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Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 7:00 PM
Location - MISFITS Office, St. Paul, MN

In Attendance:
Officers - Jodie, Peter, Matt, Erica, Thomas
Guests - Dave B., Dave K., Bill

Jodie called meeting to order. New terminology - The board and officers together are hence forth called the Quorum of Twelve after Battlestar Galactica. Jodie is Geminon. Matt is Capricon.

Event Post Mortems

• Election - the officers were in agreement that a post mortem is needed with all seven board members, all five officers, and all three election judges. It was agreed that the Quorum of 12 (Directors and Officers) needs to work-around the schedule of the election judges to get their feedback. This meeting will also be used to update inconsistencies in the bylaws (including existence of an election committee that doesn't exist.) Also at this meeting (which hopefully will be scheduled in the next two weeks) the following suggestions will be considered:
  • Age - needs to be modified - 12 and up suggested.
  • Check the boxes, no other identifiable marks.
  • List of instructions.
  • No other meeting business going on when ballots passed out.
  • Have candidates talk. (a must).
  • Suggestion - get rid of the Roberts Rules of Order (cumbersome).
  • Chits for ballots suggestion (along with a voting table)
  • Check mark - "I've received this ballot."
  • Do not remove the ballot from the room.
  • Voting must take place in the presence of two judges (allowance for kids room)
  • Consideration of a private vote - privacy table if wanted.

Club Updates

• Geek Physique/Diabegeek - Matt announced that he is looking to step down as the head of Geek Physique. He suggested that there may not be community interest in sustaining running both a club and a spin-off club at the same time. It was recommended rolling the two clubs into one and adopting a single name (Peter suggested hopefully Geek Physique as it is catchier.) Matt still wants to participate in the club but is unable to continue running it due to school/work/other commitments. Diabegeek is currently meeting the first Wednesday of the month. Perhaps the clubs could be folded into one with a single mission - "Promoting geek health and fitness with a special awareness/concentration on adult onset diabetes prevention and management." The next event is February 1st - a walk around the Mall of America, meeting at the water dish fountain that is formerly Snoopy's.
• Book / Movie Club - It met at Dave and Mary's. There were about seven attendees. The next meeting will (probably) be at George and Sarah's on February 10th. Matt announced that he would be happy to host a meeting utilizing his home theatre and living room space for a future meeting.
• Geeks Read! - There were 14 people at the last meeting - including 2 new people who found the club online. The February meeting will be held at Dave B.'s house and the March meeting at Adam's house.
• Crafty Geek - Also going well. There were 12 people at the last meeting. The next meeting may conflict with Snow Tubing but it is anticipated that there will be little overlap between the two interested groups.
• Writer's Group - Seven months in a row with no new updates or club representation at a working meeting. The officers strongly request that someone from this club come to the next working meeting to give a much needed update.
• It was suggested that all Club Heads carry MISFITS membership forms to club meetings. Officers reminded everyone that attendance at club meetings did not count for voting membership/hours.

Program Updates

• In the Schools - No new updates from Erin since the last meeting in November. We recognize extenuating circumstances as Erin's mother had fallen ill last fall. Thomas confirmed that In the Schools has spent $600 out of $6,350 currently. The next working meeting has been moved to a Thursday with the hope that Erin can attend.
• GOT Edutainment - Tentative date is February 12th for Snow Tubing. The make up date is March 11th if there is no snow on February 12th. If there is also no snow on March 11th, that date could work for attending a Burlesque show as well. Windy is going to do more research for a location. If you have an idea for a location, email her.
• Happy Holidays - Erica has been unable to get a hold of the recipient. The total for the recipient is $289 dollars. Thomas wrote a check out to Erica for that amount. Erica will reimburse him with receipts and continue to try to contact the recipient. It was also discussed to allocate a $50 donation from MISFITS to the Miss Rachel benefit.
• Writing Contest - Jodie is spearheading this as MISFITS President and Web Mistress. She has put up information on the website for soliciting submissions in anticipation of publishing and awarding writers by CONvergence.

Events Updates

• Gaming at Source - Peter is unable to head this up for our next gaming event. It was suggested that Jeremy, a board member, might be willing to call Chad at The Source to reserve a gaming space on a Saturday in the upcoming month (February) and coordinate website publicity with Jodie. We had a lot of fun at the last gaming day.
• Scavenger Hunt - A signup sheet was passed around the January concom and twenty names were on it, indicating a strong interest for a scavenger hunt. Peter is still coordinating with Ishmael to attempt to reserve a hotel space sometime during the month of May. Erica volunteered to be a co-head for this event with Peter.
• Trivia Contest - Set at the Sheraton for April 1st. While planning started later this year than most years, it is proceeding to plan. The list of books that will be included are up on the website. We usually have merchandise on sale there. Erica is going to sit the merchandise table and the other officers are expected to assist her and sit at times (when not participating in the event). Matt will go to Shirtz on Snelling and Minnehaha to see about getting an order of MISFITS hoodies to sell at the Trivia Contest. Tony Karna is working hard on getting the Convention DVD ready for sale at the Trivia Contest as well.
• Room Parties - The convention season is gearing up and most of our upcoming events are revolving around room parties. Read on:
  • We have created a new, go-forward, responsibility for the Officer at Large (Erica). The Officer At Large will now be heading and staff room parties. That officer, as cruise director, should contact other local and regional conventions to find out when deadlines are for submitting room party requests and filling out appropriate forms. The Officer At Large should also be the contact person for MISFITS members to submit room party proposal forms to.
  • Anime Detour - We have learned that we missed the cut-off for this convention. MISFITS and CONvergence will unfortunately not have a presence at this convention this year. Hopefully the steps outlined above (learning deadlines and cut-offs) will help prevent this oversight next year. We will send flyers and forms with someone to place on a freebie table.
  • MarsCon - We have a room reserved. Dave Kingsley has a proposal in, themed around the locally produced television series "Mystery Science Theatre 3000." The amount requested was upped to $300.00. It has been budgeted for no one to sleep in the room (and to have the furniture removed.) The room request was approved with the $300 budget. Matt, Dave B., Erica, Jodie, Peter, and Emily all expressed interest in volunteering to help with MarsCon.
  • Anime Iowa - No room yet scheduled. Kevin Trainor submitted a suggestion to partner share a room with Anime Detour (so one night Anime Detour would host a party and the other night MISFITS would host.) Jodie will put out a feeler on the website for interest in Anime Iowa. An officer will make an announcement at the next concom to see if there is interest in this (having a party there.)
  • Minicon - Erica will host this party and contact Minicon to reserve a room. It was put forth later via email to only have a room party one of the nights to keep the cost down. Matt and Peter agreed to volunteer shifts. Erica will submit an official proposal. Budget is currently $250. It might be a good idea to have a "mini-lab" at "mini-con" showcasing some of our new set pieces for our standing CVG set.
  • Oddcon - No plans scheduled at this time. If you are a MISFITS member and will be attending Oddcon, please consider submitting a room party request if you are willing to volunteer and host/plan a party.
  • CONvergence - Matt and Jodie submitted a room party request form via Bridget (the parties head contact.) We tentatively have Cabana 114. Dave B. is in charge of building the set. Dave has bought lights. Floor plans are waiting on a possible cabana redesign. We have the room reserved for three nights (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.) Furniture will be removed and no one will be staying in the room any of the nights. We need new Connie and Misfittle standees. Food is undecided but should be built around a "do it yourself" conveyor belt theme (Tacos, sundaes, potato bar, etc) and we should try to keep heating elements in the room to a minimum to avoid overheating. Peter suggested a wall of metallic fans in the doorway for cooling, which was agreed as a terrific idea (it also prevented traffic coming in from that direction.) Dave also said we would have an operating slab where we could get pictures taken.
  • We need to buy MISFITTLE lab coats ASAP (for debut at MarsCon). These should also be used for all upcoming room parties to identify party hosts and staff on duty. Matt will check with Shirtz on Snelling and Minnehaha to see if they would be willing to embroider outside fabric (lab coats.) Erica will look for additional options online. We should all be searching to find out where we can order/find lab coats in a multitude of geek friendly sizes. These could also be sold as a fundraiser at the merchandise table at the trivia contest.

Budget

• Thomas gave a budget update. Our budget is healthy and strong for 2005/2006 and beyond.

Other

• Matt suggested the need for an Officer's Retreat in the upcoming month or two given the tumultuous and exciting year MISFITS has had. It was decided to table this discussion to email to decide on a date and time.
• Matt reminded the officers that April 1st is the date to notify the Board of Directors of our "go/no go" for seeking reappointment consideration for another term as an officer.
• Meeting nights - The next MISFITS meeting will be Thursday, February 23rd at 7:00 PM. A board member is expected to attend. It was requested that it be noted in the minutes that this request was driven by the officers in consideration for Erin Lorenz (In the Schools head) so she could start attending meetings, and also in consideration for Erica and Matt's school schedules. The officers ask that the board of directors give the offers the same consideration for upcoming board meetings. Officers were notified of the first board meeting this year (post-convention) and have not been notified since. Some officers have expressed a desire to sit in on a board meeting or two and respectfully request future notification to officers@misfit.org as to when all upcoming board meetings are (time/location/etc.)

Revised: 01.26.2006
 

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