The 2007-2008 membership year started on September 1.  If you have not renewed, this is the last issue you will receive.  Dues can be paid to the treasurer by check or by PayPal to paypal@arisia.org. 

 

The next corporate meeting is 2PM on Sunday October 21 at Mary Dumas in Tewksbury; liquids will be provided; please bring snack type food.  It is possible that the November meeting will be canceled.  Please confirm via the November Mentor or email whether or not the November meeting is still happening.

 

The quorum for the next meeting is 13 based on 51% of the average attendance of the last three meetings (26, 24, 24).

 

A new amendment to Bylaw 6.4 is enclosed in this issue.

 

 

Date, Time, and Place

The meeting was called to order 2:30 PM on September 16th, 2007 at MIT, building 66, room 168.  Minutes taken by Rachel Silber and edited by Rick Kovalcik.

 

In Attendance (26)

Rob Bazemore, Samantha Dings, Mary Dumas, Nichole Gosselin, Joel Herda, Lisa Hertel, Christina Hodge, Lisa Holsberg, Crystal Huff, Steve Huff, Rick Kovalcik, Glenn MacWilliams, Skip Morris, Tom Murphy, Karen Purcell, Nicholas Shectman, Rachel Silber, Carsten Turner, Bridget Boyle, John Francini, Tracy Gangwer, Zanne Labonville, Alex Latzko, James Pinkerton, Noel Rosenberg, Mike Sprague.  [Note that next month I plan to start noting who arrives late after the meeting is called to order.]  [The quorum for the next meeting is 13 based on 51% of the average attendance of the last three meetings (26, 24, 24).]

 

Proxies

Ben Levy to Tracy Gangwer, Persis Thorndike to Nicholas Shectman, September Isdell to Nicholas Shectman, David D’Antonio to Samantha Dings, Don Eastlake to Rachel Silber then John Francini, Jill Eastlake to Skip Morris, Susan Mozzicato to Lisa Hertel, Sheila Oranch to Tom Murphy, Janet Stickle to Lisa Holsberg, Pete Thomas to Tom Murphy, Pat Vandenberg to Karen Purcell

 

Corrections to the Minutes

None.

 

President’s Report

Thanks to everyone who helped out over the last two years especially the members of the Eboard.  While we didn’t get as much accomplished as I hoped in my wilder dreams, I think we did get a lot accomplished, including the move to the Hyatt and getting the Relaxacon off to a good start.

Following the Eboard recommendation, Rick appointed Mary Dumas to chair the next Relaxacon.  Thanks to both Conor Walsh and Mary Dumas for expressing an interest.

Arisia 2008 fliers are available at the head table for anyone who needs / wants some.

 

Vice-President’s Report

Thanks, it’s been fun but I'm happy to hand it off.

 

Clerk’s Report

Mail is up to date.

There was a discussion / request about making Mentor available online (more quickly).  It was suggested that this might be a good thing for the new clerk candidate(s) to discuss or be asked about in their campaign statement.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Now that we have a budget passed, I can say that with the expected profits from A'07, I don't think we will need to dip into our Two Year Cash Reserves ($28,000 in CDs).

Eboard Report

See President’s Report.

 

A'08 Conchair Report

It is mid September and things are switching into higher gear.  I am sorry to not be with you today but please see this brief report.  If you have any questions various members of the convention staff are on hand to assist you.

Hotel:  Reservations for staff and attendees are open.  Registration:  Our numbers continue to grow with a rate hike coming swiftly on the horizon.

Programming:  The letter from programming inviting participants has gone out and brainstorming is drawing to a close.

Events:  Events is setting up the performances, demonstrations and doing a wonderful job of dealing with the ConChair’s whims.

Member Services:  We still have some position gaps.  If you would like to volunteer please speak with Lisa Hertel about the positions she has open.

The dealer and art show letters have gone out.

Our guests of honor are being well taken care of.

We have some other mailings that will be happening about the end of the month.

All in all the convention is proceeding at a very healthy pace.  If you have special requests or wonderful ideas, now would be the time to get them in.  Please send them to conchair@arisia.org and not to my private email address.

 

A '08 Treasurer’s Report

We are getting memberships by PayPal.

 

A '09 Conchair Report

She is in Hawaii.

 

Corporate Inventory Control Report

Skip will be meeting with the insurance adjuster to deal with the damages from the Gentle Giant fire.

All pending purchases have been taken care of except drape and a WiFi card for the swipe box.  Skip has samples of drape to show those interested.

Skip gave a summary of the state of our swipe boxes.  The technology they rely on is being decommissioned.  They will continue to work via a phone line, but if we want to use them wirelessly they will need to be replaced at some point.

 

Grant Committee Report

All quiet.

 

Honors Committee Report

There was a discussion of what the Honors Committee does and a request to send a card to a long time volunteer.  Rick will work this out with Rachel and Bridget.

 

Hotel Search Committee Report

No report.  We do having a binding option on the Hyatt for both 2009 and 2010.

 

Long Range Planning Committee Report

1.  Mission:  The Long Range Planning Committee was tasked with determining what Arisia as an organization wants the 2011 convention to be like, and to make certain recommendations about decisions in the meantime, particularly whether Arisia 2008 should add a fourth day.

2.  Preliminary results – 2008:  We found much enthusiasm for and little opposition to adding a fourth day for 2008 and found that this was compatible with Arisia's vision for the 2011 convention.  While we did not make a formal report recommending this, the decision to add the fourth day was made in consultation with members of the committee and our poll results were made available to the 2008 chair.

3.  2009 and 2010:  We believe that because of the American Library Association winter meeting in Boston on MLK weekend in 2010, Arisia is unlikely to have many options other than the Hyatt Regency Cambridge for 2010.  If this is indeed the case, we recommend that Arisia remain in the Hyatt for 2009 as well.  We see no serious impediments to continuing as a 4 day convention during that time.

4.  2011:  We found a consensus that Arisia's stay in the Hyatt is temporary while we await conditions that will allow us to return downtown.  We also found a consensus that Arisia would like to continue growing past the capacity of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.  We do not have a recommendation at this time as to whether Arisia 2011 should be three days or four.

5.  Conclusion:  We recommend that the Hotel Search Committee contact the Sheraton Boston Hotel & Towers and the Boston Marriott Copley Place to inquire about availability for MLK weekend in 2011.

 

There was a question from the floor as to how did the consensus about the 4 day convention take place?  The answer was a poll was taken.  There was a question about when?  The answer was at a well attended Corporate Meeting.

 

Relaxacon Report

Mary Dumas said that she views Relaxacon as a gift to the membership.  She can be reached at scififanboston@aol.com.  Also relaxacon@arisia.org will forward to her.  She is looking for people to help with potluck dinner, video games host, consuite host, childcare circle, small gatherings host (discussion groups, video viewing group, games), and registration.

 

Timeline Committee Report

The timeline is up on the web at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pI_zfeXoOn2BthSZz8mZ9Ow or in a more human-friendly version http://tinyurl.com/2abbyl.  We need to do more work on it.

 

Arisia ’07 Conchair Report

There was a con, it's still over.

 

Arisia 07 Treasurer Report

$8K was transferred to the corporate account.  [It was later clarified that the amount was actually $9720 and it was transferred in late January 2007.]  4 people have still not paid up for their hotel rooms which were on the master bill.  Before we resort to pillory it was suggested that the names be send to the Eboard for follow-up.  We don’t have the tax info yet.

 

There was a motion from the floor to close the books and refer the outstanding business to the Corporation.  It was suggested that this should be handled under new business.

 

Old Business

The refund policy is up on the web at http://2008.arisia.org/register:  “We do not issue refunds, but you can transfer your membership to another person, or you can roll over your membership to the following year, if the Con Chair Okays the rollover.”

MSP to instruct the Clerk to print both versions of the Bylaws Amendments in Mentor and table the discussion of the pending amendments to the next meeting.

 

Elections

Skip Morris and Alex Latzko were appointed as vote counting tellers.

 

President:

Tom Murphy                4

Nicholas Shectman     31

Abstain                  1

(Nicholas Shectman is declared the winner.)

 

Vice-President

Rob Bazemore             16

Crystal Huff         18

Abstain                  2

(Crystal Huff is declared the winner.)

 

Treasurer

Ben Levy              28

Tom Murphy                7

Abstain                  1

(Ben Levy is declared the winner.)

 

 

Clerk

Rick Kovalcik              1

(As Rick Kovalcik was running unopposed he was elected by acclamation.)

 

New Business

MS to direct the corporate clerk to remove all information relating to the personal address or addresses (of home or employer) maintained by any corporate member from the Arisia web site(s), and any other publicly accessible information such as printed copies of Mentor.  Said removal shall be completed before the first day of January 2008.  Any Arisia member who desires to have such information made public may provide explicit instructions of same to the corporate clerk; said instruction shall be valid until revoked by that corporate member.  Should a mailing address be required as a part of the duties of an office holder, the default address should be that of the corporation.  "Printed copies of Mentor" shall be applied to copies produced after the September 2007 corporate meeting.

MSP to go into committee of the whole.  There was much discussion.  Meeting came out of committee of the whole.

The Chair ruled that we would split the question into past and future.

Some of the issues involved:

What to do with past information on the web?

Opt-in vs.  opt-out for existing documents?

Consider password protection for existing documents?

What to do going forward?

Opt-in vs.  opt-out going forward?

Printed vs.  electronic going forward?

Draft an umbrella privacy policy?

MSP to refer the motion and any related issues to the Archive Committee.

 

MS to close the books for Arisia '07 and refer all remaining business to the corporation.

Alex said he expected to have the books closed in the next month before the taxes were due.

MSP to table this to the October meeting.

 

MSP to refer the pending bylaws amendments on the table to a bylaws cleanup committee to be appointed by Phi.  (It was ruled that this included picking them up from the table so that they could be referred.)

 

MSP to set default time and place for Arisia meeting for the following year to MIT building 66 room 168 at 2 pm on the third Sunday of the month.  (It was explained that this was necessary in case several meetings in a row did not have quorum so that meetings could not be set by motion.)  [It was later pointed out that the Bylaws already set the default date to the third Sunday of the month and that it was merely necessary to specify a location and time.]

 

Announcements

Bridget asked that people please don't pick her for proxies as she doesn’t expect to be attending many meetings in the near future.

 

Future Meetings

ConCom meeting Sunday October 14 2 PM here at MIT 68-168.

Corporate meeting Sunday October 21 2 PM at Mary Dumas in Tewksbury - liquids will be provided; please bring snack type food.

ConCom meeting Monday November 12 7 PM at the Hyatt.

Corporate meeting Tuesday November 27 7:30 PM at the NESFA Clubhouse (we may vote to cancel this next month depending on what business is expected / pending).

Corporate meeting Saturday December 15 4 PM at Chez Wood, aka Kovalcik-Mozzicato in Newton Centre – potluck; details to be announced.

MSP to hold the January Corporate meeting on Sunday Jan 20, 2008 at the Cambridge Hyatt at some time and room to be determined by the ConCom.

 

Announcements

Lisa Hertel is going to Israel.

Crystal Huff is giving away bits of (partially failed batch of) homemade soap.

Mary Dumas plugged some upcoming local conventions:

October 12-14:  Another Anime Con, Nashua, NH; www.anotheranimecon.com

November 2-4:  United Fan Con, Springfield, MA; www.unitedfancon.com

December 7-9:  SMOFcon 25, Boston (Logan), MA; www.noreascon.org/smofcon/

Joel Herda announced that Joe Haldeman is giving a reading Thursday September 27 at 7 PM at MIT, building 6, room 120.

 

 

Now that we passed a budget, it makes it easier to predict how much money we'll spend for the fiscal year.  Between the Corporate and A'07 accounts we should have enough money to cover all planned budget expenses and all voted expenses (drapes, etc.).  However we probably will have to tap into our CDs if we vote to spend money on new equipment (such as new credit card machines), or to increase the available money in the Grant Fund.

 

September 1, 2007			Change from last month
Convention
Even Year - A08		$7,507.53	$966.39
Odd Year - A07		$9,094.38	$0.00
Corporate
Reserved
$3,000 N4 Grant (unspent)	$1,246.93		$0.00
Grant Fund	$1,000.00		$3,000.00
Two years Expenses (CDs)	$28,511.55		$103.98
Voted Expenses (excludes budget)	$3,612.84		$0.00
Total Reserved		$34,371.32	-$2,896.02
Unallocated		$1,048.47	-$776.86
Total Corporate Funds		$35,419.79	-$3,672.88

 

 

 

6.4 Within the scope of [ADD these bylaws,] corporate policy and the authorized budget, the chairperson of each Arisia Convention is responsible for administrating the convention and has full authority to make staff and fiscal decisions, which decisions are subject to review by the Executive Board and the Membership.

 

 

This is the membership roster as of the end of the ’07 membership year.  Bold indicates members paid up (or honorary members) through August 2008.  Italic indicates honorary members.

 

Lisa Adler-Golden	Allan Kent
Aaron Aggassi	Jenn Koerber
Jeanne Barrett	Pamela Koretsky
Rob Bazemore	Rick Kovalcik
Dave Belfer-Shevett	’Zanne Labonville
Michael Bergman	Alex Latzko
Bridget Boyle	Ben Levy
Brian Cooper	Glen McWilliams
Tom Coveney	Skip Morris
David D’Antonio	Susan Mozzicato
Elka Tovah Davidoff	Tom Murphy
Jack Dietz	Pam Ochs
Samantha Dings	Shelia Oranch
Jan Dumas	James Pinkerton
Mary Dumas	Karen Purcell
Don Eastlake	Mary Robison
Jill Eastlake	Noel Rosenberg
Tom Fish	Sharon Sbarsky
Colette Fozard	Nicholas Shectman (Phi)
John Francini	Cris Shuldiner
Tracy Gangwer	Rachel Silber
Nichole Gosselin	Mike Sprague
Joel Herda	Janet Stickle
Brendan Hertel	Brandi Tague
Lisa Hertel	Pete Thomas
Christina Hodge	Persis Thorndike
Lisa Holsberg (Jasra)	Lori Turi
Steve Huff	Carsten Turner
Crystal Huff	Pat Vandenberg
September Isdell	Al Walker (Hobbit)
Jeanne Kahn	Conor Walsh
Walter Kahn	Michael Whitehouse
Tia Kaplowitz

 

 

If you do not have a key to storage and need to get into storage, send mail to keys@arisia .org and all keyholders will get your request. 

 

Keyset	Holder	Keyset	Holder
1	Joel Herda	13	Persis Thorndike
2	Alex Latzko	14	Lisa Hertel
3	Skip Morris	15	Ben Levy
4	Carsten Turner	16	Rachel Silber
5	Skip Morris	17	Lisa Holsberg
6	Phi	18 spare	September Isdell
7	Michael Bergman	19 spare	Skip Morris
8	Rick Kovalcik	20 spare	Rick Kovalcik
9	September Isdell	21	Jill Eastlake
10	Hobbit	22	Noel  Rosenberg
11	Landlord	23-26 spares	Rick Kovalcik
12	Janet Stickle

 

 

Budget Committee Ben Levy (head) Alex Latzko Nicholas Shectman	Hotel Search Committee Janet Stickle (head) Skip Morris Ben Levy
Corporate Inventory Control Skip Morris (head) Lisa Hertel Hobbit Joel Herda Janet Stickle	Long Range Planning Committee Nicholas Shectman (head) Jill Eastlake Jack Dietz Lisa Adler-Goldin Conor Walsh
Technical Equipment Committee (same as CIC)	Relaxacon Committee Mary Dumas (head)
Corporate Sales Officer Lisa Hertel	Survey Committee <unfilled>
Corporate Systems Administrator Cris Shuldiner	Grant Committee Lisa Holsberg (head) Walter Kahn
Honors Committee Rachel Silber (head)   Archives Committee Lori “Jet” Turi	Timeline Committee Lisa Hertel (head) Skip Morris Nicholas Shectman Noel Rosenberg Rachel Silber

 

 

President	Arisia 2007Conchair
Vice President	Arisia 2007 Treasurer
Treasurer	Arisia 2008 Conchair
Clerk	Arisia 2008 Treasurer
	Arisia 2009 Conchair

 

 

 

 

Directions from Boston: Take I-93 north to exit 44. Merge onto I-495 south, toward Lowell. Take the Tewksbury exit 39 (Rt-133), Dracut/Andover. Turn right, toward Dracut, onto Route 133/Andover Street...

 

Directions from Lexington and I-95/128 west: From I-95 merge onto Route 3 north, merge onto I-495 north. Take Tewksbury exit 39 (Rt-133), Dracut/Andover, and turn left, toward Dracut, onto Route 133/Andover Street. Go through light after freeway underpass...

 

Directions from Worchester: Take I-495 north toward Lawrence. Take Tewksbury exit 39 (Rt-133), Dracut/Andover, and turn left, toward Dracut, onto Route 133/Andover Street. Go through light after freeway underpass...

 

Directions from points north: Take I-495 south toward Lowell. Take Tewksbury exit 39 (Rt-133), marked Dracut/Andover. Turn right, toward Dracut, onto Route 133/Andover Street...

 

Once you're in Tewksbury: ... Proceed up hill passing Holiday Inn on right and Mobil gas station on left, go through light at North Street, take next right onto Fiske Street (white Baptist Church is on that corner). Take second left onto Scotland Drive, take right onto Sawyers Lane. House is third on the right, blue with off-white trim, enter through garage as meeting will be held in the basement rumpus room.

 

 

 

Subscription to Mentor of Arisia is included with Corporate Membership to Arisia, Incorporated.  Membership runs from September 1st to August 31st and costs $24.  Dues are pro-rated on a monthly basis for members joining during the year.

 

 

 

 

ConCom meeting Sunday October 14 2 PM at MIT 68-168.

Corporate meeting Sunday October 21 2 PM at Mary Dumas in Tewksbury - liquids will be provided; please bring snack type food.  [See page 5 for more info.]

ConCom meeting Monday November 12 7 PM at the Hyatt.

Corporate meeting Tuesday November 27 7:30 PM at the NESFA Clubhouse (we may vote to cancel this next month depending on what business is expected / pending).

Corporate meeting Saturday December 15 4 PM at Chez Wood, aka Kovalcik-Mozzicato in Newton Centre – potluck; details to be announced.

Corporate meeting Sunday January 20, 2008 at the Hyatt at time and room to be determined by the ConCom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARISIA, Incorporated

PMB 322, Building 600

1 Kendall Square

Cambridge MA  02139