2010 Westercon Business Meeting

Meeting Minutes

1.    Call to Order

The meeting of the 63rd West Coast Science Fantasy Convention was called to order at 11:31 a.m., Kevin Standlee presiding and Linda Deneroff acting as Secretary. The meeting was officially recorded by Lisa Hayes (and Kuma Bear), and unofficially recorded by others. A quorum of 15 was necessary to hold the meeting (other than site selection results) and was met.

2.    2012 Site Selection

Sharon Sbarsky, Site Selection Administrator announced that there were 88 votes with preference and therefore 45 votes were needed to win. The breakdown is as follows:

 

Totals

Seattle WA

Tonopah NV

Inyokern CA

NoTA

NP

Mail

6

4

 

1

 

 

Thursday

29

20

7

 

1

2

Friday

57

30

24

 

1

4

TOTAL

92

54

31

1

2

4

Seattle, having received a majority of the votes, was elected to host Westercon 65. By unanimous consent, the tellers were thanked for their work and instructed to destroy the site-selection ballots.

Bobbie DuFault, Chair of the Seattle committee, thanked Tonopah bid Chair Kuma Bear for a great competition and invited him and Ms. Hayes to join the Seattle Westercon committee and then announced the guests of honor as follows: Robin Hobb, Writer GOH; Frank and Brianna Wu, Artists GOH; Art Bozlee, Science GOH; and Fan GOH, Chaz Boston Baden (who was present at the meeting). The theme (and convention name) of Westercon 65 will be ConClusion. The Doubletree has made a better offer than the Marriott, the bid’s originally announced hotel, so ConClusion will be at the Doubletree Hotel (home of Norwescon, but this will not be a copycat Norwescon). Part of the reason for the move is that the Marriott would not allow parties. Memberships are now on sale. If you pre-supported and voted, your membership is automatic; if you did not pre-support, the conversion fee is $20. More rates are on their flyer, and all rates are guaranteed through December 31, 2010.

Ms. Hayes spoke for Kuma Bear and said he was touched by the support for Tonopah, whose bid did far better than they had hoped for. Post Apocalyptic memberships are available (to sell off the remaining t-shirts).

3.    Pending Bylaw Amendments

This amendment was passed by the Westercon 62 Business Meeting, and, if ratified, will become part of the Bylaws at the conclusion of Westercon 63.

3.1 75-Mile Rule

Resolved, To amend portions of Section 3 of the Bylaws to remove the existing restriction on sites within 75 miles of the administering Westercon, by striking out words as follows:

3.3 Regional Exclusion Zone

No site within the Site Selection Zone containing the site of the Westercon administering the site-selection election shall be eligible to bid, except as provided in this section. If no eligible bids are filed by the January 1st of the year of the site-selection balloting, then all sites defined in section 3.1 shall be eligible, subject to the provisions of section 3.4.

3.4 Local Exclusion Zone

No site within 75 miles of the Westercon administering the site-selection election shall be eligible to bid, except as provided in section 3.17.

Note: Should this amendment be ratified, the Secretary will renumber sections and correct cross-references as necessary.

Arguments

James Stanley Daugherty, the maker of the motion, explained that this would simply the rules and would only kick in if no one in the other zones were interested and would simply the bylaws. He said the original bylaw was written in paranoia and should be abandoned.

Ben Yalow explained that this would take effect if a bid were near a geographically advantaged position near a border zone. But this is unlikely to happen.

Glenn Glazer that noted that even if two bids were in the same city, there is little likelihood that they would have corporate relationship. Given the relative paucity of bids, the restriction is unnecessary and the geographic advantage is overstated.

Sharon Sbarsky noted that the problem is not where you have a rescue bid. Westercon zones are large geographically. People should not vote because a bid is in close proximity to the current convention or in the same zone.

Vote

By a show of hands, there were 16 people in favor of the amendment and 11 against. Therefore, the amendment was ratified and became part of the Constitution at the conclusion of this meeting.

4.    New Business

Bylaws amendments passed by the Westercon 63 Business Meeting will be passed on to the following year’s Westercon for ratification.

There was no new business presented at the meeting.

5.    Announcements

Mr. Glazer announced that Mr. Standlee will be Chair of the business meeting at next year’s Westercon, and that Ms. Deneroff will be Secretary. Anyone with new business should present it to Mr. Standlee as soon as is feasible prior to the convention.

Mike Willmoth presented membership breakdown and financial results for last year’s Westercon (FiestaCon), which are attached to and made part of these minutes. (See Appendices A and B.)

The Chair commended Mr. Willmoth for submitting his report in a timely fashion.

6.    Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 11:59 a.m.

 

Linda Deneroff
Secretary

Appendix A: Westercon 62 Financial Statements

 

Westercon 62 (FiestaCon)

Balance Sheet

For the Period Ended May, 31, 2010

Assets

 

Cash

$  12,982.10

Less Outstanding Checks

    (2,500.09)

 

$  10,482.01

 

 

Liabilities & Fund Balance

$    3,500.00

Accrued Donations

      6,982.01

 

$  10,482.01

Westercon 62 (FiestaCon)

 

Income Statement

 

For the period ending May 31, 2010

 

 

 

Revenue

 

Membership

$  30,435.85

Dealers' Room

2,550.00

Art Show

1,661.65

Advertising (Program Book)

840.00

Commissions

           98.70

 

$  35,586.20

 

 

Expense

 

Advertising & Promotions (Bid Expenses)

$    4,478.45

Advertising and Promotions

2,920.68

Art Show Supplies/Ribbons

772.12

Charity Auction Supplies

127.82[1]

Con Suite

3,330.00

Donations

3,500.00

GOH Banquet

4,265.74

GOH Gift Bags

394.61

GOH Per Diems

1,000.00

GOH Travel

1,449.64

Green Room

305.48

Hotel Rebate

(6,019.70)

Hotel Room Charges

2,441.08

Hotel Tips

370.00

Logistics

249.74

Programming Supplies

423.48

Publications

3,414.03

Registration Supplies

431.67

Staff Lounge

888.00

Staff Refunds

3,045.00

Treasurer (Bank/CC Fees & Supplies)

      816.35

 

$  28,604.19

 

                      

Surplus of Revenue Over Expenses

$    6,982.01

 

Appendix B: Westercon 62 Membership Analysis

 

Westercon 62 in 2009 (FiestaCon)

Membership Analysis

420     Attending

83        Committee/Staff

16        Dealers

10        Guests-of-Honor and Guests

10        Children

131     Participants

56        Participant Guests

14        Supporting

9          Kids-in-Tow

1          Press

77        Pre-Supporters with no upgrades

827     Total unique memberships

448     Pre-con

379     At-con

603     Warm bodies

6          Friday

6          Friday / Saturday

1          Military

10        Saturday / Sunday

35        Saturday

5          Sunday

1          Thursday

 


[1] Charity auction raised $1,869.00, which was donated. The Challenger Space Center, and The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (1/2 to each).