Board meeting Minutes/27 February 2006

Prior: 20 February 2006

Board meeting Minutes

Next: 6 March 2006

Minutes approved: 6 March 2006

Present

Tom Perrine (chair), Matthew Barr, Trey Harris, Doug Hughes, Andrew Hume, Chris Palmer, David Parter, Stephen Potter, Pat Wilson (note taker)

Apologies

Sam Albrecht

Opened

20:04 Eastern Time

Closed

21:43 Eastern Time

Consent Agenda

• Approve minutes of 20 February 2006

Consent agenda approved.

Action Items

Board Committees

• Development Committee (Wilson/Potter)
  • Wilson - Work on proposals for potential sponsors - no action

• Partnership and Liason Committee (Perrine)
  • Perrine- Write another note to the Advisory Council as soon as biz plan first draft complete - in progress

• Leadership Committee (Greg Rose)

• Policy Committee (Harris)
  • Harris, Hume, Wilson - draft a liaison charter and policy. - in progress

Should have something for Board review next week

[ Palmer joins the call at 20:09 ET ]

• Communications Committee
  • Palmer -- Fix the problems with the postcard and revisit information requested - Done

Palmer will touch base with the office to make sure that everyone's on track.

• Membership Committee
  • Harris, Albrecht - membership kit - in progress

Still problems with the membership cards, but that should be corrected this week. Otherwise, ready to go.

Program Committees

• Conference Planning Committee (Wilson/Perrine)
  • Barr, Perrine, Wilson - present several possible scenarios for LOPSA training events - in progress

Should have something to present to the Board next week.

• Technical (Online) Services (Hughes/Parter)

There's now a volunteer who will be working on the mailman anti-spam configuration which will have uses beyond mailman.

• Content Services Committee (Palmer/Potter)
  • Palmer, Potter - Contact other LISA '05 content contributors with hosting offer - no new action

It was decided that this action item should be closed. Other Content developments: we now have 3 "editors in chief" and 3 area editors for the web site.

[ Harris leaves at 20:26 ]

Non-Committee

• Financial
  • Hume - Present draft financial policies for Board approval. - no action

• Albrecht:

• Barr:

• Harris:
  • Produce a proposal for membership drives - no report
  • Post a description of the Resume Standards project - no report
  • Migrate the board-only list from sage-managers.org - no report

• Hughes:

• Hume:
  • Work with Usenix to pursuade them to sign a grant letter to the IRS by 30 March 2006 (from 30 Jan 2006 meeting) - in progress; waiting on feedback from Albrecht

• Palmer:

• Parter:

• Perrine:
  • Reply to Ross West email and seek further information about what he wants - Done

Perrine will iterate with West, but sense of the Board is that this might not be a high priority project at the moment

• Potter:

• Wilson:
  • Produce a proposal for a volunteer recognition program (with Harris, Parter) - no action

• All:
  • Review 05 financials and set questions to Albrecht in advance of 27 Feb meeting - in progress

It was decided that the BitPusher contribution should best be apportioned against charges as they occur, rather than lumped into the 2005 numbers. Also, the official 2005 budget numbers should be in the financials.

ACTION ITEM: Hume to work with Albrecht to revise financial statement for Board approval next meeting.

Standing Reports

• Treasurer's report
  • Albrecht provided January financials via email earlier in the week.
  • Discuss December 31, 2005 financials if needed.
  • Draft 2006 budget prepared and being reviewed.

It was agreed that LOPSA should start paying off some of the AH debt as soon as possible once the cash flow projections have given an idea of what amount is practical to use for this purpose.

• Membership report

members	338
payment pending	7
non-members w/online accounts	205

It's time to send mail to the 205 folks who haven't actually joined yet and see if we can convert them to paying members.

ACTION ITEM: Hughes to create a list of non-paid online account holders

ACTION ITEM: Palmer and Harris will write an appropriate letter.

• Online report
  • online sponsorships done

Hughes, Parter, and Wilson are working to create a sponsor database and interface for ongoing staff use.

Sponsorship Possibilties

(Henceforth, in order to avoid unnecessary redactions, we will refer to potential sponsors by a nom de plume such as "Company X".)

• Discussed the idea of working with Company S on shared event possibilities and our potential involvement with their event planning committee.

ACTION ITEM: Perrine to contact Company S to accept position on their committee and clarify avenues of potential cooperation.

• Company J (t-shirt/merchandise vendor) might be a potential partner (or even sponsor). There's been some dissatisfaction from members regarding the quality of the CafePress merchandise, and Company J might be able to get us lower prices through volume discounts. Some concern was expressed regarding look and feel of Company J's site, which might not provide an appropriately "professional" feel - perhaps they would do a portal?

ACTION ITEM: Perrine will explore partnership possibilities with Company J

AH/LOPSA Letter of Agreement

• Discuss AH proposal - cost and hours. Recommend modifications and/or approval.

Needs more Board scrutiny; will review and bring back for approval next week.

ACTION ITEM: All to review before next week

New Business

"About us" page for site

It was pointed out that the "About Us" page doesn't really make the whole case for LOPSA, and it's probably time for a corporate history story to be started. Care will need to be taken to present an accurate, yet not needlessly confrontational, description of events. The "About Us" page should also clearly define the scope of LOPSA's potential activities and interests.

ACTION ITEM: Palmer will write the about us with assitance from Parter.

Wifi question

Regarding Albrecht's query about potentially partnering with other AH clients on a portable wireless system: it was agreed that this was not something that LOPSA would be interested in pursuing. The economics aren't in favor, and the chance of complications with a venue's own setup is too great.

ACTION ITEM: Barr will communicate the Board's decision (with supporting reasons) to Albrecht.

Adjournment

MOTION to adjourn by Wilson, seconded by Palmer. Passed. Adjourned at 21:43.