February 2020 Mini-Business Meeting Minutes

19 February 2020, 7:30pm

Notes submitted by Lady Aelia Bassina of Veii, South Downs Deputy Chronicler.

THL Lucien d’Artois called the meeting to order. “Welcome! If you did not sign in, please sign in!”

Tonight’s meeting covers two specific issues for discussion and one for voting: the bid for this year’s Artsy Crown and the post-mortem from Midwinter Arts & Sciences.

Spring Crown List and Kingdom Arts & Sciences (Artsy Crown) 2020 Bid (22-25 May, 2020)
There had been previous discussion about submitting a bid for RUM as our required kingdom-level event bid; however, it has come to our attention that no one had submitted a bid for Artsy Crown, so we’ve put together a bid in the hopes of preserving the event. Copies of the bid were passed out to any of the populace who wanted them.

  • Co-Autocrats: Lady Raven Helmsplitter and THL Lucien d’Artois
  • Site: Camp Benjamin Hawkins, Byron GA. This is the same site where Castle Wars and Coronation were held. We realize it is not an ideal site for Artsy Crown due to the lack of air-conditioned classroom space, but everything has already been booked for Memorial Day weekend. We will look at having A&S classes in the pavilions and bring fans to help keep things cool(ish).
  • Cost to attend: $20 adult weekend and $15 adult daytrip, including a $5 discount for members ($30 members, $20 non-members
  • There will be two feasts, one Saturday and a fighters’ feast on Sunday; each feast will be $8.
  • Minimal marshal costs; the only martial activities will be Crown List on Sunday, and the Kingdom Earl Marshal will be coordinating that.
  • Some details are still being put together, as a bid needs to be entered as soon as we can.
  • PayPal will be set up as soon as we get the go-ahead
  • Other staff:
    • Field Steward: Captain Brendan de Hay, with THL Piers Simmons serving as deputy
    • Event booklet and flyer: Lady Agnes Halydaye
    • Memes and Social Media: THL Emelina and Lady Isabella
    • Marshal in charge: Master Edward Yarborough (as Kingdom Earl Marshal)
    • Event Website: Captain Pietro di Conti
    • Youth Activities: Lady Una Ulfrdottir
    • Mentor: THL Juliane de Vivonne
    • We will need many volunteers to help make this happen; once we get the bid approved by Crown, we will need to hit the ground running.
  • There will be 3 days of breakfast, travelers’ fare on Friday night, and 2 fundraiser lunches
  • Questions from the populace:
    • Will there be childrens’ activities? Yes
    • Do we feel the amount set aside for travelers’ fare ($75) is enough? Baron Mark mentioned he spent more than $100 when he provided travelers’ fare. It was agreed that the amount would be increased.
    • Seeing as we have been using the site for a year or so now, would it be possible to do a survey to see if the attendees like or don’t like the site, and what they do or don’t like about it? Comments from the populace included that most of the complaints are about things we cannot control, such as the site not being level, etc.
    • Lady Agnes expressed interest in working troll, but she wanted assurances that she wouldn’t actually have to handle money. Yes – there’s a lot to do at troll that doesn’t include directly handling money (putting together tokens and site booklets, answering questions, helping attendees fill out paperwork, etc.). With Artsy Crown being 4 days, we will definitely need lots of volunteers at troll to cover all the shifts.
    • The discussion ended, and a motion to vote was made and seconded. The bid was approved. Since it is a long weekend (Friday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend), the suggestion was made to increase the weekend adult fee to $25. A vote to increase the adult weekend fee was made and passed; the bid will be revised to reflect this.

Midwinter Arts & Sciences and Regional Fighter Practice post-mortem
Lady Raven thanked everyone who came out to Midwinter. Everyone had a lot of fun and a good time. Not everything went perfectly, but it was a new site and overall things went well.

  • A couple of things happened:
    • The site loved us. The parish coordinator said we were the easiest outside group she’d ever worked with, and we now have Exalted Status with the parish. They would love to have us back!
    • When we host an event, it is so important for people to step and volunteer; we had a few instances of volunteers being locked into their jobs for the entire event. With enough volunteers, everyone can help *and* enjoy the event.
    • More signage is needed for the indoor areas because it was very confusing. Perhaps a signpost outside the elevators to help direct people inside?
    • There was a lack of trashcans. Perhaps as a Barony, we could invest in some pop-up trashcans to supplement what a site has available
    • Could we have a white board or tack board where event changes (room changes, class cancellations, etc) could be posted in a central location? We do have a sandwich whiteboard in our storage unit that can be brought out for this purpose.
    • While we were there, someone from another group came up and suggested having a handout for people who aren’t there for the event to explain what we do so there is no misunderstanding. We shared the space with a women’s bible study group in the morning and a Nicotine Anonymous meeting in another part of the building in the afternoon.
    • The classes were well attended, and because some of the classrooms were small, class attendees spilled out into the hallway. Class size management might be needed for next time.
  • Questions from the populace:
    • If we do this again, can we use signage instead of having a person direct parking? There was signage but because it was a new site, we wanted to have someone there to help direct people. More signage is definitely needed, and it would also reduce the number of volunteers needed on parking staff.
    • Lady Raven asked if we would like to have an event there again? Yes!
    • THL Emelina mentioned that the area for the scriptorium was awesome – it was quiet and perfect.
    • Mistress Alessandra reported we had 272 people attend, 21 of those were children
    • Lady Agnes said that Lady Raven did an awesome job!

Business meeting is closed.

Next business meeting will be held Wednesday, 4 March 2020, at the Doraville Civic Center.

Thanks!

–Raven