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:

• Chad Bergeron
• Dave Clarkson
• Jeff Diewald
• Michael McAfee (president)
• Charles Sumner (non-voting advisor)
• Tim Lasko (non-voting observer)

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:

• Board turnover is 60% every year.

• The Con Chair for next con needs to prepare early, before the current con. This raises questions over voting power and when the next Chair should get it.

• Those who are on the board don't get a vote if they are running for reelection. This raises a problem. Suppose that A and B are on the Board with terms expiring, and C is the outgoing chair. If A and C are running for board slots, that means there's only three people on the board who can vote.

• Expanding the Board to seven was discussed. It was concluded that this didn't solve the problems, and could make them worse.

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.

• The con website is the throughput for con and NEIL finances.

• The con website is NEIL's face on the web.

• NEIL itself has a much simpler web requirement.

• It is clear that the con must have a website that meets the con's needs. As with everything related to the con, it is a good practice to review the requirements and suitability of the website every year.

• The most successful conventions are those that have gotten an early start, with materials available at the time of the previous convention. This requires advance efforts, without interfering in the organizational efforts for the current con.

• The con chair is responsible for determining the needs of the convention, which includes the website. The NEIL board is responsible for electing a con-chair with the capacity and responsibility for making these determinations for the con. The consensus is that the NEIL board should defer most decisions to the con chair, to support them in their crucial and significant position.

• The candidate website requires us to find a hosting solution. This will probably cost NEIL between $150 and $200 each year. The Treasurer reported that every convention except Intercon B made enough to meet this need. There are also sufficient funds in the NEIL bank account to cover costs for this year.

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:

• Chad Bergeron
• Dave Clarkson
• Jeff Diewald
• Tim Lasko (incoming president)
• Michael McAfee (outgoing president)
• Mark Waks

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:

• Tim Lasko, president
• Chad Bergeron
• Dave Clarkson
• Jeff Diewald
• Cheryl Knoepler

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.