Autscape Management Committee Meeting Minutes Meeting date: Sunday 20th February 2011 Meeting time: 1pm Meeting chair: Stephen Present: Elaine, Kalen (left early due to illness), Katja, Martijn, Peter, Stephen, Trish. Apologies: Yo 1. Ratifications 1.1. The committee unanimously ratified the decision to approve the minutes of the January meeting. 2. Proposals 2.1. The committee decided to subsidise a site manager (6 in favour, 2 abstentions) 2.2. The committee decided unanimously to delegate a non-committee member (Robin v. S.) to organise the setup of a sensory room at Autscape. (In consultation with the Venue Coordinator as necessary) 2.3. It was noted that a proposal on the fees is not yet ready and this issue was deferred. 3. Follow ups 3.1. Proposals deadline. There was a brief discussion of the state of proposals to present at Autscape 2011. It was noted that a number of proposals likely to be more than sufficient has been received. It was further noted that, if the programme were felt to be weak in specific areas, it would be most appropriate to deal with this by specific invitation rather than a further general call. It was therefore agreed that no extension to the deadline is needed. 3.2. Membership database. Peter reported that, although not finished, the membership database should be ready for testing by the end of today. He noted that entries will provide the member's address, and a communication preference for formal company related information (AGM notice etc). He explained that the separate mailing lists for members for each year will be replaced with a single mailing list for the current members. He asked anyone who wants additional information recorded to let him know asap. 3.3. Review progress on newsletter. The committee noted that Alexis (newsletter w.g. chair) is moving things along quite well. 4. Subcommittee Progress Reports (suggested topics listed) 4.1. Venue (2012). Kalen reported no progress on the search for a future venue. 4.2. Tech (proposal form issues, paypal button). Peter reported that he hasn't done any work on the PayPal button and Kalen noted that the proposal form works fine. 4.3. Publications/publicity (advertising, brochure draft). Martijn reported that the Asperger United ad was submitted in time for the deadline and that work has not yet started on the brochure. 4.4. Constitution (progress on governance policy). Yo reported (by proxy) that sc-cons has made a little progress but not enough. She intends to try to get things moving faster. 4.5. Fundraising (progress on fundraising). Yo made the following report (by proxy). Sc-fund has been making steady progress with issues around membership, but is still feeling the lack of a membership database as yet. We would like to make the following recommendations to the main committee: (1) That there should be a member's discount on the fees equal to the membership fee (2) That the newsletter should be seen as a membership benefit and sent out to members only (although there should not be any restriction on members passing it on to non-members) (3) That, for the time being, Autscape avoids making any promises to our members about providing a set number of newsletters per year. (4) That Autscape members should receive a 10% discount on merchandise purchased at Autscape (the person who takes on responsibility for merchandise this year may need to make some price adjustments to accommodate this). 4.6. Youth (hiding email addresses, funding, recruitment, childcare booking). Elaine reported that the hiding of email addresses has been sorted out. She also reported that she has been looking into mobile crèches and intends to report to the sc this week. Peter requested estimated costs to help with setting the fees. Elaine was hopeful that these would be available by the end of the week. 4.7. Programme (timetable for proposal decisions, subsidy decision(s), leisure issues). Trish reported that sc-prog now needs to discuss the received proposals. She would like to get the leisure call out fairly soon but is aware of the need to look at the wording. There was a brief discussion of the ideal number of presentations for the programme and general agreement that 7 is about right, although this may need to be revisited if there are a particularly high number of strong proposals. There was also generally favourable comment on last year's format with short presentations followed by concurrent discussions. 5. Key position progress reports (matters not covered earlier) 5.1. Venue coordinator. Kalen reported (by proxy) that this year's venue has been secured. 5.2. Treasurer (accountant). Peter reported that he has emailed the accountants that Yo suggested (caseonline.org.uk) with a description of who we are, and what we need, and an indication of the scale of work involved. He is waiting for a response and hopes that they may offer a more reasonable quote than we have previously received. 5.3. Company Secretary (CRBs, charity form). Yo made the following report (by proxy). Unfortunately very little has changed since last month due to factors beyond our control. We are still waiting for the CRB checks to be complete (prolonged delays are not an uncommon problem with enhanced checks unfortunately). I have finished the draft of the charity form in consultation with our solicitor. He is now happy that it reflects all of our proposed objects. I still need to post on to him the letter which Peter has provided to me, confirming that Autscape (in its present form) will transfer funds to the new company once charity registration is achieved. But I will do that next week. So, in short, we are now ready to go as soon as the CRB get their act together. 5.4. Chair (Stephen as interim Jan-Feb chair). Stephen had nothing to report. Kalen stated (by proxy) that she is looking forward to taking up the reigns this month and hopes we get lots done. 6. Any other business 6.1. Peter noted that it would be helpful for the new members of the committee to have information about the procedure for selecting presentations and Trish agreed to post to the committee list on that topic. Please note that, under the current rota, Kalen became interim committee Chair following this meeting until the March meeting.