Q4 2004 Quarterly General Meeting Draft Minutes

November 28th, 2004

Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, Burnaby

Present:

Ray Seredin, Paul Carpentier (WCSFA Vice-President), Palle Hoffstein (WCSFA President), Clint Budd (VCON 29 Co-Registrar), Chris Sturges (VCON 30 Operation Co-Chair), Greg Cairns (WCSFA Member-At-Large, VCON 29 Co-Chair/Hotel Liaison/Bacchanal, VCON 30 Chair), Marie-Louise Beesley (WCSFA Member-At-Large, VCON 29 Co-Chair, VCON 30 Treasurer), Bill Foster (VCON 29/30 Hospitality), Greg Slade (VCON 29 Webmaster, Dealer/Sponsor Liaison, VCON 30 Webmaster, acting Dealer/Sponsor Liaison), Chilam (WCSFA Member-At-Large, VCON 29/30 Art Show.) Cindy Turner (WCSFA Member-At-Large, VCON 29/30 Filking), Kathleen Moore-Freeman (VCON 29/30 Costuming), and Keith Lim arrived later.

Palle called the meeting to order at 2:20 pm.

Palle said that, given the location and numbers, this would be a casual meeting.

VCON 29 Report: Marie reported that, with the exception of $35 still owed to Lorna Appleby, all the accounts have been settled from VCON 29. Total income was $12,578.83, and total expenses were $11,510.56. Half of the surplus has been paid to Paul Carpentier, in accordance with the resolution passed at the meeting on June 6th, 2004. In addition, VCON 29 provided complimentary display space and memberships to those artists who had not been paid for sales at VCON 28. The remaining balance in the VCON account is currently $539.56. (Note: This does not include any pre-registration receipts for VCON 30. Marie is keeping those under lock and key, pending setting up a separate account for VCON 30, in order to keep WCSFA funds and the funds of the current con separate.) There is no final attendance tally from VCON 29 yet, because Allan Kelly, the co-registrar with all the facts, has been quite sick. Marie's guesstimate is that the final number was roughly 312.

VCON 30 Bid: Greg Cairns reported that Todd Lockwood will be returning as a Special Guest. Negotiations are still continuing about other guests to fill out the slate. Two hotels have submitted proposals to host VCON 30: one is the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, which is offering essentially the same space as for VCON 29 (less the Tiffany Ballroom) and the same rate for the guest rooms ($105/night), for a low of $6,600 and a high of over $13,000 (depending on whether we make our room block) for the use of the event space, and a contractual obligation to order at least $5,600 in food and beverage service.

This led to an extended digression over hotels' obsessions about food and beverage service, which in turn reminded Marie to point out that the income and expenses related to the Writers' Workshop are not included in the VCON 29 books, other than that VCON 29 paid for the coffee service. The WCSFA Treasurer will need to talk to Fran to get the numbers with the respect to the Writers' Workshop. Marie suggested that in future, the Writers' Workshop funds should be run through the VCON budget in order to give a clearer picture of the situation. Palle opined that it is permissible for the Writers' Workshop to run at a deficit, since it benefits the con as a whole, but believes that it is wrong for one person to have to carry the deficit.

The other hotel to submit a proposal to host VCON 30 was the Executive AIrport Plaza, at Alderbridge Way and Westminster Highway in Richmond. They are offering 14,182 square feet of meeting space for a low of $1,400 and a high of $9,750 (again, depending on whether we meet our room block) for the use of the event space, with no requirement for food and beverage service.

At this point, Clint had to run to catch his ferry, but offered three items to take to heart if the current concom wants to secure Allan as registrar for next year:
  1. The membership rates need to be fixed and adhered to, and not changed at the last minute on the web site.
  2. Getting the necessary membership information from guests of the convention should be automatic, and no apologies for asking for the information should be necessary.
  3. There should be one person responsible for inviting guests of the convention, and that information should be passed on to the registrar, rather than people coming up to the registration desk and saying that "so-and-so promised me a free membership."

Resolved: that the VCON 30 bid be accepted as presented, bearing in mind that the requirement of Guest of Honour is not fulfilled as at November 28th, 2004. Should the WCSFA Board of Directors find a Guest of Honour requirement lacking in six months from this date, the board will be authorised to remedy the situation by being called on to arrange for guest(s). Moved by Paul Carpentier; seconded by Marie-Louise Beesley. Motion passed with none opposed and one abstention.

New Business:

Marie moved that the WCSFA constitution be amended to state that guests of the con would only be given memberships for the days on which they actually perform some service for the con, such as sitting on a panel. There was no seconder. Paul moved that the motion be tabled until the next meeting. Marie seconded the motion to table.

Marie asked for a resolution that concom members cannot make a profit from the con. Paul offered to review the societies act and the WCSFA constitution. CIndy asked if there was, or could be developed, some kind of one-page guideline of "dos and don'ts" for newbie concom members. Palle said that several attempts have been made to develop a concom handbook, all of which got too detailed to be completed, but that a position-neutral guideline such as she asked for might be possible.

The meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.