MeetingMinutes:2002-02

Atlanta OutWorlders Business Meeting

February 24, 2002

Members Present: Mike Allgood, Mark Shewmaker, Kirk Tsouros, Scott Johnston, Alan Siler, Ed deGruy, Jeff Smith, Kris Harter, JP Rhea, Maylon Walker, Mark Gravitt, Mike Hwang, Blake Sorenson, Tory Deron, Will Gauvin, Scott Tatum, William Shepard, Stephen Pagel.

Meeting started at 2:30pm.

Coordinator Reports:

Treasury—Jeff Smith

• $640 dollars in Treasury.
• $170 made from Chattacon, this is after reimbursing for all the costs of the convention.

Events—Mike Allgood

• The only recurring weekly event we have is Buffy night at Miss Q’s, we need more events. Contact Mike if you are interested in hosting any events.
• The idea of a Spring BBQ was suggested, and agreed that one will be held. More info to come at a later date.
• Will Gauvin will be hosting a Britcom night at his house on the third Saturdays. (Most likely every 2 months)
• Gay Day trip to Disneyworld, see discussion list for details.

RPG—Ed deGruy

• Martin is still working on getting Champions going, will be up within the month.
• The LARP continues. There will be a special event on March 22nd. More info to follow. Other Vampire groups have expressed interest in playing with our group at some point.
• Anyone interested in Solar or DAOC, contact Ed.
• There is interest in D&D, but need a GM, contact Ed if interested.

Book Group—Alan Siler

• Nothing new to report.

Writer’s—Alan Siler

• Nothing new to report.

Pride—Mark Gravitt

• We have confirmation of a booth.
• Ed Tharpe volunteered to print the flyers for the booth.
• A committee will be put together soon to come up with ideas for the booth operations.
• It was suggested to have a clear separation between anything we sell and the group info.
• Staffing needs to be set up to have full rotating coverage, not just rely on one or two people for the whole weekend.
• Need ideas for prizes for the raffle.
• Mike Allgood will design raffle tickets.
• Would like to have T-Shirts before pride. Polly Feldman is working on some, other possibilities as well. (Café Press, and Sam’s club)
• Possibility of selling t-shirts.

Website—Mike Allgood

• Testing software for the new site.

Dragon*Con—Kris Harter

• Stephanie Clarkson is helping with the party.
• Will put out a poll for party themes.
• Kris will have a meeting in March to solidify party plans.
• We will have a raffle.
• We will have a fan table at the Con.
• Possibility of working with another track, Trek seems interested. Other tracks not responded yet.
• Mike is working on getting a room or suite, needs to be paid by treasury.
• JP to help with Gay Art panel.
• Other cons are a possibility since we didn’t get a track at Dragon*Con. Kris will contact the directors of SciFiSummer.

Chattacon—Mike Allgood

• $170 dollars went to the treasury from the raffle.
• The tip jar at the party was a big hit, we made a good amount of money from tips.
• We won the room party prize, The Golden Margarita!
• Thanks to Mike for organizing the party, and to everyone that helped with it.
• It was suggested that the group needed to be promoted more at the Cons.
• Flyers needed to be on the flyer tables downstairs.
• Discussed creating the position of promotional coordinator.
• It was suggested that we might sell more tickets if some of the proceeds went to a charity.
• Will put out a poll as to which charity we would like to support.

Fantasm

• JP to find out costs associated with entering the drink contest.

Gaylaxicon

• Currently no bids for 2005 out there yet.
• We need 2 years notice to get guests for the convention.

Polls—Alan Siler:

Meeting Times

• The choices were Sunday and Monday.
• The polls came out almost dead even.
• A vote was held on the official day for the meeting.
• Monday: 3 votes, Sunday: 8 votes, 5 abstentions.
• The meetings will be held on the 3rd Sunday of every month.
• A vote was taken as to time of the meeting.
• 4pm: 5 votes, 2pm: 7 votes, 6 abstentions.
• Meetings will be at 2pm.
• The next meeting will be March 17th, at Alan’s house.
• Ed will be working on finding a meeting place for us.

How to Define Members

• Two clear winners from the poll: Annual dues, and everyone on the discussion list.
• JP made a motion (that was seconded) to vote on dues. Nothing was done about this motion.
• It was decided to put a poll put about the amount for dues.
• Blake mentioned that possibly people would stop donation if they paid dues.
• Kris pointed out that if the basis for dues was expenses, then the raffles could cover it.
• Jeff stated that his reasons for wanting dues are voting rights and officer elections.
• JP said that it needs to be an investment from those that want to vote and have a say in the group.
• Ed made a motion (that was seconded) to throw out the bylaws. Nothing was done about this motion.
• A long discussion about the direction of the group followed, it was noted that we need to set aside a time to discuss the direction of the group.

Benefits

• The poll winners were, in order, Voting rights, Discounts, Web access, and Newsletter.

Organization Status/Membership

• There will be an informational meeting about the groups NPO status at a later date.
• Kris wanted to have some info about this at the next meeting.
• Blake to do a short write up and post it to the Biz list.
• Multiple membership options suggested, but it was pointed out that we would become ineligible for any grants from Arisia towards hosting a con, because it is considered restrictive membership. Dues are not considered restrictive.
• This will be addressed further at the next meeting.
• Motion made for there to be a meeting about the direction of the group. Motion carried.
• Suggested that this meeting be at the Spring BBQ.
• It was decided to table the dues and membership issues until we decided on the direction of the group.
• It was noted that to hold money, we will eventually need an official status (NPO, NFP, etc)

New Biz

• Blake had an event idea—Iron Chef OutWorlder.
• Information to follow on Discussion list.
• Will be held Friday March 15th.
• Will be a fundraiser for the group.
• Possibly to become a monthly event.

Meeting Adjourned at 4:50pm.

Next meeting to be held at Alan Siler’s home on Sunday March 17th, 2002.