Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation
Meeting date: Saturday 23rd July 2017
Meeting time: 20.00 BST
Meeting opened 20.09 BST
Chair: Kalen, Trish
Present: Debbie, Elaine, James, Kalen, Larry, Martijn.
Late: Trish
Apologies: Jeremy
Observers: 3
1. Approvals
1.1 Minutes of the June 2017 meeting posted to the list on 25th July 2017.
The approval of the minutes was deferred due to further amendments
required.
2. Ratifications
2.1 The decision made on the list on the 27th June to approve the Annual
Report for 2015/2016. (9 for)
- Ratified (6 for, 0 against)
2.2 The decision made on the list on the 27th June to approve the Annual
Accounts for 2015/2016. (9 for)
- Ratified (6 for, 0 against)
[At this point, Trish joined the meeting, and took on the responsibility of
chair at point 3.]
2.3 The decision made on the list on the 12th July to accept the CaSE
insurance renewal quote of £553.56 to cover events and directors’
indemnity. (4 for)
- This matter was not ratified as the decision to renew the CaSE
insurance was made under a previously delegated power agreed at the
board meeting in April 2012.
2.4 and 2.5 were deferred as the Registrar did not consider them an
accurate record of the decisions taken. The Registrar stated that the Board
should note we have agreed to a change in the cancellation policy and ratify
the votes at a future meeting. The agreement to change the policy was not
actually ratified at this meeting due to lack of time.
2.4 The decision made on the list on the 20th July that a
non-residential participant who has had to cancel their booking due
to medical reasons be allowed a refund under the following change
which can apply to all non-residential bookings.
2.5 The decision made on list on July 11th, 13th and 14th that
individual non-residential participants should receive refunds for
cancellations.
3. Proposals
3.1.1 The Chair proposed that Badges and Symbols are made available for
participants to indicate their preference for being asked to:
A. Be photographed
B. Be filmed
C. Be hugged
D. Participate in research or interviews
One director voiced the opinion that not wishing to be photographed
assumes not wishing to be filmed either. Several directors agreed that
choices A & B should therefore be combined.
The proposal was revised to read:
The Chair proposed that Badges and Symbols are made available for
participants to indicate their preference for being asked to:
A. Be photographed or filmed
C. Be hugged
D. Participate in research or interviews
(7 for A, 5 for C, 5 for C) - A, C & D are each carried.
3.1.2 The chair proposes that the board will:
A. Require that all badges are opt-in
B. Require that all badges are opt-out
C. Require that both opt-in and opt-out badges are provided for all
D. Require some other combination of opt-in and opt-out badges
E. Delegate the decision about whether badges are opt-in or opt-out to
the organising committee
It was initially decided that each director would choose one option
from the five choices.
The result was 0 for A, 3 for B, 0 for C, 0 for D, 3 for E, with 1
abstention.
Due to the lack of a clear majority, it was then decided to use an
alternative voting system, so that every director would rank each
option, with the ultimate choice being between option B & option E.
The result of the rank vote was 4 for B, 3 for E.
B was carried.
3.3 The Event Manager requested an additional budget of £5000 (in addition
to the £1500 already agreed at the March meeting) to include additional
programme costs, childcare, courier and stationery and other necessary
expenditure in order to run the Autscape 2017 event.
(6 for, 0 against)
3.4 The Chair proposed that up to £1000 from surplus reserves be added to
the programme budget for this year's event. (As per item 3.7 in May 2017)
(7 for, 0 against)
3.5 The Company Secretary proposed that board approves the revised
Complaints Policy, sent to the board list on June 30th.
- The proposal was deferred due for a future date, as not all directors
were ready to vote on the policy.
3.6 The Chair proposed that the organising committee are delegated the task
of running the event they organise which includes forming an on-site
team, recruiting volunteers to do the tasks and managing the event and
team on site.
(7 for, 0 against)
3.7 The Chair proposed the board accept the Honorary Secretary’s offer to
prepare and run an online survey again this year.
(7 for, 0 against)
3.8.1 The chair proposed that the board chose a venue for the 2018
conference from a list drawn up by the Venue Seach Co-ordinator.
A. High Leigh
B. The Hayes
C. Giggleswick School
D. Tonbridge School
E. Kings Park
F. Newland Park
G. Shrewsbury School
The result of the rank vote was that the choice of Tonbridge School
was a unanimous first preference.
D was carried.
3.8.2 The chair proposed that the board delegate the responsibility of
booking Tonbridge School as the conference venue for 2018 to Peter
Benie.
(7 for, 0 against)
[At this point, Kalen left the meeting]
3.9 The chair proposed the board delegate the choice of dates for 2018 at
Tonbridge to Peter, based on when Tonbridge have least sharing.
(6 for, 0 against)
4. Role Updates
No role updates were presented at the meeting due to the amount of time
taken up discussing previous items.
5. AOB
5.1 The Chair expressed thanks on behalf of the board to Joseph, who
resigned from the board on 20th July 2017.
6. Role Assignments
6.1 Venue Search Co-ordinator
This discussion was deferred to the list due to the amount of time
taken up discussing previous items.
Meeting closed 22.36 BST
Actions
1.1 The amended minutes for the June meeting were not ready to be presented
by the time of the meeting taking place.
The minutes will be presented on the board list on the 25th July.
2.4 and 2.5
- Follow up on the cancellations approvals which was not able to be
ratified this time
3.1.2 A director raised the issue of harassment, in relation to the use of
opt-out badges, and how this should be addressed at the conference
induction session.
The Chair will raise this matter for discussion on the board list.
3.6 The proposal originally included reference to the on-site team being
delegated the responsibility to deal with “lower level complaints”.
Proposal 3.5, to accept the amended complaints policy which specifies
procedures for complaints made at the event, has not yet been approved.
If the revised Complaints Policy has not yet been approved, then a
separate proposal could be arranged to cover “low level complaints” made
at the forthcoming event.