Meeting date: 29th August 2020
Meeting time: 14:00 GMT
Meeting Chair: Martijn
Present: Heta, James, Jenny, Jeremy, Kalen, Martijn, Elaine (Company secretary)
Absent: Fergus
Apologies: None
No observers
1. Approvals
1.1. Minutes of the 25th July 2020 meeting posted to the list on 28th August
The minutes were approved, 6 for.
2. Ratifications
No ratifications.
3. Proposals
3.1. The Company Secretary proposed up to £2000 to be spent on legal fees to obtain advice on running conferences overseas.
The necessity of including Scotland and Northern Ireland was discussed, and the wording was adjusted to cover these:
The motion was carried as amended, 6 for.3.1. The Company Secretary proposes up to £2000 to be spent on legal fees to obtain advice on running conferences in countries other than England and Wales.
3.2. The Venue search coordinator proposed the Hayes to be booked as the venue for Autscape UK 2022.
Possible dates for Autscape 2022 were discussed. The venue search coordinator considered it necessary to make the booking as soon as possible.
The proposal was amended to:
The motion was carried as amended, 6 for.3.2. The Venue search coordinator proposes the Hayes to be booked as the venue for Autscape UK 2022 for the dates 8th-12th August
4. Follow-ups
No follow-ups.
5. Role reports
5.1. Chair (Martijn)
Nothing to report.
5.2. Company Secretary (Elaine)
Nothing to report.
5.3. Honorary Secretary (Heta)
Nothing to report.
5.4. Treasurer (Jeremy)
Nothing to report.
5.5. Event Manager Autscape UK 2020 (James)
The Event Manager reported that the online event went very well. The Zoom aspect went better than anticipated, although some people had problems accessing it.
The Discord aspect was useful, but posed greater challenges around communication and usage. There are lessons to be learned should we want to use it in the future.
A suggestion had been put forward to continue with a monthly Autscape-type meeting using the Zoom account to keep connected throughout the year. The Event Manager offered to lead on this if the Board were to approve.
5.6. Registrar for Autscape UK 2020 (Trish)
No longer applicable.
5.7. Membership Secretary (Jeremy)
Nothing to report.
5.8. Fundraising coordinator (Jenny)
Fundraising Coordinator's Report for August 2020, from the list:
5.9. Tech coordinator (Martijn)Throughout July I felt distracted from my Fundraising Coordinator role as I made various commitments to some tasks in the on-line Autscape event. However, I was pleased to discover whilst registering for this year's event, there was a Donate button. It seemed discreet to me, which I thought was good, and I liked the user-friendly process of making a donation to Autscape.
Still not been able to talk with anyone at the Fundraising Regulator regarding possibly registering with the organisation, and I will keep trying to get more information from them.
I am giving thought to how I can set weekly and monthly fundraising goals for myself (and possibly for other people).
In the near future, I would like to look at the various ways we currently generate funds, at what is working well and not so well.
I am planning to run another Karaoke event. I appreciate it probably wouldn't generate a huge amount of money, and yet I feel the social aspect is beneficial, and even for autistics to just be invited would probably be encouraging for them to feel they are part of a community. The pandemic means in-person fundraising events, like Karaokes are currently on hold, so when social gatherings are allowed again, I am considering looking at venues in Manchester and Birmingham.
The Tech Coordinator reported that with Peter no longer involved with Autscape, everything was now falling to him. The attempted transition to a new server and operating system had not succeeded. It remains urgent as the current OS is hopelessly outdated. The Tech Coordinator intended to start reconsidering everything and restart the project, in a different way, to be determined.
5.10. Lists coordinator (Kalen)
Nothing to report.
5.11. Venue search coordinator (Elaine)
The Venue search coordinator reported that she was now looking for a venue for 2023.
6. Any Other Business
Kalen asked if there was any reason not to announce Autscape 2022 dates and venue.
Elaine responded that as soon as the venue was booked, the contract signed and deposit paid the announcement could be made.
6.1. James proposed that Autscape organise a monthly social meet-up on Zoom.
The motion was carried, 6 for.
Closed part of the meeting
7. Co-opting a potential Treasurer to the Board
The Company Secretary proposed that the Board co-opt Richard Chandler, who is a regular Autscape attendee and a qualified accountant.
This way he would have time to learn more about the accounts and have some input on updating the system before he takes the role.
The motion was carried, 6 for.
8. Any other business
No other business.
The meeting was closed at 16:19.