These minutes were copied, by Matt Strait, out of a clean PDF in 2020. The text should be exactly as it is in the PDF, up to minor formatting tweaks to make it look nice in plain text (like placement of line breaks and the number of dots in the officers list), and Matt looked it over just in case. Full lines of dashes signify page breaks in the original. The attachment is in two columns in the PDF. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Minn-Stf Board Meeting Minutes for the Meeting of 17 April 1997, at the home of Eileen Lufkin Attending: Margo Bratton, Dean Gahlon, Polly Peterson, Martin Schafer, and Geri Sullivan (Da Board); Fred A. Levy Haskell (Official Happy Deadwood & Recording Secretary); and Ron Searby and Don Bailey (Other Interested Parties). The meeting was never actually Called to Order, but it was never really all that disorderly, so I guess that's all right. Things really got rolling right around 8:00 PM, once everybody was there. Those of us who were there before everyone had arrived amused ourselves by trying to remember the current officers, as selected at the previous Board meeting. We came up with: Minn-Stf Officers President ....................................... Scott Raun Vice President................................... Michael Pins Vice President/Data Processing (VPDP) ........... Laurel Krahn Executive Vice President ........................ Steven K.Z. Brust Official Happy Deadwood & Recording Secretary ... Fred A. Levy Haskell Membership Secretary ............................ Laura Krentz Treasurer ....................................... Julie Johnson Corresponding Secretary.......................... Kay Drache^1 EINBLATT Editor ................................. David Dyer-Bennet RUNE Editor ..................................... Tom Juntunen^2 TotU Editor ..................................... Eric Heideman Hotline ......................................... Marianne Hageman Botanist Elect .................................. Kim Huett^3 Board of Directors .............................. Margo Bratton, Dean Gahlon, Polly Peterson, Martin Schafer, and Geri Sullivan Other Old Business RUNE issue expected by October. Tom is editor. Status of other previous co-editors unknown, Geri will look into it. David Emerson has received a check for $70 owed him for some ReinCONation expenses. ------------------ 1 There seems to be some discussion about Corresponding Secretary, but at the moment it looks like Kay still has the position. 2 Geri is checking to find out whether Tom is the sole editor, or if Jeff Schalles and/or Garth Danielson and/or Ken Fletcher are still Co-Editors.... 3 The Board has asked Aussie Fan Kim Huett to serve as Minn-stf Botanist; he has yet to reply to the invitation. Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Discussion of title for Kim Huett. Suggestions I can remember at this point: Portfolio without Minister; Portfolio without Ambassador; Australian Sex something-or-other; Blue (immediately amended to "Bruce," since we already have a Blue so that might get confusing); Botanist. Botanist prevails--the reasoning is left as an exercise for the reader, since it is Well Known that fans like mysteries and puzzles. Geri will write and offer the position to Kim. Does the club still need a Quartermaster? No, since the storage locker is now the responsibility of Minicon, who will appoint its own Quartermaster. (See "Computer Policy" discussion below.) Agenda 1) Who gets a copy of the Board Minutes? 2) Minneapolis in '73 party funds for WisCon. 3) Use of the Board email bounce/reflector/whatever (board@mnstf.org). 4) Changing voting eligibility rules. 5) By-Laws (added during discussion): a) The by-laws have some minor flaws and need to be tweaked. b) Under the current by-laws, the Minicon 33 Exec is not yet Official. 6) Don Bailey Encourages the Board to develop a Computer Policy. 7) Minicon: a) Fred's suggestion b) Jeff Berry c) Messages on Minicon-L d) Survey e) Minicon 32 Status Report from the Exec f) Other New Business 1) Who gets a copy of the Board Minutes? Fred asked. Polly will send him a list of who, in addition to the Board and the Officers, gets copies of the minutes. Not all have email, so Fred will have to track postage and costs and stuff.... 2) Minneapolis in '73 party funds for WisCon. Geri was authorized by the Board to get check for $73.19 from Treasurer Julie so she (Geri) can throw a Minneapolis in '73 party at this year's WisCon. If for some reason she doesn't or isn't able to throw said party at said convention, she will return said $73.19 to said Treasurer Julie. What she said. 3) Use of the Board email bounce/reflector/whatever (board@mnstf.org). Brief discussion, resulting in the consensus that it's okay to tell people not on the board that it exists and what it is, but remind them to only use it for Official Business or something. Please don't flood us. 4) Changing voting eligibility rules. The Board perused the by-laws to see how it now stands. It's determined that an official meeting (or whatever it's called in the by-laws) are those on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month as announced in EINBLATT plus the annual Pool Party and New Year's Eve Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Party. Currently people are eligible to vote after attending 7 meetings in the previous year, which can be official meetings or Minicon open meetings. Dean suggested counting Minicon open meetings as 1/2 a meeting for purposes of voting eligibility. Fred suggested counting Minicon open meetings as an irrational number of meetings for purposes of voting eligibility. There was then the question and discussion of what "has requested membership" means. Apparently, it was historically meant to circumvent awkwardness about little children and Snuffy Wuffy Poo. Dean resolved the question neatly by noting that in the past we've considered submitting a ballot to mean requesting membership.... Dean almost wants to say social meeting or special meeting of the members (whatever that means--this is all my notes say on this point). Geri argued against this (whatever it was). The Board ultimately supported Geri's argument. More discussion. Final decision, and new champion, by unanimous decision of the Board: [hand pointing right] Voting eligibility consists of attending 7 previously eligible meetings during the year, of which at least 3 must be official Minn-Stf meetings. 5) By-Laws It was discovered, in the course of the previous discussion, that a) The by-laws have some minor flaws and need to be tweaked, and b) Under the current by-laws, the Minicon 33 Exec is not yet Official a) Martin Schafer and Don Bailey volunteered to be the "By-Law Committee." They are charged with reviewing the by-laws; pointing out any stupidities, errors, or procedural gaffes; and suggesting appropriate revisions. They will report back to the Board. No deadline was put in place. b) Discussion of whether the Board ought to make Martin Schafer, Victor Raymond, and Erik Baker the Official Minicon 33 Exec. Martin recused himself from the discussion for some reason. Geri: formally suggests a Revolution. This fails for a lack of a second. Very little other discussion occurs, much to the disappointment of those people who love a good argument. Final decision, and still champion, by unanimous decision of the Board less its recused member: [hand pointing right] Martin Schafer, Victor Raymond, and Erik Baker are Anointed as the Official Minicon 33 Exec. Long live the Exec! Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6) Don Bailey Encourages the Board to develop a Computer Policy. Don would like policy that department or office will get a computer and appropriate software which will move with the office. He suggests a computer a year. We have a computer which was bought for Minicon years ago--the "camel." It is/was shared by registration and One True Mailing List (OTML) (and ?). Martin speaks as both Exec and Board, but I can't remember what he said then. Laurel needs to be part of the discussion. Focus on OTML, which drives registration, etc. Martin: OTML important/immediate because there's a June deadline for Minicon PR1. Ballpark budget needed. Fred mentions that we have a source for reduced price Macintoshes--they'll be price-competitive with Intel machines. Martin doesn't believe Apple will be around in three years. Much disagreement about the Future of Apple back and forth and in general, but a fist-fight is avoided. Dean points out that one fly in the ointment is that computers become obsolete (not as in "to be replaced by giant bioengineered thinking squashes" but as in "this one's no longer cutting-edge technology"). In the course of the discussion it is realized that the current location of the "camel" is unknown. People thought maybe Greg Cotton has it? Or Sherri Lessinger? I can't remember whether somebody was going to look into this. OOPS, it looks like the club does need a Quartermaster for non-locker stuff (e.g., computers). Decision: [hand pointing right] Don Bailey will schedule a meeting, to include: * interested members of the Board * Minicon 33 Exec * VPDP (Laurel) Don will have a Progress Report by the June Board meeting. Don will have a Report by the July Board meeting. 7) Minicon a) Fred's suggestion Fred passed out printed copy of his suggestion contained in "Submitted for your consideration..." and all to-date responses from Minicon mailing list. (Shown in Attachment 970417a) Asks no discussion until next time. If then. 7) Minicon b) Jeff Berry Geri is concerned because some of the messages Jeff has posted to Minicon mailing list are mentioning a high level of donation and he says his involvement with Minicon is cutting into his business. She may be over-sensitive to the issues of burnout, but wants to at least share her concern. Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Martin: Exec is already on top of it. Jeff was friendly vendor who was taking up slack when volunteers weren't getting the job done. M33 is moving to ensure that Jeff is doing fewer tasks and is out of the role of volunteer. His role is a valued, friendly vendor. Geri passes Martin a print-out of the messages to the Minicon mailing list from Jeff that were causing her concern. The Board Speaks: [hand pointing right] Exec, please continue to try to see that Jeff and Janet do not burn out. 7) Minicon c) There have been quite a few messages on the Minicon mailing list saying that the Board ought to do "something" (fill in the blank) re Minicon. Geri points out that the appropriate role of the Board is long-range planning, since the details of any given Minicon are handled by its Exec. So the question becomes how to do some long-range planning? As usual, it's decided that the first step is to do some information gathering. Hence we move on to point 7)d).... 7) Minicon d) Survey The Survey should be of Minn-stf members, broadly defined. We want to try to get complete polling of Greater Minn-Stf (which is defined as what? The EINBLATT list? Something else?). So we'll need an aggressive pursuit of returns--that is, follow-up calls, repeated if necessary. Try to actually get as many people to respond as possible. Remember to hit all "categories" of people with respect to Minicon: going, coping, and not going any more. Polly goes on record that it shouldn't just be Minn-stf--that the people who come to Minicon should count too. In addition to identifying who is to be surveyed, we also need to identify the issues that need to be addressed by the survey. The Board may want some input from the Exec on this. Dean feels that we need to ask: If there is to be change, what should be changed and what shouldn't be changed? Geri is willing to head up the work on a new survey, even though she's feeling a bit burned by the response to her last one. She'll recruit some helpers (Neil Rest and Joyce Scrivner have already offered to help), and will want REAL INPUT from the board once there's a rough draft. RAE,BNC will not be sufficient.... The Board: [hand pointing right] Confirms Geri as coordinator of new survey, promises real input. Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7) Minicon e) Minicon 33 Status Report from the Exec Martin reports that Minicon 33 is trying to focus: * continue the drum jam compromise * no organized rave * no mainstage music * still discussing dance * masquerade still in * Qvarks is no longer considered a Minicon Department. They can have a private room if they wish, just like anyone else, but there will be no blurring of Minicon Committee vs. private roles. If they want to advertise, they'll have to buy ads in the PR's and/or Program Book. 7) Minicon f) Other Geri asks whether the Survey is "it," or if there might be some other ways to go about some long-range planning and/or figuring out something to "do" about Minicon.... Some discussion follows. Dean: Can something be done to minimize the problems that might be caused by either a poor choice of Exec some year or bad results of decisions an Exec makes? Geri: Identify potential pool of execs. Polly: Provide leadership training. Don points out that there really are very few candidates. Ron says: The Minicon volunteer form lists a bunch of jobs, but doesn't describe them. What are the job descriptions/framework of various jobs listed on the volunteer forms? It would be quite helpful to know. There is agreement with this point. I don't think anything was specifically Mandated, but the suggestion is passed on to the Exec.... Don recommends board encourage Lydy's Project Brain Suck, including having her report to the Board regarding progress. The Board Speaks: [hand pointing right] This is cool. Don suggests we pick some of the more established, reputable other local fan groups and meet with them regarding the future of Minicon. Margo: Volunteering is crucial to many people's enjoyment of Minicon. More general discussion, which eventually dribbles out, and we go on to: Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Preliminary Agenda for Next Meeting [what we would now call a "The Scream" emoji] How to fix Minn-stf. [what we would now call a "The Scream" emoji] Fred's "proposal." [what we would now call a "The Scream" emoji] What about a Quartermaster? [what we would now call a "The Scream" emoji] Fred noticed (after the meeting) that Kay Drache is listed as "Archivist" in the most recent Minn-Stf directory. Does she still hold this position? [what we would now call a "The Scream" emoji] Did we forget any other officers? [what we would now call a "The Scream" emoji] Keys to the PO boxes--number of sets and who's got `em? MEETING ADJOURNED at 9:45 PM. NEXT MEETING Thursday 15 May 7:00 PM at home of Eileen Lufkin. Fred realizes that it would be helpful if people would send him e-copies of anything they're intending to pass out at meetings, so they can be appended to the Minutes as Attachments. Unless the Board thinks this is unnecessarily anal.... Submitted with all due respect by the Official Happy Deadwood & Recording Secretary, Fred A. Levy Haskell Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Page Is Intentionaly [sic] Blank! Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Attachment 970417a To The Minn-Stf Board Meeting Minutes (from the Meeting of 17 April 1997) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 16:29:52 -0500 From: Fred A Levy Haskell Subject: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org I just recently had an idea the may be crazy, but it just might work. But I'm sure I can't see all the sides and ramifications of it, so I figured I'd submit it to the list for you all to poke holes in or support or discuss or whatever, and see what (if anything) is left when the smoke dies down. If anything interesting remains, I might then submit it to the exec and the board. Okay, here's my idea: What if Minicon eliminates any event/function which in and of itself is sufficient to cause a "go/no go" decision among a significant proportion of the people who attend that event/function? So, just to pick an example totally out of the hat, if Minicon were to eliminate, say, the Minneapolis in '73 Suite without changing =anything= else, and that one change would cause a significant proportion of the people who attend the Minneapolis in '73 Suite to decide not to come to Minicon, then perhaps the Minneapolis in '73 Suite should be eliminated. Exceptions might be made for panel discussions (based on an historical argument--Minicon 1 was nothing but panel discussions, and they nothing if not traditional as far as Minicon is concerned) and for booze in the consuite (since we tried that and didn't like the results). Obviously, some discussion might be made about what "significant proportion" means in this context. My rationale here is that if we are trying to refocus Minicon to reflect the needs and interests of =a= diverse community, rather than a =bunch= of diverse communities which are each pretty diverse themselves, it might help to not present those things which attract people who are interested in only one aspect of the many things that interest the community. This is =not= presented in a mean-spirited attempt to capriciously eliminate anyone or anything, but rather to see if this might be one way our bright and shining new Minicon can be refocused to serve =one= community really well rather than attempting to serve a lot of communities half-assedly.... So. What do you think? P.S. I thought you all might get a kick out of the fact that my spell checker just suggested that I replace "exec" with "execrable"..... Fred A. Levy Haskell | "We all have a little bit of Homer Simpson falh@maroon.tc.umn.edu | in us." --Homer Simpson Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 17:09:40 +0000 From: "DreamPark" (Sharon Kahn) Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org Fred writes (eyes wide and earnest)... > What if Minicon eliminates any event/function which in and of itself > is sufficient to cause a "go/no go" decision among a significant > proportion of the people who attend that event/function? Ever thought of running for president, Fred? You've already got a good handle on how to put together a party platform. > So, just to pick an example totally out of the hat ... Right. Good choice. Wonderful thing, randomness. > P.S. I thought you all might get a kick out of the fact that my spell > checker just suggested that I replace "exec" with "execrable"..... *hee hee* -- sharon Date: 14 Apr 1997 04:07:59 -0000 From: David Dyer-Bennet Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org Fred A. Levy Haskell writes on 13 April 1997 at 16:29:52 -0500 > What if Minicon eliminates any event/function which in and of itself > is sufficient to cause a "go/no go" decision among a significant > proportion of the people who attend that event/function? I think eliminating Mpls. 73 would kill Minicon for me. 10 years ago it would have been the con suite; kill that and there's no Minicon for me. All else is fringe fluff. Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 22:18:38 -0600 From: gfs@toad-hall.com (Geri Sullivan) Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org At 10:07 PM 4/13/97, David Dyer-Bennet wrote: >Fred A. Levy Haskell writes on 13 April >1997 at 16:29:52 -0500 > >> What if Minicon eliminates any event/function which in and of >> itself is sufficient to cause a "go/no go" decision among a >> significant proportion of the people who attend that event/ >> function? > >I think eliminating Mpls. 73 would kill Minicon for me. 10 years ago >it would have been the con suite; kill that and there's no Minicon >for me. All else is fringe fluff. And how many other people who spend time in Minneapolis in '73 do you think feel the same way? If it's a significant portion (specific meaning TBD), then I'm with Fred's suggestion and think the department ought to be eliminated. Attachments to Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reading into your comment a bit, I find myself darned near in agreement with you. If Minicon did away with "Minneapolis fannish hospitality" I'd really have to look at if/why I was interested in attending Minicon. But that's (fortunately) not just one event/function at the convention. Geri Geri Sullivan / gfs@toad-hall.com ================================= "The duck is played by a kazoo." -- Dave Van Ronk (narrating) Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 00:31:08 -0500 From: Fred A Levy Haskell Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org At 12:09 PM -0500 4/13/97, DreamPark wrote: >Fred writes (eyes wide and earnest)... > >> What if Minicon eliminates any event/function which in and of >> itself is sufficient to cause a "go/no go" decision among a >> significant proportion of the people who attend that event/ >> function? > >Ever thought of running for president, Fred? President of what? Nope, actually.... (And what's this "eyes wide and earnest" thing? And who's "Earnest"? Stop calling me "Shirley"! Erm....) >You've already got a >good handle on how to put together a party platform. Huh whaaa....? >> So, just to pick an example totally out of the hat ... > >Right. Good choice. Wonderful thing, randomness. Yup. Always works swell for Corflu Guests of Honor. Especially that year in Minneapolis, when Roscoe guided my hand to the slip of paper with "Stu Shiffman" written on it.... Fred A. Levy Haskell | "We all have a little bit of Homer Simpson falh@maroon.tc.umn.edu | in us." --Homer Simpson Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 11:56:30 -0500 From: Neil Rest Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org >What if Minicon eliminates any event/function which in and of itself >is sufficient to cause a "go/no go" decision among a significant >proportion of the people who attend that event/function? I wouldn't want to make a policy of it, but as a way of clarifying a lot of items and issues, I'd be interested in going through the exercise. Neil Rest Privy Councilor Anarchist Emeritus Blaisdell Polytechnic Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 20:13:30 -0400 (EDT) From: GildValar@aol.com (???) Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org In a message dated 97-04-14 01:02:17 EDT, you write: << My rationale here is that if we are trying to refocus Minicon to reflect the needs and interests of =a= diverse community, rather than a =bunch= of diverse communities which are each pretty diverse themselves, it might help to not present those things which attract people who are interested in only one aspect of the many things that interest the community. This is =not= presented in a mean-spirited attempt to capriciously eliminate anyone or anything, but rather to see if this might be one way our bright and shining new Minicon can be refocused to serve =one= community really well rather than attempting to serve a lot of communities half-assedly.... So. What do you think? P.S. I thought you all might get a kick out of the fact that my spell checker just suggested that I replace "exec" with "execrable"..... Fred A. Levy Haskell | "We all have a little bit of Homer Simpson falh@maroon.tc.umn.edu | in us." --Homer Simpson >> Part of the reason why I was suggesting doing a new minicon parrallel to the original minicon, Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 21:10:06 -0400 (EDT) From: SSKYLARKER@aol.com (Laramie Sasseville) Subject: Re: Submitted for your consideration... To: Minicon-L@mnstf.org In a message dated 97-04-13 17:45:12 EDT, you write: << My rationale here is that if we are trying to refocus Minicon to reflect the needs and interests of =a= diverse community, rather than a =bunch= of diverse communities which are each pretty diverse themselves, it might help to not present those things which attract people who are interested in only one aspect of the many things that interest the community. This is =not= presented in a mean-spirited attempt to capriciously eliminate anyone or anything, but rather to see if this might be one way our bright and shining new Minicon can be refocused to serve =one= community really well rather than attempting to serve a lot of communities half-assedly.... >> My first reaction was, `Lord, no; not another stupid bid to alienate large portions of Minicon attendees. But by the time I got to the end of your post I could see where you're coming from - maybe it _would_ help us to clarify what we want Minicon to be if we could identify which activities appeal to people who aren't just there for one thing or another. On the other hand, I suspect that there isn't even one activity that could be eliminated without causing a few people to exclaim, `Well; that spoils it for me.' It has become apparent to me that the list is a good forum for getting some REaction to ideas, but it is not a good forum for making decisions or taking action. How long have we been debating one idea or another for reducing membership? For deciding what activities are worth preserving? I suggest that we put some of these questions to a vote. Perhaps a ballot could be mailed out with an issue of the Einblatt. I don't expect it will happen, regardless of what is said here, unless someone takes the initiative to _make_ it happen. Is anyone out there willing to compile a list of the suggestions that have been made, so that it can be submitted to the Exec for possible action? - Laramie Attachments to Minn-Stf Board Minutes--Page 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------