out an insurance policy to cover the event. If you
already have UK annual holiday/travel insurance it is worth checking that
first as some policies do cover trips within the UK, but some do not.
Transferring places
Sometimes we are asked if someone can transfer their place to a friend instead
of cancelling it to avoid the cancellation fee. Yes you usually do this; we
don't mind. It is a private agreement between you and your friend. However
please check first that we can accommodate the new person.
• If we are not told until after the bedroom plans have gone to the venue
then your friend has to take the bedroom we had allocated to you. If
this does not work for them (or the other person in the bedroom where
sharing) then they can have your place but they need to stay offsite and
you may lose the difference between the fee you paid and the fee they will pay.
• If we have already printed the name badges your friend will have to make
one by writing on card or a sticky label when they arrive.
• If you choose our lower fee and your friend could have afforded the
standard fee we would appreciate it if the difference was paid.
• If your friend has a restricted diet and the diet needs have already gone
to the venue, we may not be able to cater for your friend.