Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: 27th July 2018 Meeting time: 14:00 BST Meeting Chair: Martijn Present: Heta, James, Jenny, Jeremy, Larry, Martijn, Peter, Trish Apologies: Elaine One observer. Meeting opened: 14:06 1. Approvals 1.1. Minutes of the June 2018 meeting posted to the list on 21st July 2018 Approved, 8 for. 2. Ratifications No ratifications. 3. Proposals 3.1. Elaine proposed that the board allocate up to £500 to purchase a badge making machine and supplies for making the Photo, Hug and Research/reporter opt out badges for Autscape conferences. See rationale at Appendix A. There followed a brief discussion where the board agreed it was affordable and worth it. Carried, 8 for. 3.2. The Chair proposed that the Registrar, Debbie, be invited to the board mailing list as a non-voting participant, with a view to reducing the communication difficulties between the board and the organising team. Carried, 8 for. 3.2.1. The chair proposed to give Debbie voice in the IRC board meetings. Carried, 8 for. The chair noted that other organising team members may benefit from more contact with the board and that these should be considered on a case by case basis. 3.3. The Treasurer proposed that the board agree to refund the £50 registration deposit of a freelance worker for whom an important work opportunity has arisen which clashes with the dates of Autscape. The board discussed this at length as they were mindful that Autscape’s policy was that the deposit was not refundable. However, they were sympathetic to the predicament of the person requesting. It was also noted that others could have an equally good reason for cancelling and that there may be more requests for the deposit to be refunded. Some may also not be able to ask and therefore this would not be fair. Questions were raised about what constitutes a good reason and whether this should be included in a policy. The board also considered the impact on the event budget if lots of people requested a refund. Therefore they decided to defer this item until after the event to see if any others made a request. Trish agreed to inform the person. 4. Follow-Ups None. 5. Role Reports 5.1. Chair (Martijn) Nothing to report 5.2. Company Secretary (Elaine) No report was submitted 5.3. Honorary Secretary (Elaine) No report was submitted 5.4. Treasurer (Jeremy) Nothing to report 5.5. Event Manager Autscape 2018 (Kalen) We now have roughly 200 people registered. Non-residential registration is still open. The schedule of main presentations has been worked out, although not yet published because it needs to be approved by the organisers first. There are some issues with having the play live, but possible solutions are being discussed. Next year a more flexible approach to presenters' compensation would make this sort of thing easier to deal with. A call for leisure activities has gone out and many submissions have been received. These are tricky to schedule in. The interactive projector has been booked and a suitable place found for it. At the moment, we don't have any plans for a disco or retro computer games. I think there is enough planned, but if there is a strong desire to have one or both of these, I will look into it. I would urge the board to consider next year's event as a matter of priority. Neither a venue nor an organising team have been arranged as far as I am aware, and it is already quite late in the day for these, especially the venue. 5.6. Membership Secretary (Jeremy) Nothing to report 5.7. Fundraising coordinator (Jeremy) Nothing to report 5.8. Tech coordinator (Martijn) Nothing to report 5.9. Lists coordinator (James) Nothing to report 5.10. Venue search coordinators (Peter and Debbie) Peter mentioned that they would benefit from more direction from the board. 6. Any Other Business 6.1. Martijn proposed that the invitation to participate on the board list and board meetings in 3.2 and 3.2.1 be extended to Kalen as well. Carried, 8 for. 6.2. James commented that the bursary decisions would benefit from being earlier next year. It was agreed that this should be discussed on list. 6.3. Larry said that he was no longer able to help liaise with Autism UK. As other board members were still willing it was not a problem. [Trish left the meeting] 6.4. Peter pointed out that a proposal had been missed off the agenda: Elaine proposed that the board waive the need to indicate in advance of booking that a person requires a bursary, only for those board members that booked before the May 22 board meeting and all non board organisers that have booked. Carried, 4 for, 2 against. Meeting closed at 16:09