Wellington Committee meeting minutes - March 23

NZLARPS Wellington Committee Meeting 23/03/2013

Meeting opened: ~14:20

Present: Ellen Boucher, Anthony Doornesbosch, Donna Giltrap, Scott Kelly, Idiot Savant
Apologies: Mel Duncan, Bryn Jones, Brooklynne Kennedy

Previous minutes: Approved unanimously

Previous events:

  • Shield workshop lost money, but gave us 8 crew shields. Loss due to budgeting it long before it was held, buying materials at last minute, and people dropping out at short notice. Committee happy with addition to gear pool. Suggestion that Comrades may have cheap foam to cut costs. Committee happy for similar workshop to be run in future if there is demand.
  • Kingdom should have made a small profit once all fees are paid.
  • Delicious Friends made a profit, was attended by 6 new larpers, some of whom have become regular additions to the community
  • Holiday Season made a profit
  • KapCon wasn’t an NZLARPS event, but NZLARPS will get some props under the gear agreement.

Upcoming events:

  • Day of Games in May will feature the Nun larp. Do we need to provide support for it? To be raised with Sophie.
  • May has Witch House and Teonn happening in Auckland, with the latter attracting a large contingent.
  • Brooklynne has offered the Mirror Room for May. Possibility of using venue for a concurrent game if there is demand.
  • Dance and the Dawn has booked Vogelmorn Hall for June 22; will send Budget to Ants.
  • Sophie has floated new post-apocalypse game, “The World That Is”, with first game ballparked for late June. Scott will talk to her about Project or Affiliate status.
  • Au Contraire in mid July, will have a number of larps at it. Need to sort out details with Mel.
  • Could need another game for July.

Action point: Scott to talk to Sophie about project / affiliate status for “World That Is” and possible support for Nun Larp. Idiot to send budget for “Dance and the Dawn” to Ants.

Armageddon:

  • no idea what pricing is.
  • given cost-structure of games in Wellington, not worth doing if it costs more than $100.

33AR:

  • much of discussion put on hold due to absence of Mel
  • need to get feedback from 33AR GMs about exactly what they need from us
  • Mel has sent an email covering arrangements for temporary secure storage of gear at Brookfields between 33AR and Hydra. Will need to do some planning around gear logistics to get everything back to town.

Hydra:

  • numbers are looking good; 59 people so far.
  • projecting a much lower profit this year because Hydra has invested in a lot of gear. Scott ran us through his purchases, all of which look useful and re-useable.
  • Hydra will make a donation to larpwriter.com as many games have been written on the site.
  • needs to make sure amenities kit is checked and updated.
  • would like to purchase some folding screens / partitions, but waiting for price to drop.
  • hopes that costume places, Maid on Marion and RTBs will again be generous for prizes.

Gear purchase and storage:

  • homemade weapons have got us over the initial hump and built interest in combat larp, but are not as durable as professional ones.
  • in future we will take advantage of Ryan’s crazy prices to expand the gear pool.

Finances:

  • have $3239.43 in the bank, of which ~$1290 is Hydra’s (so will go out on bills at the end of it). Operating reserve of $2,000 to fund future projects and gear.
  • Auckland has recently instituted a policy around non-payment of game-fees. There have been a couple of cases of this in Wellington. It doesn’t involve a large amount of money (l.t. $100 total), but its a minor irritation, and we don’t want it to grow or establish itself as a culture of non-payment.
  • given that most Wellington games are not funded up-front by NZLARPS, committee feels that GMs are primarily responsible for chasing late players.
    Action point: Ants to create a list so we can monitor this problem
  • Ants suggests possibility of putting surplus cash in a term deposit in future should funds get larger, rather than just leaving it lying in a zero-interest account.

Other business:

  • would like to see monthly emails / posts on upcoming events again.
  • a bit of a chicken and egg problem, with GMs waiting to see what others are doing. Need to encourage GMs to announce games early so people can plan around them.
  • delicious cinnamon buns were consumed

Meeting closed 15:46.

Additional: larps are like buses. You wait for ages staring at an empty calendar, and then a pile of them come along at once.