Board notes: January 14, 2020 – Anime Twin Cities, Inc.

Attendance

Board Attended: John Koniges, Tristan Anderson, Kevin Ehrler, Michelle Clark, Jay Bottem, Christina Kramer
Board Absent: Anthony LaBerge, Kim Hofer
Observers: Troy MacDonald, Heather Bufkin

Notes

Meeting called to order 18:30

Agenda: Open Session

New Attendance Document
SG taking plea deal and claiming guilty, still banned and recommended that he not be unbanned by future board members
ConCom a large number of old radios that need to be disposed of, preferably by selling them off.
- Sell off however you think would be the most money
- In past anything tech has sold, has gone back to tech
- AD Director would think it would cycle back to the department, as the purchase comes out of their budget.
- Do not expect accounting to be done like that in the future, will not plan for resells of old equipment to be calculated into purchase decisions
- Will need to discuss creating policy for proceeds of these sales with finance, either back into the general fund, or into that departments budget
2nd Article of Incorporation – This is a historical document
- Will need to discuss with the attorney if we need to post a current version of this document on the website
- This is updated when taxes are filed can get more information from Finance
5th Article of Incorporation – leg fund issues?
- This was vetted by attorney
- Attorney can be followed up with again with more specific questions
Bylaws 3EC – Quorum is defined above, but it is not defined above.
- Needs to be defined. – Kevin will work on
New Policy – John proposes to vote that all ballots for elected offices in Anime Twin Cities will show the number of board meetings that person has attended in the last 12 months. 5 for 2 absent. Policy in effect

Agenda: Planned Discussions from scheduled visiting parties/ATC Partners

None

Agenda: Equipment Rental Requests

None

Anime Detour (Troy)

Got to see parts of the hotel at last planning meeting
Had some Guest of Honor contracts return signed
Will be at AMKE next month
Sponsorship packages – added perks to each type
- IT will add perks to website and Social Media will post announcements
- Finalized discontinuation of sponsor breakfast as it does not work out for Guests of Honor due to travel arrangements and other timing issues
  - Will refund the $30 for the breakfast purchasers
- Meet and greet and signings for Community Sponsors is capped at 25 which is twice as many as we usually end up having
Will be going over autograph policies, as we now have contracts with Guests of Honor.
- Ex. what can be done at tables, vs dealers, vs for free etc
- Like selling additional autographs at table which generally accepted throughout the industry
  - Suggestion – must be at booth X number of hours everyday
    - Needs to be discussed with Troy off meeting
Social media posting regarding consuite in 2021

Charities (Anton)

Christina F had sent a request for donation to a specific event – however that event is over now
Chris Airs looking for additional leg fund disbursement –
- $3700 to pay for lodging for the next 3 months
- Will need to get more information from Finance about his tax burden as well as the stipulations of the agreement
- Chris is open to us fundraising by posting online for donations

Clubs (Erick)

No updates

Communities and Media Relations

No updates

SOS (Heather)

The room for the New Years Eve party on the 11th floor was given to a different group
- Moved to the 12th floor – which is secured so it was difficult for people to get to
- This was a contract violation, so the attached room will be comped by the hotel
- Based on attendance this year, will just be using the main suite next year and cut the extra room
Next weekend is Outpost Anime, January 25th
- Very short staffed
- Will send an email to staff to try to get more volunteers, but generally doesn’t result in much
- Will also look into getting a Social Media posting for volunteers
  - Suggestion for incentives for volunteering
- Craft and cosplay organizers are confirmed to be there, just needs extra bodies

Financials (Kim)

Kim sent financial reports for board members to go through
18k for facilities agreement for GPS
Radios complete – waiting for documentation showing our ownership
Capital one employee donated $1000 through website
Kim will be returning from vacation 1/15

Agenda: Updates on current Board projects

February
- ATC Five year plan
April
- Charitable Giving Proposals
  - Month earlier than previous years
May
- Charitable Giving Vote
- Rum River Library Event
June
- Board Members’ Projects
- Coordinator Reviews – Reviews are not optional
July
- Review ATC policies
- Coordinator Goals

Redefine the role of Media and Communities Coordinators

Google Document with proposed realignments
Secretary – New Role – Equipment Requests – Business Cards – Training
- Defining Training
  - Propel TC non profit that supports other non profits
  - Board Boot Camp – 30 seat class on how to be a good board member
  - One class day every two years -suggestion opening it out to more staff?
Clubs and Communities Merging – New title Communities – POC for ATC Clubs ATC Partners (GPS, MNfurs, Convergence, etc) – In charge of Newsletter – Staff and Organize Events
- Make sure the key responsibilities are defined to avoid confusion with AD Ambassadors etc
Might need board vote for role as departments are being merged and need to accept applicants
Have director descriptions read at AD Staff meetings to fill open positions
Media Relations changed to Communications – Manage ATC social media platforms – Work with media when required – Create and maintain partnerships/sponsorships with corporate entities.
Titles of officers vs directors
Will do more research to determine what titles can and cannot be used, and a summary will be sent out for review before the next board meeting so it can be voted on at that time.

7:41 John motions to adjourn for break. Motion passes.

Readjourn at 8:03 pm

Anime Detour Prices for 2021

Due to the length of past meetings on this topic please try to limit feedback to under 3 minutes
Troy – Badges for General Population
- Cannot see any reason to recommend decrease
  - Compared to other local cons we are about the same
- Cannot see any reason to recommend increase
  - We have time to improve offerings to increase attendance
  - Does not intend to use price hikes to try to fund anything specific
Discussion regarding General Population badge pricing
- Perspective – As we are removing consuite in 2021, we are removing part of our offering, shouldn’t we reduce prices to reflect that
  - We are increasing offerings with new Guests of Honor and that one of the places where this budget is being reallocated to
- Perspective – Lowering prices would present the image that we are struggling and are trying to increase attendance by making it less expensive to attend
New Policy – All Public badge prices stay the same
- Ages 6-12: $15
- Ages 13-17: $40
- Adult: Tiered Pricing
  - Registration Open to February 1st: $50
  - February 2nd to March 9th: $60
  - At Door: $75
  - At Door Sunday: $15
  - Sponsor: $150
  - Community Sponsor: $250
  - Ambassador Table Purchases: $5 discount for Adult Badges
- Vote Unanimous (5 for, 2 absent)

Proposal: Staff badges should be free with hours worked
- Current bylaw = voting members have to have a paid membership of $15, ATC cannot cover the membership, so if you want voting rights would need to pay the $15
- Possible Bylaw Pending this discussion, discuss at the next meeting, staff not having to pay the $15 to get voting rights and be a member.
Discussion
- Troy against reducing staff badge cost to $15 – still wants them to be at no cost for those who qualify
- “Several hours” 18 hours at con or 3 to 1 hours ratio for outside of con
- Each department “some sort of deliverable determined by leadership”
- Standard recording across all departments
- Needing hours at con
- Never had expectations/tracking of hours – department heads are very important they should already be hitting minimum hours
- Reporting and investigating abuse of hours/nepotism
- Advocating for people that do work before con vs at con with badge hours
- Suggestion having department heads approve that someone worked enough to earn the badge
- Basically set a standard requirement, but allow for exceptions to be made by AD Director and Leadership.
New Policy – Proposing that Anime Detour staff badges will be free to all staff that meet the requirements set by the Anime Detour Coordinator for the previous year.
Vote Unanimous (5 for, 2 absent)

John motions to adjourn. Motion passes 9:05pm . Meeting Adjourned