MeetingMinutes:2002-07

Atlanta OutWorlders Business Meeting

July 21, 2002

Members Present: Edward deGruy, Kris Harter

Meeting started at 2:05 pm.

Coordinator Reports:

Treasury—Edward deGruy

• Total treasury after Pride is $444.23.
• Kris Harter asked for re-imbursement of $89.61 for the Anniversary Party held on Sunday July 14, 2002. 18 members were in attendance for a total cost of $4.97 per person. An additional $25.67 was donated that day by Edward deGruy to cover additional unexpected expenses. The re-imbursement was approved.
• $354.62 dollars in Treasury will be (and since has been) deposited in a Wachovia checking account. This institution was determined to have the lowest rates and best services for our group until such a time that we become either a non-profit or business.
• $150.00 will be transferred to Mike Allgood for maintenance fees for the website ASAP as per previous agreement among the group.
• $152.40 was the 30% figure from total Pride monies made to be donated to Chris Rainbow Home as per previous group agreement. This will be delivered by Edward deGruy ASAP.
• Per telephone conversation Mike Allgood has agreed to postpone payment of the room (of $172.00) for the Dragon Con party till the weekend of the con or slightly after.
• After the website fees are paid and the donation is made to CRH, the treasury will be left with –$10.40. Hopefully we will get the Pride book sales monies soon to prevent this from happening. New ideas for fundraisers are needed and will be addressed later in the meeting.
• Joy Hatcher will be installed in the Business Meeting in August as the new Outworlders Treasurer due to no one running against her. Her nomination was seconded via proxy and at the meeting.

Events—Kris Harter

• The events calendar on the website is up to date. She will be sending a weekly reminder of events from here on out.
• New Events in the last month include: A Magic: the Gathering card game night. A Animation night. The Writers group has been restarted. And the Readers Group has restarted.
• She asks that anyone with new events send them to her ASAP so she can keep everything up to date.

RPG—Ed deGruy

• The Vampire LARP had a one-year game on Friday July 19th. 14 players were present. Several new players were present as well as more are expected next time. The next game will be the Spruill Gallery on August 9th.
• Alan Siler had previously announced the possibility of starting a Star Trek LARP soon. Details will follow in the near future.

Pride—Edward deGruy

• We have been told by Meisha Merlin that either $72 or $84 (depending on a purchase from last year) will be donated as agreed by them from their Pride sales.

Website—Mike Allgood (via phone)

• Website progressing well.
• $150 dollars for website maintenance will be paid ASAP.

Writer’s Group—Joy Hatcher (via email)

• Writer’s YahooGroup is at 18 members.
• Last meetings attendees were 8.
• Next meeting will be July 31st. Alan and Wendy will be reading at that meeting.
• Looking into publishing writings yearly.
• For more info contact Joy Hatcher at [Redacted] or [Redacted].

Dragon*Con—Kris Harter

• Current list of raffle prizes available per request by emailing Kris at [Redacted].
• So far $34 dollars have been spent for a book to be signed by Margaret Weiss. No reimbursement has been requested for this.
• Kris is printing labels to cover over Pride specific info on the left over Pride raffle tickets so they can be re-used for Dragon Con for a savings of $50-$75 to the Outworlders.
• We need volunteers for the fan table. The hours are from 10am to 8pm.
• Steve Berman will be sitting with us at our fan table at a time that his schedule permits. For more info on his books see www.steveberman.com.
• We need donations of vodka (best to mix with in volume) for the party Saturday night at 9pm till 1am(ish) in the Hyatt Regency.
• The next planning meeting will be August 6th at Miss Q’s just after the Buffy episode for the night. This is to try to include people who were unable to make it to the last meeting venue.
• Whatever money is made from the raffle will be put into the Outworlders’ treasury for disbursement.
• If you have a between $50-$100 dollar prize that you would like to donate to the raffle please contact Kris.

Readers Group—Edward deGruy

• Group has been reformed to meet for the first time Saturday July 27, 2002 at Outwrite Bookstore at 1pm till about 2pm.
• The book discussed will be Storm Constantine’s Burying the Shadow.
• Next book and time will be discussed at that meeting.

New Business

• The Anniversary Party was a success!! Most of the members present found out about us at Pride. Again another successful year for us from Pride.
• The results of the T-shirt polls are in. The results is that most people want to pay by check and a black t-shirt was the preference for style. So far only a minimum 75 shirt order has been found. More companies are being sought by the President for better options. There is still the option for individual polo style shirts with the Outworlders logo on it available from Sams. Contact Mike Allgood at [Redacted] for more info and to order if so desired.
• The President presented several options for advertising the group. The Southern Voice has contacted us about advertising with them. Rates for a business card size add is $69 for 52 issues. Mike Allgood mentioned that we may still have a free ad running in SoVo. Edward deGruy will investigate. If not, it will be rerun. Business card size adds in the Local Buzz magazines are $25 per month. Creative Loafing will run a free community ad for the group. The only drawback is it can be cut due to space but will still be able to be seen on their website at www.creativeloafing.com.
• Kris Harter has designed some small flyers with our schedule of events on them to pass out. If you know of somewhere they would go well, contact her at [Redacted].
• Fundraising ideas are needed!!! Mike Allgood presented 2 ideas. 1. For Chris Rainbow home we have a benefit dinner for them. He estimates it would run right at $50 to present a pasta dinner for around 30 people. We would need a place to hold it. He feels we could charge around $8-$10 per plate. 2. A grill out in front of a local grocery. If we contacted them with the premise of buying the supplies from the store in question, then charging between $1.00-$1.50. The locals he mentioned were the Publix and the Kroger in the Ansley Mall. As well as the Saverite on Monroe. The President will write to them to see if this may be possible.

Meeting adjourned at 2:40pm.
Next meeting will be on August 18th^st, 2002 at 2pm at the Atlanta Diner.