2018/19 Term 2 Week 10 Exec Meeting Minutes

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13 Mar 2019

Posted by Finnbar ( Avatar for finnbar finnbar )

[You're not sure why you were asked to meet a computer science undergrad in the Physical Sciences building, but you've finally found the room you were told to visit. The door is labelled "Secretary's Office" in what looks like purple sharpie scribbling out a couple of names and something about astrophysics postgrads. You enter the silent room, lit by only a pair of weak fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling. There's a little art and a few posters about astrophysics on the walls. A stuffed shark is sat in a chair, silently but adorably judging you. A lightless window can be seen on the far wall, covered by a black and white picture of what seems like a prison concourse. You flinch very slightly as a figure, taller than you expected, turns to you on their chair.]

Finnbar: Hi! Welcome to my new office, I guess I got an upgrade now that I'm the Secretary. Anyway, looks like I get to write and publish the meeting minutes, so here's the minutes for this week's meeting. As a friendly reminder, any member can attend our exec meetings! If you'd like to be there to discuss a certain point or would like your concerns discussed, simply talk to a member of exec - they will let you know where the meeting is or will bring your thoughts forward.

[Ares walks in.] Ares: finnbar get out of my office

You can view the full powerpoint minutes for the meeting on Google Slides This meeting was conducted on 13/03/2019 at 1300-1500 in PS0.17

Introduction

Exec Present

Finnbar (Sec.) Patrick (Outgoing Boardgames) Thomas (Web Admin) Benjamin (Treasurer) Luke (Comms) Jakub (LARP) Anakin (Assistant RPGs / LARPGs) Daniel (Draft Rep) Jon (Wargames) Callum (President) Josh (Boardgames) Josh (Outgoing CCGs) Ares (Graphic Design) Nigel (Outgoing President) Jon (RPG Rep) James S-F (Outgoing Wargames) Nathan (Outgoing Treasurer)

Exec Absent

Ash (with apologies, Outgoing Web Admin) Tim (Quartermaster) Aleksa (Outgoing Draft) Ellie (CCGs)

Orders of Business

  1. Camera reprisal reprisal
  2. The teachings of the old exec (Banner / How to SU Good)
  3. Working with local stores (Gigante / LGS / Escape)
  4. Badges, patches and other things that say “exec” on them
  5. Arranging future exec meetings
  6. Pocket Workshop selling trophies
  7. Quiz prize responsibility
  8. Holiday room bookings
  9. Budget reprise
  10. Megagame

Content

Reminders and Updates

  1. B2.02 cupboards?: Rob (our contact regarding cupboards) didn't answer the phone again. Nigel, please continue to pester.
  2. Lazer quest update (Nigel): CompSoc are happy to do late term 3. They’re discussing it.
  3. Compsoc boardgames update?: None.
  4. SU website description updates?: None.
  5. Introducing roles to the Discord (as per Benjamin’s motion) - who?: Thomas, working with Benji and maybe talking to Chaotic Tim.
  6. Wallplanner deadline is next Monday - what are we promoting and who’s doing it?: Tabletop Day maybe, depending on discussion with the medics. Extrav should be on there. Finnbar needs to do this. [After the meeting note: wallplanner event sent.]
  7. Exec photos - does anyone not want one on the website?: Jon Bell and Chaotic Tim.
  8. We have a bunch of fun documents to sort (Memorandum, Constitution) - who?: Callum and Finnbar. Can probably just copy the memorandum.
  9. Apparently welcome week events are due soon??: Nathan look into that ASAP.

1. Camera Reprisal Reprisal

No more research was done on this, so it has been moved to next term.

2. The Teachings of the Old Exec

Using the Banner Correctly

Patrick wanted to show us all how to use the banner correctly, so did this. 7/10, it was a'ight.

How To SU Good

If you need a contact, our Societies Coordinator is Indy. He can be found in the SUHQ Resources Room.

  • Online Money Request Forms: they can be found on the admin pane of the SU site (click your name, then "Tabletop Games and Roleplaying Society") under Finances. Keep your invoices/receipts.
  • Members Lists: can be found in the admin pane as well. For handing out dice we have a members list of those who have got dice - go to Groups > Dice (potential members are those that haven't got one yet).

3. Working With Local Stores

To Discuss

  1. Jon: Gigante update?
  2. Ellie: update on local stores with WER?
  3. James S-F: anything to say about Escape Games?
  4. We should keep track of our relations with companies…
  5. Sponsorships for next year?
  6. Wizards???

Actions/Results

  1. We put the code up (Facebook, Wargames Group, Newsletter), they now are asking about whether our members would be interested in some specific product? Jon is on it.
  2. Ares will talk to Ellie, we’ll discuss this in future.
  3. We need to decide who’s the representative of the society in the eyes of Escape. James S-F will talk to whoever is chosen (choose before Sept). Still worth looking into, although Zatu might overshadow them now. Anakin has been chosen.
  4. Benjamin is going to make a record of what our relations are with companies at the moment.
  5. Trifecta (Pres, Sec, Treas) and Luke should look into this.
  6. Daniel look into this please.

4. Badges, Patches and Other Things That Say "Exec" on them

Badges

Pocket Workshop now have a badge press and were offering £1 badges - could be good for showing exec roles when it’s too warm for a hoodie. [Your friendly secretary and non-binary person's important interjection: Also pronouns yay!]

This is great! Could also do badges with pronouns and rainbow logo for members, hell yeah. Could also have badges per society faction? Good luck Ares, you've got a lot of drawing to do. Regardless, these would be bought by individuals not the society. Finnbar needs to investigate exact pricing (all same design for bulk discount?).

Patches / Enamel Pins

Patches were also discussed - could be embroidered onto hoodies so returning exec that change roles don’t have to buy a new one every year. [Finnbar cries relatably]

Issue pointed out by Ares: Patches and enamel pins are... not great because you have to order 100+ of the same design and it’s really expensive (so not useful for personalisation).

Logo Statue

We can get a huge version of the trophies from the last quiz from Pocket Workshop for £20 - could be good for socs fair table?

Patrick thinks it's silly - not enough space on socs fair table. Nigel had an idea about (literally) elevating our logo - so it's above everything else so is easy to see. Ares has ideas mentioned in Handover doc (on order page 66). It would be nice to have, could replace the usual central poster in the display. Surround it with wargs minis. Could go for a smaller one? I'll (Finnbar) look into exact sizing.

5. Arranging Future Exec Meetings

Currently when organising exec meetings:

  • A Facebook group post goes out with topics and who’s focussed
  • Focussed members get a Doodle poll, best dates chosen from that.
  • Everyone else gets the Doodle, remaining exec fill it out.
  • Date is chosen, room booked.
  • Cry at room bookings.

This is slow and time consuming, so alternatives were considered:

  • Skip having a separate focussing poll altogether, but still focus and pick times that suit those focussed. This has worked in the past.
  • Have a weekly/fortnightly meeting time. This could leave some exec unable to attend meetings for an entire term. Also absolutely not during term 3, exams aaaaaa. Could try to send a doodle before term starts to see if there fortunately is a time? Will trial term 1 next year. Also avoids room bookings, nice.
  • Run meetings in the evening. Evenings aren’t great because they clash with one of our events or is a Friday - so we'll need someone to cover every week/fortnight.
  • Weekends? Not great as RPGs and LARP exist. Still worthwhile for emergency meetings, but if a weekly slot is made on a Saturday morning for example we all lose our Saturday mornings.

6. Pocket Workshop Selling Trophies

Members have asked Pocket Workshop about buying extra trophies from the quiz off of them. Issues to consider:

  • It possibly makes quiz prizes less exciting as you can just buy them now.
  • Leavers might want a memento from the society though.

Solutions were proposed to differentiate between the trophies being sold from the ones being won:

  • Different colours? Different size? (Could talk to Pocket Workshop about this.)
  • Could add "quiz winner [date]" engraving onto actual quiz prizes.
  • Could make them not detachable.

The following was proposed by Patrick:

Quiz trophies should be made more special with engraving, allow sale of normal ones through the society (rather than on Pocket Workshop's site). No alterations to what Pocket Workshop sells are necessary. We're supporting the company, not trying to restrict them. Could even have termly sales!

This was voted on and was unanimously approved bar one abstention. [After the meeting: Pocket Workshop were happy with this!]

7. Quiz Prize Responsibility

What Prizes?

Buying prizes for all parts of the society is hard (sorry LARP), especially as the winning team might not have a Magic player or a Wargamer among them. Discussion on this:

  • In previous years James S-F has just turned up to Escape (generally convenient!) and cut a deal.
  • Notably prizes haven't always been split between all factions (in fact, in initial quizzes this split wasn't considered, this has just become a thing).
  • Boardgames are a good universal prize. Pocket Workshop mini packs might be good?
  • Stuff from sponsors / vouchers? (honestly though that's a lot less fun)

Who Prizes?

Who should be responsible for getting the quiz prizes?

Patrick: Should spread responsibility of finding prizes, so CCGs rep suggests CCGs prizes and the like, then one person buys them all (otherwise that's a lot of money request forms). James S-F: Maybe the Escape Games liaison should do it because that's worked well - the staff there have even suggested what to buy in the past.

8. Holiday Room Bookings

To Discuss

  1. At the AGM merging the holiday events was discussed. Are we doing that for this holiday?
  2. Who's booking the rooms, and what rooms?
  3. Also some PG Boardgames issues came up.

Actions

  1. People tend to be around for the Easter events (cries in exams), so larger attendance is likely. Nigel will talk to the other Wargamers, but for now we'll stick with three separate events.
  2. Bookings will be made for all three events. Finnbar will talk to Ares about this, it’ll probably be Finnbar’s job. [After the meeting note: it's done.]
  3. The posters for our Dirty Duck event don't mention the society at all. Also, we've not received compensation for recent events, what's the deal with that? Nigel will investigate.

9. Budget Reprise

At the last meeting the cushion for draft and the CCGs budget were reduced. Nathan, is everything calm again now?

  • Everything is now fine. (entire room: "yay!")
  • Don't go over your current budgets at all. The budget refreshes in September.
  • Benjamin needs to keep an eye out for the budget form coming out soon.

10. Megagame

Info / To Discuss

  1. The PDF was bought by myself and Callum, we now have all the material and as organisers will sort the running of the game.
  2. Rooms situation is interesting - can get a few Oculus rooms or part of the Science Concourse. Need to decide a day to run this.
  3. SU has ticketing which can’t be started until three weeks after forms have been filled in. Non-members can buy tickets and be charged differently to members. Need to make a budget - with £5 tickets (way less than a normal megagame) we can buy nice things like food and a big map. 4 We did a survey to gauge interest!

Actions

  1. Yay, we even have a discord now.
  2. Sports places are £45 an hour, so probably not ideal. Look into GLT3 (Luke’s on it), which could work really well. [After the meeting note: Luke did look into it, but alas GLT3 is being renovated starting from week 8 next term. Thanks anyway, Luke!]
    1. Term 3 vs term 1 - issue is that every society/friendship group is organising stuff term 3 weeks 9-10. Would still be nice to run it as practice though!
    2. Proposal: Wed Week 9, instead of boardgames. Will ask members at boardgames if they're okay with this. Maybe have a second poll or general "is it okay to not have boardgames once". Could have boardgames start at 5. Otherwise could do Thursday Week 9. Callum will book for both ASAP.
  3. Good, but need to sort the financial planner ASAP. [After the meeting note: this has been done and handed into the SU along with the other relevant documents.]
  4. 25 positive responses so far! So definitely enough to run it.

Nigel ended with the following important quote about the megagame: "it sounds like a murder mystery, except the person being murdered is the Earth".

Next Meeting

The following should be discussed with the bracketed members focussed.

  1. Camera reprisal reprisal reprisal? (Jakub/Tim)
  2. Please contact Thomas about website changes, including the new draft schedule. (Thomas, to probably summarise to the exec the changes he made.)
  3. International Tabletop Day (Callum, as his first serious Presidential duty)
  4. RPG introduction posts (Jon (RPGs))