Board of Directors Meeting
December 7, 2013
Board Members in attendance: Beverly Block (OSFCI President), Car Bostick, Jason Bostick, Aaron Curtis, Rick Lindsley (OSFCI Treasurer), John Lorentz (OSFCI Secretary), Devlin Perez, Lea Rush and Debra Stansbury. D. Stephen Raymond was ill, and could not attend. His absence was excused.
(All unanimous votes listed below were unanimous votes of the board members who were present.)
Also attending were several other people who did not sign in.
The meeting started at 2:08PM.
I. Minutes of Previous Meeting
The minutes from the previous meeting were accepted unanimously by the board members present.
II. Treasurer’s Report (Rick Lindsley)
(Reports were circulated.)
The preliminary reports from OryCon 35 suggest that it was in the black. (Laughter) He’ll let the OryCon 35 treasurer go into more detail about that in the OryCon report. The current bank balance is misleading, since there are a lot of checks that haven’t cleared yet. The (John Andrews) Worldcon membership has been purchased for Sasquan. Other than that, there hasn’t been much activity since the last meeting.
Rick also distributed a proposed budget for 2014, based in a great deal on the actual expenses from 2013–for example, the Printing/Secretarial expenses have increased from $100 to $200 from last year, because we actually spent closer to $200 in 2013. Storage was also increased by $100, based on what we paid last year, and the web site expenses were raised from $10 to $100, with the expectation that we’ll be changing providers this coming year and it’s likely to cost us more. The Andrews award will be more this coming year, because the board voted to roll the stipend over from 2013. The miscellaneous expense was almost doubled, because we always seem to have something come up during the year.
In income, Rick increased the estimated amount of the OryCon and GameStorm overhead fees, since both conventions seem to be growing (and the fee is based on the attendance). As it is, the budget shows us coming in in the red by about $100, but we never spend all the money we’ve budgeted, so it’s basically balanced. Rick asked if there were any categories he missed. It was suggested that we should budget $200 for the music licensing fees, rather than leaving it under miscellaneous. So that money will be moved to a separate category, similar to the legal and corporate fees we now have in the budget. Debra noticed that we’re budgeting $0 for interest in 2014. Rick said we only get 21¢ a month, so it’s not worth budgeting for. The rates right now are extremely low. There was discussion on some other possible ways of investing the money currently in the OSFCI savings, but nothing came up that would leave the money safe from market downturns and readily available.
Devlin: Going back to the projected OryCon income, are we expected to have a big hit from overlapping with World Fantasy Con next year? Probably not–last time there was only a drop of 50-100 members. The larger drop will in the in the number of program participants available for OryCon.
John suggested that we might think about raising the overhead fee from the current $2 a head, since our big expenses–storage and insurance–continue to go up (maybe to $2.50 per person). But this is a topic only when we get ready to sign the next management agreement.
The 2014 budget (with the addition of the line item for the music licensing fees) was approved unanimously by the board members present.
Rick reported that the OSFCI banner (which was budgeted for up to $200), ended up costing $299. Does he have board approval to reimburse Car for that full amount, rather than just the $200 initially approved? Yes (by unanimous vote, other than Jason and Car abstaining).
The treasurer’s report was accepted unanimously.
IV. Reports on Sponsored Activities
A. Conventions and Bids
1. OryCon 35 (Lea Rush)
(Treasury report was circulated; the registration report was accidentally left out of the packet.)
It was a very successful convention–even excluding the four people who have asked for refunds, the final count is 1636 members, the largest OryCon ever. (OryCon 18 formerly held the record with 1624 members.) Lea said they’d budgeted for 1400 attendees, were hoping for 1500. They ordered 1600 badge blanks (“just in case”)–and it doesn’t look like there were any left. (The only reason they had enough is because the children got different badges.)
Car: The treasury report is by no means final. We currently have about $19,000, but it will be going down by another $4,000 or $5,000 (as checks clear). Car asked the board for an official decision on what basis she should be using to determine the overhead fee paid to OSFCI. Should she use only the number of people who were at the convention, should it include the people who paid but didn’t attend, or is there another figure she should use? GameStorm has traditionally paid on the basis of the people who attended the convention, but OryCon has often (but not always) paid on the total number of people who paid plus the comped program participants who attended. (The other difference is that GameStorm usually refunds or rolls over, unused memberships, while that’s not the case with OryCon).
There was some discussion about this. Rick said he felt that if a badge brought money to the convention (whether or not the person showed up to pick it up), then that membership should pay the overhead fee. Car: If it’s based on who pays, what about the difference between people who pay for the whole weekend, versus people who paid for just one day? John mentioned that, when this started out, the number used was the total of paying members plus the number of comps. But that was when we were only were dealing with OryCon, and GameStorm hadn’t started yet. That doesn’t mean that it’s required to use the same method now–and it would be good to settle on one method of determining the count for all our events. The board decided to count all paid members (except for memberships refunded or rolled over to the following year), and all comped memberships of people who actually attended the convention. This will be used by both OryCon and GameStorm (as well as other events, such as the upcoming World Horror Convention).
Beverly asked about the income figure for child care, since it seems to be an odd amount. Car said there were new people running the office this year, and they didn’t know to keep separate the money taken in for artifacts, child care and parking passes. She ended up just splitting the total amount evenly between the three categories. Aaron asked about Lea’s plan to reimburse con com members. That plan is still active, but they’re waiting to have the final numbers in hand first.
Rick asked about the souvenir books–did it work out ordering substantially fewer this year (with people picking them up only if they wanted one, rather than giving one to everyone)? Lea said the convention ran out Saturday morning, so they did need more. But on the other hand, even with ordering fewer books, the printing cost just barely came in under budget. How many were printed? 900 souvenir books, and 1400 pocket programs (and there were a few of the pocket programs left over). There have been several favorable comments received about the online schedule, which does help cut down the demand for pocket programs.
Lea mentioned that she’d paid $136 to return the Artist GoH’s artwork, but lost the receipt. On the other hand, she paid for the second round of pizza at the afters party with her credit card (and was reimbursed by OryCon), but that charge never showed up on her card. So she’s calling it even.
The concom care & feeding was a new thing this year, and it caused a lot of chaos. If Devlin tries this again next year, she suggests using a different mechanism. Problems included: people asking for food and not getting it, people getting the wrong things, dealers also sending gofers off for food for them (although this was meant only to support OryCon staff people, not dealers), gofers picking food in hospitality and not delivering it (with the trays found later in the trash). Rick said he saw some cases where people really didn’t need the support (they didn’t actually have a staff job that prevented them from heading off for meals) but took advantage of the system to get the free food. So it probably needs to be better defined.
There was a lot of coverage of OryCon on podcasts and blogs. And once the membership list was compared to the hotel guest list, OryCon got credit for 720 room nights (our block was only 700 room nights). The party floor was filled to capacity. There was a broken chair on the 15th floor, that was probably not our fault. There also was a break-in at the office (someone, very likely a hotel staff person, came into a locked room), where $150 in cash, and Scott Sanford’s laptop, were stolen. Since the hotel’s insurance would not cover our losses from the office break-in–the hotel decided that they would not charge us for the chair. So they will pay the cost of the chair, and OryCon will reimburse Scott for the cost of a new laptop (and OryCon comes out a few dollars ahead on the exchange).
The parking passes need to be worked out better with the hotel–those ended up costing OryCon a lot more than last year. There were 679 people pre-registered (paid) this year at the start of the convention (compared to 501 last year) There was a high percentage of people at OryCon this year who did not attend last year’s convention. (It also looks like a large number of people who were here last year did not attend this year.) There was some discussion on possible ways to increase the retention of attendees, such as going back to the practice of sending out regress reports. Lea said that 18,000 bookmarks were distributed this year.
Lea will be sending the OSFCI secretary a list of the social media (and similar) accounts that have been set up, along with the logins and passwords, for the records.
Not related to OryCon: there needs to be a new representative to the Portland Geek Council, since Lea (who has been the rep) can no longer do it. Aaron suggested that maybe we should have an OSFCI PR person.
Rick: Were there any checks that were declined? Car: One check (for $130) was returned, and she has emailed that person about a reimbursement. There was also one credit card charge that she needs to refund, and will do so as soon as she gets a mailing address for that person.
The OryCon 35 report was accepted by the Board.
2. GameStorm 16 (Aaron Curtis)
(Registration report was circulated.)
GameStorm just had a committee meeting earlier today. The paid pre-reg count right now is 473 (which is almost the final pre-reg count last year when they opened the doors); last year at this time it was 313–so GameStorm expects to grow. The GameCon scheduling system is almost ready for beta testing.
Everything is going swimmingly, and more of the things are getting done early, which was Aaron’s goal for GameStorm this year.
The report was accepted unanimously by the board.
3. The 2014 World Horror Convention
A report was received from Tammy by email earlier today:
I'm working with my pubs department to get our next progress report out this weekend and so will not be able to make the meeting. Here are some updates since the last BoD meeting.
- We are now at the 30% mark for our room block
- We have about a dozen confirmed dealers
- We have sold 133 memberships (this includes some staff & dealers)
- We have sold 51 of our available 300 tickets to the Stokers Banquet
- We have confirmed our last special guest Victoria Price for the entire event
- We have added new staff to take on the Programming, Ad Sales/Sponsor Sales, and GoH Liaison positions. We are still looking for someone to take over the position of Treasurer, but we may have a lead with a past Kumoricon staff member. Fingers-crossed. 🙂
I do have a question for the board however…It is the common practice of the WHC to open the Dealer's Room to not only con members, but to the general public as well. I, and my head of Ops Devlin, have discussed this and believe it would be doable for us to execute. However at our last concom mtg, Lea mentioned that having non-members in the dealer's room was contrary to our non-profit standing and therefore against OSFCI policy. How would letting non-members shop with our vendors, where we receive no payment of any kind for this potential increase in foot traffic, adversely effect our non-profit standing? I would greatly appreciate a ruling from the board on this matter be listed on the next meeting agenda under new business.
There was some discussion about Tammy requesting that the dealer room be open to the public, something that isn’t usually done at OSFCI events. The history behind that is that OSFCI was originally denied tax-exempt status because private individuals (dealers and artists) would benefit from the dealer room and art show. OSFCI appealed, saying that those areas were for the benefit of the members (attendees) of OryCon, so that they would have access to books, art work and other items not normally available, and OSFCI was granted tax-exempt status on that basis. (The Stoker Awards dinner is also open to the public at WHC2014, but people are still paying for that, so it was felt that it’s probably not a problem.) Rick: It is possible the IRS might have changed their mind on this, but this might be the wrong way to find out.
Would selling a low-price, dealer-room only pass be acceptable? Probably. John: But what advantage would that bring to the convention? It only helps the dealers. Lea: But there would be some amount of publicity for the convention. (This is probably a moot point once OryCon moves back to the Marriott, since there’s no outside entrance there to the dealer room.) In any case, this would be a topic of new business, not part of the WHC2014 report.
Rick pointed out that he’s going to need end-of-the-year financial information, and now that Tammy no longer has a treasurer for WHC2014, who does he get this information from? John said he had two questions after reading Tammy’s report: (1) Why doesn’t she have a treasurer, and why didn’t we hear about this before now (since a management agreement still needs to be signed and that needs the signature of a treasurer); and (2) does OSFCI have a liaison to WHC2014? (There wasn’t anything in the minutes that we’d appointed one). Lea is also concerned about the room block. With the projected attendance of 400 people, 700 room nights is very high. Lea will act as the OSFCI liaison to WHC2014, since she’s been already attending the WHC meetings.
At this point, the board realized that the hotel contract for WHC2014 has never been run by either the OSFCI board or the hotel committee, nor was there approval by the board to sign a contract for this event. (And no OSFCI officer signed any hotel contract for this event.) Do we know how many room nights Do we know how many room nights Utah sold? We do not.
It was decided that Beverly will try to arrange a face-to-face meeting between the board and Tammy to try to get some of these questions answered.
The board decided to move on.
4. OryCon 36 (Devlin Perez)
146 people registered at OryCon 35 for OryCon 36. The web site is live, and is taking memberships. We will have up-to-date numbers at the next meeting (currently, his registration person is recovering from minor surgery). He is looking for ways to bring in additional revenue, to help pay for the increasing costs. Currently the only major committee hole is dealers; Lea is helping out there until he gets someone in place. Ann and Rick are coming back to run Programming again next year. Devlin is planning some changes in how the office operates, making it much more user-friendly. The first meeting will be after the first of the year.
Lea has been adding OryCon 36 people (those who weren’t on the Ory35 committee) to the OryCon 35 mailing list, so that they can see the post-con discussions.
The report was accepted unanimously by the board members present (save for Devlin, who abstained).
5. GameStorm 17 (Debra Stansbury)
Who is the OSFCI liaison to GameStorm 17? Aaron volunteered.
GS17 has a committee in place, but she needs a new person for pre-reg (her previous person has bowed out). Stephen will be the treasurer. The contract has been signed with the Hilton, so that’s in place now. GameStorm 17 doesn’t have the Guests of Honor set yet, but most of the primary committee positions are filled.
The GameStorm 17 report was accepted unanimously.
B. Funds and Awards
1. Clayton Memorial Medical Fund (James Fiscus)
Jim was not able to attend today’s meeting because of an injured knee that he’s been ordered to stay off of, but he sent a report which was circulated (see below).
There was a question about the online fund-raising effort mentioned in the report that will be launched soon–where is it? John said he was sure we’d hear about it, once it’s actually been launched, but there’s been no specific information yet.
The report was accepted unanimously by the board.
2. Endeavour Award (James Fiscus)
Jim was not able to attend today’s meeting because of an injured knee that he’s been ordered to stay off of, but he sent a report which was circulated (see below).
Lea moved that the board ratify the requested reappointment to the Endeavour Board of Sara Mueller, Sheila Simonson and Shawn Wall. After numerous seconds, this motion was unanimously approved.
The report was also accepted unanimously by the board.
3. Susan Petrey Fund (Paul Wrigley and Debbie Cross)
A report was circulated (see below). Paul and Debbie were unable to attend today’s meeting. John mentioned that the beer tasting fund-raiser at OryCon went extremely well, with more beer donated than could be used. (Several bottles were sold afterwards, with that money also going to the Petrey Fund.)
The Board accepted their report.
4. John Andrews Worldcon Grant (Beverly Block)
Still no applications in hand, but Lea said that one is coming soon. (The application came in on December 19th).
The report was accepted unanimously by the board.
IV. Other Continuing Business
A. Storage Manager Report
Devlin is having a difficult time carrying out the job. The inventory is impossible to get into a list because it keeps changing. He offered to resign his position if the board feels he is not doing the job needed, but he does not feel that a inventory can be put together. Beverly: Do you want to resign from the job aside from that, or is the main issue the inventory? Devlin said that he took on the job to make sure a person was available with the keys when someone needed to get into the storage facility, and to ensure that there was a person to be contacted if it was suddenly decided that we hadn�t paid our rent.
After some discussion about other possible people to take on the job, it was decided that someone would be approached to take over for Devlin–but he will continue with the position until we have the other person in place.
Lea suggested that we go back to having two sets of the keys (besides the set that the storage facility office has, that is available to only two or three people). John suggested that we have three sets: one for OSFCI, one for OryCon and one for GameStorm (with any other events working out arrangements to use on of those sets). Rick also suggested that we pass on the keys to the chair of each OryCon or GameStorm in turn, and the chair delegates whoever else may be the holder of that event�s keys. After some more discussion on who might be brought in to help Devlin, the board voted unanimously to authorize two more sets of keys to be made, one for each ongoing convention (OryCon and GameStorm).
The discussion went back to how to get an inventory put together, and how to keep it current. It was suggested that check-out and check-in sheets could be used.
The board directed the storage manager to explore the idea of using inventory control sheets, and voted unanimously to accept his report.
B. Hotel Committee
Since earlier in the meeting, the online minutes have been searched, and no mention could be found of a board discussion on the WHC2014 hotel contract.
1. OryCon
The contract with the Portland Marriott for OryCons 2015 and 2016 has been signed, and a copy received back from the hotel. There were questions raised at the last board meeting, and here is a quick summary of the hotel�s responses:
- Will the corkage waiver allow private parties in the function rooms serve alcohol?
Yes, only Hospitality (in the function area) needs to have the hotel serve alcohol. - Would the food trucks and bloodmobile be allowed?
Yes, if the logistics can be worked out. - Would we be required to use the hotel staff for rigging?
Yes, because of liability reasons. (Most hotels have that requirement now.) - Would they guarantee that we�ve established credit with them (and won�t need to pay a deposit)?
Simply because they haven�t seen our figures for the last few years, they can�t guarantee that yet. But it�s expected that we will have no problem qualifying for a credit account.
Valet parking is guaranteed to be no more than 50% of their current rate (meaning it would cost $16 a day), but they are working to come up with a more inexpensive solution (not just for us–this would be helpful for all of their customers). Jason asked if there would be any problem in going in to the Marriot and test out Clear Internet equipment. That should be no problem�we can make arrangements with them.
2. GameStorm:
Aaron: We also have a signed contract for GameStorm in 2015 and 2016 at the Vancouver Hilton. We�re paying slightly more for the function space ($2000, instead of $1000) and there is no $5 per room sold rebate. The sleeping room rate is higher in 2016, but not 2015. There is a slightly higher room commitment (300–which is what GameStorm has been selling currently–instead of 270), and GameStorm gains two additional suites for function space. And the contract includes 10 parking passes.
The hotel committee report was accepted unanimously.
There was a five-minute break as people who had parked in the two-hour parking places outside the library went out to move their cars.
C. IT Committee
Beverly said they are putting together a list of people to run the beta tests on the first step of the GameCon software. They are getting the rest of it ready for initial tests.
On the move to a new Internet provider, Anna passed on some questions from Fargo: (1) how many domains does this include?; (2) what would be the peak bandwidth?; (3) what is the approximate high end of the annual budget for this?; and (4) does anyone have personal recommendations? Rick: The GameCon software is going to be the biggest use of the bandwidth–the other sites, and the programming software are going to be minimal in comparison. Beverly will send that information to him.
Aaron pointed out that the GameStorm domain registration with Network Solutions runs out in April, so we have that deadline. There was some discussion on where that domain registration should be registered. The service with Arvixe (for GameCon) includes one domain registration. Jason and Car pointed out that if we did shift “gamestorm.org” to Arvixe, it�s locked in with them for a minimum of 60 days.
No other work has been done so far in finding a new Internet host. Rick said that one of the programming needs for the new provider is the ability to send email. The programming software has the ability to send email from within that system, but Dreamhost has been determined to be a spam generator by many sites, and they block incoming email from us. (This last year, he ran all those emails through his own system, so they weren�t coming from Dreamhost.) Car mentioned this was also a problem for her sending PR emails for GameStorm, since her own account is also on Dreamhost. It would be good if the new service included direct SMTP.
John mentioned that Renovation (the 2011 Worldcon) is looking for a site to archive its web site, so that might mean an additional domain–but that would also include a grant from Renovation of a few thousand dollars to defray the additional cost of hosting that site. Rick would probably be a good resource on the needs for that site, since he was one of the webmasters for Renovation.
There being nothing further right now on IT, the committee report was accepted unanimously.
D. Using Square with Android Tablets for at-con registration
John put together a summary of comparing the costs and services of using android tables with Square vs. the current AuctionPay rental terminals (see below).
There was discussion about the relative merits of the two systems. Jason mentioned the additional plus was that the tablet/Square combination can be used in many places, not just at registration. It can be used at fan tables at other conventions (or game days) to sell memberships, it can be used at the bar in Hospitality. Lea: With using Square (on her phone) at the OryCon bar this year, the income quadrupled. Jason: The one down side is that there a few people who are not going to be happy in not receiving a paper receipt. Beverly: For those maybe 10 people (out of 200 paying by credit card), we can use a receipt book. But getting the printed report at the end of the day from the AuctionPay system is helpful, especially when there are problems with Sunday registration for next year. With Square, you can run an online report anytime to see the transactions–but the report only lists that last four digits of the credit card, not the purchaser�s name.
Car used Square for some of the transactions for OryCon this last year. You indeed cannot see the purchaser�s name, but when you enter the transaction, you have the option of adding a description, such as “OryCon reg” so you group the transactions (reg, art show, etc.). The Android tablets will need power–their batteries won�t last the entire day at reg, especially with the power drain from staying connected to the wifi system. There�s also a chance that the hardware will need to be replaced every few years because of operating system upgrades (Square may no longer support older equipment). But even if they only last two years (an extreme case) before needing to be replaced, the net cost is still cheaper than AuctionPay. Anna pointed out that she has a Galaxy Tab 2 tablet (this comparison used Galaxy Tab 3s), and the battery lasts about six hours with constant use.
Devlin was worried about the security of the tablets (how to keep them from being stolen), and there was some discussion on how to prevent that.
The board discussed the possibility of buying one tablet and trying out the system at GameStorm (which only uses one AuctionPay terminal), before purchasing any more. Generally, the board thought this was a good idea, however Car mentioned that the paperwork that was passed on to her seemed to indicate we were in the middle of a five-year contract with Greater Giving (the AuctionPay provider). So this topic was tabled by a unanimous vote until the February meeting (which still allows enough time to get a trial system for GameStorm), so that we can find out what our obligations are under the contract before making a decision on purchasing any Android equipment.
E. ASCAP/BMI Licenses
Beverly never heard anything back from the ASCAP representative, so nothing was done before OryCon. She will follow up on that. John pointed out that we can still pay for events in 2013 anytime this year, so we should be OK.
F. Murder Mystery Dinner
This had been tabled until now for us to see if Paul showed up at OryCon. He didn�t. So the board voted unanimously to drop any further discussion of this.
G. Hootsuite
Jason said in the end, this turned out to be very valuable for OryCon, although there was some difficulty in getting it going at the beginning. It will be ramped up more for GameStorm. Rick said that it sounds like this is another thing that we need to move out of “Miscellaneous” on its own line in the budget ($10 a month).
H. Status of Insurance (Employee Liability)
Aaron has been in contact with our insurance person. He reported this to the board last week:
We are trying to get to a point where we are buying the insurance we need, and employment practices insurance is still unclear. It covers the corporation if a volunteer sues us for discrimination, harassment or inappropriate employment conduct. Theoretically. She's trying to get more information on the subject. I need to know from the Board if this is something we think we need. Sam's advice is, of course, at the top of the list.
The policy definitions section includes this: "Employee" means an individual whose labor or service is engaged by and directed by the Named Insured, or any covered entity. This includes volunteers, part time, seasonal and temporary "Employees" as well as any individual employed in a supervisory, managerial or confidential position. Independent contractors and sub contractors are not "Employees" unless they are Dedicated Agents or representatives of an insured. "Employees" who are leased to another employer are not "Employees".
The Employee Liability coverage was automatically added in 2013. Do we want to keep this coverage in case we possibly might need it? How much does it cost? About $200 a year. (Aaron did go over ) the other points of coverage in our existing policy, and it does seem we need everything else.)
The agent is still researching exactly what protection this coverage would give OSFCI. He�ll report back once he has more information. This report was accepted unanimously by the board.
I. Status of printers (donation and purchase)
Rick purchased the laser printer for use at OryCon. It worked very well–both with a printer cable and using the wireless option. We did make use of the spare cartridge that OSFCI also purchased. (The newsletter printer for OryCon is slightly more than the capacity of the original cartridge–rated for 3000 pages, it probably lasted about 2200-2400 pages).
The board had decided to purchase two printers, but the sale on Amazon only allowed Rick to buy one. He�ll purchase the second one in order to have it for next year (and probably another replacement toner cartridge).
The ink jet printers that had been donated by Renovation are slated to got to Free Geek, but haven�t been taken over there yet.
The report was accepted unanimously by the board.
At this point , the board unanimously voted to extend the meeting for another 30 minutes.
V. New Business
A. 2016 Westercon Bid (Lea Rush)
Lea would like to continue with the energy and people that just worked on OryCon 35 and move forward with a bid for Westercon in 2016 (which would be voted on in 2014). She had asked people to contact her if they wanted to work on a bid and quickly had about 10 people volunteer. And Kevin Standlee has assured her that Portland would easily win a bid for that year as long as the bid is competently presented. Lea has Lisa (the OryCon 35 webmaster) as her webmaster She is planning on selling both pre-supporting and pre-opposing memberships to generate funds. Sarah Gulde would be the treasurer of the bid.
Jason: What hotel are you looking at? Lea: We�re talking to the Doubletree and the Vancouver Hilton. She talked to the Red Lion Inn at the Quay (in Vancouver), but they don�t have enough function space. The bid doesn�t have to have a contract with a hotel, but does need a letter of intent (to sign a contract)–along with a bid chair, a bid treasurer and a document showing the backing organization�s structure (i.e. the OSFCI Bylaws)–by April 15th, 2014 in order get on the ballot. If we file by the end of the year, it cuts down on the number of regions that can bid that year. She is asking the board to sponsor the bid.
Rick: Do you foresee needing seed money for the bid? Lea: Probably not. Jason: What is the possible cost to OSFCI if we don�t win the bid. No cost. Aaron: Traditionally, the pre-supports pay all the cost of putting on a bid.
John: It�s really late in the cycle to start bidding for a 2016 Westercon. On the other hand, Westercon is much smaller than it used to be�so it�s probably not going to hurt us. But there might be a perception problem, since the last time a Portland bid came in late–and did a very poor job of presenting the bid. People might think that they�re starting to see the same thing again. Lea: That�s why I think it�s so important to get the web site ready as soon as possible, so that people can see we have more organization and more information, and that we�re taking this seriously.
After some questions and discussion on how Westercon bidding works, it was moved (after working out the wording) that OSFCI would support a bid by Lea for the 2016 Westercon with the expectation that Lea signs a management agreement with OSFCI if her bid is successful. (Any discussion of financial support will be taken up at the next regular board meeting.) This motion passed by a 7-0 vote..
B. Other New Business
Publicity:
Aaron moved that Jason be appointed to coordinate OSFCI PR. Devlin seconded the motion, and the motion passed (over the objection of Jason�s wife, Car.)
OSFCI Credit:
Jason said that there had been an oversight, and asked the OSFCI board to retroactively award committee credit to James Lewis for OryCon 34 and GameStorm 14. The board voted unanimously to credit him for those events.
The next meeting is the OSFCI Annual General Meeting, to be held at 7:30PM on Monday, February 3, 2014.
John reminded everyone that the state regulations require that all corporation members must be informed of any changes to the Bylaws, so any such proposals must get to him in time to be included in the meeting announcement for that meeting.
OSFCI Treasurer’s Report 12/6/13
1. Current Status
Preliminary reports from O35 suggest it was in the black. Precise figures will come from the O35 treasurer. Current balance reflects a very very pleasing but very very inaccurate snapshot (many bills remain to be paid and many checks remain to be cashed!)
Membership was purchased for Sasquan (Worldcon 2015) for John Andrews Award.
The Petrey Fund and the Clayton Fund are in different funds and their totals are not included below. All other OSFCI accounts are below.
Current (as of 12/6/13) account status:
Acct | Balance | Change from 10/12 report |
---|---|---|
Orycon Odd | $40994 | (+$25784) |
OSCFI checking | $13007 | (+$2647) |
Endeavour | $2512 | (-$1389) |
GS Even | $8750 | (-$961) |
Merchant | $568 | ($0) |
GS Odd | $1000 | ($0) |
Orycon Even | $5230 | (-$1164) |
OSFCI savings | $25815 | ($0) |
World Horror | $11924 | (+$4376) |
2. Old Business
None
3. New Business
A proposed budget for 2014 is enclosed. Key points:
Expenses
- Slight increase for storage
- Andrews award increased (increased stipend for London)
- Miscellaneous expenses doubled
Income
- Overhead fees increases slightly (representing increased attendance)
- Convention surplus increased slightly based on average of last three years (O35 estimated)
The Clayton Memorial Medical Fund Award
Report to the OSFCI Board
December 7, 2013
Requests for Aid:
We have had no requests for aid since our last report.
Account Balance:
We have a bit under $3,200.00 in the bank.
Fund Raising:
We expect to launch an on-line fund raising effort within the next few days, and are coordinating with people in the industry to help with the pitch.
Board of Trustees
Committee Members | First Appointed | Term Expires |
---|---|---|
James Fiscus, Chairman | October 1996 | November 2014 |
Page Fuller, Treasurer | October 1996 | November 2014 |
Rick Lindsley, OSFCI Rep. | Febraury 2012 | While serving on OSFCI Board. |
Ruth Sachter | November 2002 | November 2015 |
Marc Wells | November 2003 | November 2015 |
Submitted,
James W. Fiscus
Chairman, Clayton Board of Trustees
The Endeavour Award
Report to the OSFCI Board
December 7, 2013
Books Received:
We continue to receive books for next year’s Award.
2013 Award Winner:
Seattle writer Laurie Frankel won the fifteenth Endeavour Award for her novel Goodbye For Now. Laurie was at the ceremony to receive the plaque.
Financial Report:
We have a bit under $5,000.00 in our account.
We expect to hold an on-line auction soon, selling material donated by Ursula Le Guin.
Motion Requested: Committee Renewals:
I ask the Board to ratify the reappointment of Sara Mueller and Sheila Simonson, and Shawn Wall to the Endeavour Committee.
Endeavour Committee
Committee Members | First Appointed | Term Expires |
---|---|---|
James Fiscus, Chairman | October 1996 | November 2014 |
Page Fuller | October 1996 | November 2014 |
Marilyn J. Holt | September 2000 | November 2014 |
Sara Mueller | October 2003 | November 2013 |
Sheila Simonson | October 1996 | November 2013 |
Shawn Wall, Treasurer | November 2005 | November 2013 |
Helen Umberger | November 2012 | November 2015 |
Submitted,
James W. Fiscus
Chairman, Endeavour Award
Comparison between Square and AuctionPay (Greater Giving) for at-con registration payments
Square with Android Tablets | AuctionPay using their rental terminals | |
---|---|---|
Service Cost | 2.75% on all credit card payments | 3.25% * on all credit card payments |
Hardware Cost | $180 each for Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (7″ screen), plus $4.50 each for a stylus | $75 rental for each terminal for each event |
Power needs | None at Registration Battery-operated (8hr battery life) |
Power outlet needed |
Phone/Internet | Wifi connection required at Registration | None at Registration Phone connection needed for batch transmission each night |
Receipts | Email or text receipts No printed receipts |
Printed receipts |
Reports | Report available online for download at all times Report only lists last four digits of credit card number |
Printed report printed when batch transmitted Report lists full name of credit card user |
Card Confirmation | Transaction confirmed immediately | Transactions verified only during nightly batch transmission |
Money deposited in bank account | Next day | Four business days |
* OryCon 35 would have saved $130 in credit card fees just from the difference in fee rates between Square and AuctionPay