January 2020 Board Notes

Date:

01/14/2020

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  • 2nd Article of Incorporation - This is a historical document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