Mentor is the corporate newsletter of Arisia, Inc.
Minutes of the January Meeting
Time: January 10, 1999, 5:15PM. Location: Parliament Room, Westin Copley Place In Attendance: Beatrice Bordzol, Drea Brandford, David Cantor, Tom Coveney (guest), Richard Fine (guest), Stephanie Fine (guest), Glen Goodwin, Kyle Hollingsworth, Buzz Harris, Jeff Jordan, Walter Kahn, Benjamin Levy, Patrick McCormack, Keith McCormic, Elka Tovah Menkes, Roberta Moore, Skip Morris, Ailsa Murphy, Brendan Quinn, Noel Rosenberg, Diane Rosenburg, Matt Ryan (guest), Kara Savoia, Cris Shuldiner, Rachel Silverman, Pat Vandenburg Proxies Scott Campanella to Brendan Quinn, Jeff Jordan to Brendan Quinn (later in meeting), Benjamin Levy to Ailsa Murphy (later in meeting), Beatrice Bordzol to Drea Brandford (later in meeting) Corrections to the Minutes A typo was found, but it did not significantly change the meaning of the text. Membership Transfers There were no motions pending for membership transfer. President's Report The President declared that, since most of the membership was "way too fried," all new business would be automatically tabled. Eboard Report There was an informal Eboard meeting on January 3, 1999 at MIT, and an official one on January 7, 1999 at the Copley Westin. Issues discussed included: 1. Allocation of additional funds ($72) for Arisia'99 Pipe & Drape. 2. It was decided to have Corporate Sales take orders for the Oasis Arisia '99 masquerade video, despite the objections of the Arisia '99 Con Chair and Arisia '99 Treasurer. 3. Rates were set for Arisia Corporate Sales merchandise as follows: Preregistration for Arisia '00, $25; Raffle tickets, $0.50 or 12 for $5; Banquet, $25; Kosher Banquet, $40; A'99 T-Shirt, $13 ($10 with corporate discount); A'99 Sweatshirt, $20 ($16 discounted); Arisia Lens T-Shirt, $10 ($8 discounted); Arisia Lens Sweatshirt, $15 ($12 discounted); Arisia'98 T-Shirt, $10 ($8 discounted); Arisia'98 Sweatshirt, $15 ($12 discounted), other old T-Shirts $6; other old Sweatshirts $10. 4. Our lawyer reviewed our volunteer waiver and our babysitting agreement for parents. She also advised us to use a standard independent contractor agreement if we pay our babysitters. Vice President's Report There is a grant application in process before the Grant Committee. Treasurer's Report No report. Budget Committee No report. Clerk's Report Everyone is reminded to sign in. Despite the fact that we've begun to tape the meetings, written reports are still preferred. New members can join at the end of this meeting by filling out an application with any corporate officer. After this meeting, the price for membership will be $14. MOVED to write up the meeting minutes in iambic pentameter. An unfriendly amendment was made and seconded for Ailsa Murphy, who proposed the original motion, to write the iambic pentameter version of the minutes. An additional motion was made to have the minutes written in invisible ink. Clerk was directed to cast one vote to CARRY the motion by acclamation. [Ed. Note: The iambic pentameter, invisible ink version was not available in time for this edition of Mentor. Ailsa promises to have it ready in time for the February meeting.] Arisia 1999 The convention is officially over; I have the button that says so. (Arisia '98 must not be over yet; Glen doesn't have a button.) We had a convention, in case you hadn't noticed. I have no clue how many memberships were sold. Everyone I talked to had a lot of fun; several of the program participants I talked to (I don't know what drugs they're on) said that this was the best-run convention that they had gone to. Our guests of honor were very pleased; at least one of them has told me that he wants to come back next year as a program participant. The only down note I have to report is that because we did not make our room commitment (there were enough rooms reserved, but not enough picked up at-con), it looks like we will fall short by 100 rooms, which means that we will owe the hotel $1500 for function space. Unfortunately, since we were not really worried about registration figures, I don't have exact numbers, but I'd guess we had over 1600 people attending. This is more attendees than we had last year when we shrank the con, but fewer attendees than we had in 1997. It may have been the snow, or the non-holiday weekend, or the weather, but I'll just take the blame and say that it's because I was the conchair. Arisia 1999 Treasury No report. Arisia 2000 Author GOH is Jane Yolen; Artist GOH is Tom Kidd; Fan GOH is Sharon Sbarsky. Hotel Search Committee The Boston Sheraton has given us an informal offer of $114.50/night for a single/double room. Their sales team came to Arisia '99 and walked around the con, seeing how everything worked. They know what we're about and what we need for function space etc. The Park Plaza is also interested, but hasn't given us much information. Their renovation schedule is unknown. Hotel floor plans, though requested in the meeting, were not received in time for this edition of Mentor. There was a request from the floor to make sure that there was not an exorbitant jump in room rates between single/double and triple/quad. We may also want to give the hotel more money in return for a reduced parking fee, if that option is available. Moving the con outside of the city, for price and ease of travel reasons, was discussed. Many points were raised, but it was agreed that the issue would not be resolved at this meeting. Corporate Inventory Control No report. Corporate Sales We had 25-26 items for sale. We had a cash register; next year we need to make sure people get training on how to use it before the con. We also have a lot of old stock that we need to get rid of somehow, by lowering prices or something. Corporate Sysadmin There was some disruption on January 1 when the server was physically moved, but all is running smoothly now. Records Task Force No report. Long Range Planning Committee No report. Old business None. New business MOTION: To revise our comp policy to give smaller rewards to volunteers under twelve years of age who work four hours or more. Motion automatically TABLED. MOTION: To set the Art Show rate structure back to what it was in 1997. Motion automatically TABLED. MOTION: To direct the Long-Range Planning Committee to investigate the possibility of using a set percentage of each con's profits to fund a trust fund. The proceeds of that fund would be used to defray some aspect of the hotel costs of the attendees each year. Motion automatically TABLED. MOTION: To move all Corporate Sales back under the convention. Motion automatically TABLED. Announcements Next corporate meeting dates are: Wednesday, February 17, 1999, at 7:30PM, at MIT Building NE43 (545 Technology Square) Sunday, March 14, 1999 at 2:30PM, MIT Building 66. Arisia, Mentor of Arisia, and the Arisia Lens are service marks of Arisia, Incorporated. All material copyright 1999, Arisia, Incorporated. All rights reserved.