{"id":187,"date":"2013-01-17T12:43:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T12:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/?page_id=187"},"modified":"2014-06-19T11:11:17","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T11:11:17","slug":"2013-meeting-minutes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/documents\/2013-meeting-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 Meeting Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING MINUTES<br \/>\nDate: Wednesday, January 16, 2013<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a07:00PM EST<br \/>\n<strong>Location:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0Skype<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>BOARD MEMBERS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Attendance:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0Joyce Bettencourt, Chris Collins, Kathey Fatica<br \/>\n<strong>Quorum present:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0Yes<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>PROCEEDINGS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Meeting called to order at 7:00PM by Joyce Bettencourt.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #888888;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">AVACON BUSINESS ITEMS<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2>New Board &amp; Staff Websites, Other Website Changes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Private wiki content moved to hosted domains<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0In a cost cutting measure, all private wikispaces wikis that we were paying $5 per month to host have now had all their content moved to a new corresponding website on the avacon.org domain. \u00c2\u00a0Chris deleted the SLCC Plan wiki, but decided to leave the AvaCon Board wiki for now until we decide if we&#8217;re comfortable with the new changes. \u00c2\u00a0We are still paying $5 per month for the AvaCon Board wiki to remain private.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New Board &amp; Staff sites created:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The new Staff site is located at http:\/\/avacon.org\/staff and the new Board site is located at http:\/\/avacon.org\/board. \u00c2\u00a0These are both separate WordPress installations to enhance security (if one is hacked, the other may not be), and the username is the same as our public site at http:\/\/avacon.org. \u00c2\u00a0 Chris suggests that everyone go in and make sure their passwords to all three sites are the same so it is easy to log in.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Changes to public AvaCon site:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0In addition to the new sites, Chris made some additional changes to the public AvaCon site including: -\u00c2\u00a0Added a Donate button to the front page, a Donate page link on the main menu, and a Donate button sidebar item for every internal page. &#8211; Added an email newsletter signup field on the sidebar item for every internal page. &#8211; Added a link to the Staff site (requires login to access). &#8211; Posted the New Years mailing update as a blog post<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Status of the Corporation<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Annual Reports for 2010, 2011, 2012 Submitted: \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>The filings are not yet showing up on the MA Secretary of State website. \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately we can&#8217;t file the Application for Revival until all of the Annual Reports are approved and in the system. \u00c2\u00a0Chris has called several times, it seems they are swamped with end of year filings and it is just taking longer than usual to get everything processed.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Joyce received the rejection of our 2011 and 12 reports, we think we need to list ourselves as directors again, but Chris will call MA tomorrow to verify what we are supposed to do.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Bank of America Changing Officer Signatures<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Corporate Signature Card rejected<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Chris included the MA Annual Report as documentation, but we think they require minutes of the meeting from our annual meeting where officers were elected as proof of changing signing authority. \u00c2\u00a0Chris will go back and find what we did last time, and forward it to Joyce electronically, so she can mail back in the original forms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Taxes 2012<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Requested QuickBooks File<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Chris sent an email to the accountant requesting an updated version of the QuickBooks file. \u00c2\u00a0Not sure we ever received one.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>We received the QuickBooks file from the accountant.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chris makes the <span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">MOTION<\/span> to purchase the Quickbooks software through TechSoup<\/strong>, a $45 purchase. \u00c2\u00a0Joyce seconds the motion, all unanimously in favor. \u00c2\u00a0MOTION is passed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>2012 Bank Ledger Spreadsheet Updated<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Chris completed the ledger for 2012, Joyce has several receipts that need to be uploaded.<\/li>\n<li><strong>2012 Bank Statements Downloaded<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0All bank statements from 2012 have been downloaded from the bank site and uploaded to our AvaCon docs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>General liability and Officers liability insurance<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Application at the company we&#8217;ve used before declined:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0It turns out they only insure chapters for organizations already registered with them. \u00c2\u00a0They do not offer general liability insurance for other non-profit organizations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Another Insurer?<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Anyone have suggestions for where we should get this insurance?<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Joyce mentioned that Vesuvius used\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.techinsurance.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.techinsurance.com<\/a>, Chris will look into that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Joining TechSoup &amp; GuideStar Company Profile<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Joining TechSoup: \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Chris started the AvaCon company profile at\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.techsoup.org\/ so we could qualify to purchase QuickBooks at the reduced rate of $45 instead of $300+ dollars, but there was an issue with the TechSoup website that prevented her from downloading the qualification form required to have our organization certified as a 501(c)(3) so we&#8217;re eligible for the discounted purchase. \u00c2\u00a0Chris emailed TechSoup&#8217;s support address, but hasn&#8217;t heard back yet.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Chris found the form and sent in the qualifying docs, we are now approved to use TechSoup&#8217;s benefits. \u00c2\u00a0See above, we&#8217;ll purchase the QuickBooks software through Chris&#8217; account.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Updating GuideStar&#8217;s company profile: \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Joyce mentioned the need for us to update our profile on GuideStar -\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.guidestar.org\/organizations\/27-2428600\/avacon.aspx &#8211; since that is an important place for people to look up whether a company is legitimiate or not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Results of the MailChimp Email Campaign<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>AvaCon New Year&#8217;s Update<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<li>Sent: \u00c2\u00a01970<\/li>\n<li>Opened: \u00c2\u00a0438 (24.3%)<\/li>\n<li>Clicks: \u00c2\u00a080 (4.4% of sent, 18% of opened)<\/li>\n<li>Bounced: \u00c2\u00a0167 (8.5%)<\/li>\n<li>Unsubscribes: \u00c2\u00a030 (1.7%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #888888;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\"><strong>FINANCIAL\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bank Balance &amp; Transactions Review<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #888888;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">STAFF ISSUES<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Web Developer<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Beth accepted the position, but we&#8217;ve had difficulty scheduling the first onboarding meeting.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>We have a meeting scheduled with Beth on Monday, January 21st at 6:30PM EST.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sponsorship Coordinator: \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0No response yet from the Sponsorship Coordinate applicant for interview request.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Chris re-forward the interview request email this week, and still no response. \u00c2\u00a0Chris will try to call and will leave a message if no answer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scheduling First Staff Mtg:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0What&#8217;s everyone&#8217;s availability? \u00c2\u00a0Want to get this scheduled before the end of the month!<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #941834;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">Update:<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Chris will send a Doodle meeting request for Thursday 1\/21 at 7PM EST.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #888888;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">METAVERSE FUTURE SOCIETY<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Membership Stuff<\/strong>&#8211; Registered the domains\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/metaversefuture.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/metaversefuture.org<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/metaversefuture.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/metaversefuture.com<\/a>, to redirect to the .org<\/li>\n<li><strong>Membership brainstorming\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Worked on the membership levels and benefits doc<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review Chris&#8217; PPT Presentation Slides<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Scheduling Focus Group Meetings<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Chris will start a document to start brainstorming focus groups and listing names.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #888888;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\"><strong>AVACON EVENTS<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h4>Metaverse Cultural Series 2013<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Announcment was posted at<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/avacon-announces-the-metaverse-cultural-series-2013-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/avacon-announces-the-metaverse-cultural-series-2013-2\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Discuss Responses: \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Funny, we have no proposals about or in Second Life! \u00c2\u00a0We&#8217;ll send out some reminders, wait to see what comes in, then can target invitations as needed to fill gaps in platforms or broad areas that didn&#8217;t get proposals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Joja&#8217;s Email and Possible Partnership with MetaMeets<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Partnering with MetaMeets an option? \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Jolanda Mastenbroek (Joja Dahara) sent a couple of emails about the possibility of partnering with them on MetaMeets or other metaverse-y conferences and events.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Discuss the email: \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Definitely interested in possible collaboration, can discuss with her and do a focus group session in combination.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Opensim User\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Conference<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Discuss Justin&#8217;s Response<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0Chris will reply, we discussed the option for there to be sign up periods during the conference for other grids to showcase their work, but can be done in such a way that the conference is not responsible for the tech or content of those side-events.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Meeting adjourned at 10:20PM. Next meeting scheduled for February 13, 2013 at 7PM.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Minutes submitted by Interim Clerk, Chris Collins.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING MINUTES Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Time:\u00c2\u00a07:00PM EST Location:\u00c2\u00a0Skype BOARD MEMBERS Attendance:\u00c2\u00a0Joyce Bettencourt, Chris Collins, Kathey Fatica Quorum present:\u00c2\u00a0Yes PROCEEDINGS: Meeting called to order at 7:00PM by Joyce Bettencourt. AVACON BUSINESS ITEMS New Board &amp; Staff Websites, Other Website Changes Private wiki content moved to hosted domains: \u00c2\u00a0In a cost cutting measure, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":9,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-187","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/187\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacon.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}