Minutes of the NEIL Annual Meeting for 2003

The NEIL Board held its annual meeting on February 27th, 2003, at Jeff Diewald's house, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, after the Intercon C Packet packing party. In attendance:

With the Board's approval, Charles Sumner contacted Mark Waks by telephone to obtain his proxy for the Board Meeting.

Upcoming Election

There was a discussion of the bylaws for electing new Board members. Several issues were raised that merit discussion at a future meeting:

Given these issues and the con-chair election concerns raised earlier in the year by the convention committee, it suggests that NEIL should reconsider how these elections are held in the future.

Acknowledging these concerns, a motion was made to clarify and publish the process for the upcoming NEIL election, as defined in the current by-laws. Additionally, another call for volunteers would be made, with nominations to close after Saturday, March 1st, 2003. The vote was unanimous to support this motion.

Website

There was a discussion of the pros and cons of the Intercon C website and the candidate Intercon D website.

A motion was made to switch to the new website. The motion was seconded. The vote was unanimous in favor of switching to the new website.

Registration and advance payment

There was a discussion of the number of registrants for Intercon C that are signed up for games but who have not yet paid for their membership. The Treasurer reported that this was a serious budget concern. These people do not have a financial investment in the convention. Should there be a large number of "no shows", it could hurt convention receipts and cause difficulties for some games. It was suggested that requiring attendees to pay for their registration before allowing game signups would help the convention fiscally and make players more likely to show up.

A motion was made to require payment for registration before game signup is allowed for Intercon D and future conventions. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.

Communications

The Board composed an email message clarifying the election process and repeating the call for volunteers. This message was sent to the convention committee at the Board meeting.

The Board composed an email message stating its position on the website change. This message was sent to the convention committee at the Board meeting.

Suspension of meeting

The Board agreed to suspend the annual meeting until the nominations for the upcoming elections were available at Intercon C, on March 2nd, 2003.

Resumption of meeting

The NEIL board resumed its annual meeting at 11:00am on March 2nd, 2003, at Intercon C in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In attendance:

Hotel Contract for Intercon D

Dave Clarkson reported that the hotel contract for Intercon D in 2004 was in hand. The deadline for signing is April 16. A notable change is that the cost of the facility space is going up by $100. Dave reported that the hotel management suggested some alternative financial options to help mitigate the cost of convention function space.

The board agreed to defer any action on the suggestions until the Treasurer has closed the books on Intercon C to determine how well the Board did under the current arrangements. This is expected to be completed in the next two weeks. A virtual (email) meeting will be held to discuss any possible changes at that time.

NEIL Board elections

As of 12:01am on March 2nd, the following people had nominated themselves for the two open seats on the NEIL board: Jeff Diewald, Cheryl Knoepler, Alex Newman, Charles Sumner, Ilene Tatroe, Mike Tatroe, Will Wagner and Christina White. Mike Caprio had asked that his name be removed from consideration.

Jeff Diewald, running for re-election, recused himself from discussion and left the meeting.

The board shared their discussions and experiences with each candidate, according to the by-laws, and elected Jeff Diewald and Cheryl Knoepler to fill the two open seats.

Board changes

As of the end of Intercon C, the NEIL board voting members will be:

Michael McAfee, outgoing president, will replace Charles Sumner as Treasurer (non-voting) upon the close of books for Intercon C.

Conclusion

The meeting was adjourned at 11:40am.