EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Time: 7:00PM EST
Location: Skype

BOARD MEMBERS

Attendance: Joyce Bettencourt, Chris Collins, Kathey Fatica
Quorum present: Yes

PROCEEDINGS:

Meeting called to order at 7:00PM by Joyce Bettencourt.

AVACON BUSINESS ITEMS

New Board & Staff Websites, Other Website Changes

  • Private wiki content moved to hosted domains:  In 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.  Chris deleted the SLCC Plan wiki, but decided to leave the AvaCon Board wiki for now until we decide if we’re comfortable with the new changes.  We are still paying $5 per month for the AvaCon Board wiki to remain private.
  • New Board & Staff sites created:  The new Staff site is located at http://avacon.org/staff and the new Board site is located at http://avacon.org/board.  These 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.   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.
  • Changes to public AvaCon site:  In addition to the new sites, Chris made some additional changes to the public AvaCon site including: - Added 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. – Added an email newsletter signup field on the sidebar item for every internal page. – Added a link to the Staff site (requires login to access). – Posted the New Years mailing update as a blog post

Status of the Corporation

  • Annual Reports for 2010, 2011, 2012 Submitted:  The filings are not yet showing up on the MA Secretary of State website.  Unfortunately we can’t file the Application for Revival until all of the Annual Reports are approved and in the system.  Chris 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.
  • Update:  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.

Bank of America Changing Officer Signatures

  • Corporate Signature Card rejected:  Chris 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.  Chris 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.

Taxes 2012

  • Requested QuickBooks File:  Chris sent an email to the accountant requesting an updated version of the QuickBooks file.  Not sure we ever received one.
  • Update:  We received the QuickBooks file from the accountant.
  • Chris makes the MOTION to purchase the Quickbooks software through TechSoup, a $45 purchase.  Joyce seconds the motion, all unanimously in favor.  MOTION is passed.
  • 2012 Bank Ledger Spreadsheet Updated:  Chris completed the ledger for 2012, Joyce has several receipts that need to be uploaded.
  • 2012 Bank Statements Downloaded:  All bank statements from 2012 have been downloaded from the bank site and uploaded to our AvaCon docs.

General liability and Officers liability insurance

  • Application at the company we’ve used before declined:  It turns out they only insure chapters for organizations already registered with them.  They do not offer general liability insurance for other non-profit organizations.
  • Another Insurer?  Anyone have suggestions for where we should get this insurance?
  • Update: Joyce mentioned that Vesuvius used http://www.techinsurance.com, Chris will look into that.

Joining TechSoup & GuideStar Company Profile

  • Joining TechSoup:  Chris started the AvaCon company profile at http://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’re eligible for the discounted purchase.  Chris emailed TechSoup’s support address, but hasn’t heard back yet.
  • Update:  Chris found the form and sent in the qualifying docs, we are now approved to use TechSoup’s benefits.  See above, we’ll purchase the QuickBooks software through Chris’ account.
  • Updating GuideStar’s company profile:  Joyce mentioned the need for us to update our profile on GuideStar - http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/27-2428600/avacon.aspx – since that is an important place for people to look up whether a company is legitimiate or not.

Results of the MailChimp Email Campaign

  • AvaCon New Year’s Update:
  • Sent:  1970
  • Opened:  438 (24.3%)
  • Clicks:  80 (4.4% of sent, 18% of opened)
  • Bounced:  167 (8.5%)
  • Unsubscribes:  30 (1.7%)

FINANCIAL 

  • Bank Balance & Transactions Review

STAFF ISSUES

  • Web Developer:  Beth accepted the position, but we’ve had difficulty scheduling the first onboarding meeting.
  • Update:  We have a meeting scheduled with Beth on Monday, January 21st at 6:30PM EST.
  • Sponsorship Coordinator:   No response yet from the Sponsorship Coordinate applicant for interview request.
  • Update:  Chris re-forward the interview request email this week, and still no response.  Chris will try to call and will leave a message if no answer.
  • Scheduling First Staff Mtg:  What’s everyone’s availability?  Want to get this scheduled before the end of the month!
  • Update:  Chris will send a Doodle meeting request for Thursday 1/21 at 7PM EST.

METAVERSE FUTURE SOCIETY

  • Membership Stuff– Registered the domains http://metaversefuture.org and http://metaversefuture.com, to redirect to the .org
  • Membership brainstorming Worked on the membership levels and benefits doc
  • Review Chris’ PPT Presentation Slides
  • Scheduling Focus Group Meetings:  Chris will start a document to start brainstorming focus groups and listing names.

AVACON EVENTS

Metaverse Cultural Series 2013

Joja’s Email and Possible Partnership with MetaMeets

  • Partnering with MetaMeets an option?  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.
  • Discuss the email:  Definitely interested in possible collaboration, can discuss with her and do a focus group session in combination.

Opensim User’s Conference

  • Discuss Justin’s Response:  Chris 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.

Meeting adjourned at 10:20PM. Next meeting scheduled for February 13, 2013 at 7PM.

Minutes submitted by Interim Clerk, Chris Collins.