NZLARPs Auckland Regional Committee Meeting 14-11-12
In attendance: Rowena Knill, Hannah Jackson, Mike Curtis, Cameron Burns, Clare Stones, Anna Klein, Michelle Burt.
Meeting opened: 8:00pm.
Actions arising from last meeting:
- Shed security: Hannah obtained D rings and padlock, shed secured at gear day.
3 copies of keys, currently residing with Hannah’s mum, Hannah and Mike Curtis. - Trailer keys: Hannah currently has 2, Mike has one.
- Labelling weapons: crew weapons were labelled at gear day. Some might have been missed, due to impending rain during gear day.
Lost weapons: Matt Swain and Vanya have both lost personal daggers. - Weapons order: An order for more crew weapons has been placed with Paddywack- done by Anna.
- Marketing Brainstorm: Rowena and Michelle did not have time to do this.
- Badges: Rowena has not done, won’t have time to do before Teonn due to GM responsibilities.
- Taxes to file:
Anna and Hamish have completed paperwork.
Taxes not filed yet. Hamish has uncovered a piece of tax law that might exempt us from paying taxes.
Financial statement filed with Government. - Auckland city council gear storage: Mike has not yet contacted them about this.
Action Point for Mike: Contact Auckland City Council about gear storage.
Reports.
Anna- Financial.
- NZLARPs currently sitting on $2400 profit. However, some things still to pay:
$500 to Hannah’s mum, to be paid for gear storage.
Action point: Hannah to obtain invoice from her mother for gear storage. - Profit accrued is mostly from Wellington.
Hydra was profitable.
National committee has low expenses, therefore made a profit.
Auckland: didn’t really make any money this year. Tends to spend more on resources than other regions- eg. Appliances for larp kitchen use.
In conclusion, accounts are in a good state. - Action point for Anna: Find out what the Accounts Receivable section of account summary is composed of. Is it late game fees that are yet to be paid?
- Provided the committee with actuals from recently run games.
In brief:
Teonn- broken pathways: profit of $284.
Delicious Friends (run 28th Sept): profit of $120.
Witch House: profit of $322.
Armageddon: loss of $300. This was much better than last year.
Action Point: NZLARPs to pay Michelle for the petrol and parking she accrued as the Armageddon Stand organiser. - Proposals for future games:
Bad Dreams: Trust (rerun)
Friday Night Larp: This is to be an ongoing series of smallish theatreform games, to occur every second Friday night. Anna will facilitate but not run these games. This means that the games will be run by GMs from the community.
These are likely to clash with smaller/monthly games. (Not Teonn or Chimera).
Approx 18 players anticipated per game, games must be written for at least 15 people.
Will involve some set-up costs: Anna to prepare a box containing glass tumblers, jugs, dish wash, scrubber, tea towels. Also to contain easy to use paperwork: receipts, envelope for collecting cash, list of gear.
Sign ups to be on a rolling basis. Will open early Jan.
Questions from Committee:
Cameron: How many games lined up so far? Anna: 8
Mike: Is a website needed? Michelle: Will use “What is Larp” site. Anna: Google Forms will be used to collect sign-ups.
Motion: Proposed by Rowena: Do we accept Anna’s Fri Night Larp project?
Michelle: seconded
6 yays, Anna abstains. - Change of banks: Anna still collecting information, not sure of best option yet.
Action Point: Anna to find more bank information, to aid in change of banks decision.
Action Point: Anna to balance the different bank accounts, that is, put money that has been deposited by people into wrong NZLARP accounts, into correct accounts.
What are we looking for in a new bank?
Good customer service
Easy/cheap to deposit money
People can be added as signatories to accounts, and swapped with change of committee members.
Committee thanks Anna and Hamish for all their hard work.
Marketing Report: Rowena
- NZLARPS website:
Anna: content should be updated, and reviewed quarterly.
Rowena: Not a programmer. Would like to update websites, but can’t.
Mike: We need a content management system- to make it easy for non-programmers to edit site. - Michelle will not be here next meeting- it will be Christmas rush at her work.
Gear Report: Hannah
- Gear day: About 15 people in attendance.
Costs: Food and drink.
Motion: Proposed by Mike: Should the committee refund Clare $10 for hot chips purchase for gear day?
Unanimous agreement.
Action Point: $10 to be paid to Clare, for hot chips purchase. Clare supplied Anna with bank acct details.
What was achieved?
Boxes labelled.
Gear sorted, things that may/may not be worth keeping sorted out.
Action Point: Hannah to post pictures of things that may not be worth keeping, on Diatribe. Will do after Teonn. - Plastic containers purchased. For gems used as Teonn currency. 15 large jar containers purchased, at $1 each from Trademe. Gems passed over to Rowena, for Teonn.
- Modern clothes purchased- $50 worth, from op shop, to expand gear library.
Other issues arising from gear day:
Roman armour: needs either a major repair, or to be discarded. Edges very sharp.
Aluminium chain: maintenance needed.
Saloon doors: From Refuge, of no apparent use to the society. Can we sell these online? Discussion indicated that the hinges were quite expensive- they are saloon hinges.
Action Point: Hannah to list saloon doors on Trademe for $100.
Monster costume: Donated by Anna Cruse. Has quite a cartoony face. We are not sure whether this will get used much. Hasn’t been used much so far, but that might be because people are not aware it is available in shed.
Leave for now, see if it get used much during the next year.
Perhaps make a decision next gear day?
Fountain: Cool prop, but really heavy. Will we use?
Food: Big box of this. Has been itemised and sent to Teonn GMs to use.
Kirsten suggested at the gear day, that we look into buying some food containers for spices etc.
Storage Boxes: Cameron keen to buy more.
Motion: Proposed by Anna: NZLARPs to buy more strong storage boxes?
Seconded by Michelle
Unanimous agreement.
Action Point: Cameron to keep an eye out for more strong boxes- about 6 of them.
Vaccum Cleaner: We could really do with one, as the ones at venues frequently don’t work.
Michelle: saw a deal where you can get a free steam mop with a Shark bagless upright vaccum cleaner.
Hannah: Went to Godfreys to do some research.
Commercial vaccum cleaners: Godfreys have wet and dry ones, no bag, you can vaccum wet carpet without damaging vaccum cleaner motor.
Rowena: Wet/dry vaccum cleaners don’t always have good suction.
Hannah: $500 for a wet and dry vaccum, $350 for a dry only one with good power.
• Where could we store it? Downstairs at Hannah’s mum’s might be an option? Could also store food processor and makeup there as well.
Anna: We should hold off on purchase, we are spending a lot on other things already at moment.
Rowena: will bring own vaccum to Teonn.
Action Point: Rowena to bring her vaccum cleaner to Teonn.
Action Point: Hannah to check boxing day sales, and to post info about vaccum cleaners online on forums, so we can authorise purchase.
Crew room at upcoming Teonn:
Anna: we should cover floor in tarp, to keep clean. Got charged extra for cleaning last time we were at Steadfast venue.
Action Point: Rowena to grab big blue tarps out of gear shed, and take to Teonn.
Radios: Current ones have no facility for ear phones- means that bystanders can hear messages being relayed. Also use up battery quite quickly, and can be hard to find a free frequency in populated areas, such as in the domain.
Norm has some good quality ones, which he got in a Grab One deal.
Action Point: Hannah to have a look at Norm’s radio. Ask Scott to ensure they are brought up to Teonn.
Obtaining discount card for Bunnings: Hannah has determined that getting a Bunnings card is infeasible, as someone needs to sign as the guarantor.
Cameron- EMPU membership card can confer discount at Bunnings.
General discussion:
- Anna: No crew sign ups to Teonn over last week.
- Hannah: Scummit: 3 quarters of players were new. Several seemed keen on Teonn. Several were however too young to sign up. Had parents or guardians in attendance at Scummit.
Mike: Presentation on screen!
<<<warning: potential trigger: sexual assault>>>
- We have had an anonymous letter from a member of the larp community, that they were sexually abused as a teen or young adult, by someone who was previously a member of or associated with the community, a few years ago, at a LARP. Neither party was identified in the letter.
The focus of the letter was about making the community a safer place, to prevent incidents of this nature happening again.
It didn’t ask us to deal specifically with the allegation.
How do we prevent incidences from occurring?
Anna: Game organisers BBQ, to discuss this topic, and help game organisers to be prepared for real life issues that might crop up during games.
Mike: Include a short demo to show the life cycle of a LARP. To cover some of the issues GMs might not be aware of.
Cameron: Make it clear that the code of conduct is a serious thing.
Anna: Make it clear that the code of conduct is a good thing- to stop unsafe/uncomfortable behaviour.
Mike: Projects should agree to code of conduct. We can still run larps with controversial material, but these should be well signposted so people know what they are getting into before they sign up.
Anna: Make GMs reading code of conduct part of project application process.
Michelle: Will send the code of conduct as an attachment, to all her players in the Friday Night game.
Action Point: Mike to talk to a person with councilling expertise, to enquire about advice. The reason why we are looking at doing this, is within the committee we don’t have the expertise or experience to deal with matters of this nature.
Rowena: We need advice regarding “he said/she said” situations.
Anna: What to do about historical situations? Eg. What if someone says “This happened X number of years ago, I don’t want this person in game.”
Need to get Wellington involved as well- need to implement changes in multiple regions.
Our plan:
Ask a person with professional councilling expertise for advice.
Potentially, look into training.
Discussion:
Rowena: Foster a culture of safety.
Anna: The bigger Chimera gets, the more potential for incidents of all sorts. For example, head through window, theft…
Mike: What about people under 16, with no guardian present?
Anna: Sleeping on site = huge issue.
Mike: Guardians: have to share a room with their charges.
Anna: Chimera has some single sex rooms.
Rowena: People turning up late to events (eg. Teonn) have little choice of where to sleep, therefore single sex rooms necessary.
Anna: Mostly it is younger females who want single sex rooms.
Suggest a game organiser summit, for early next year.
Minimizing risk:
Rowena: Big areas make it hard to monitor people- and also can result in people being out by themselves at night.
Need to encourage community awareness of keeping people safe.
Hobbiton
- Mike: Jared says the Hobbiton people are keen for an event.
We should investigate further, make formal enquiries, take applications for role of project manager for event. - Cameron: Would like the project manager to be someone who has experience in running large events. Eg. Someone who has been involved with joust or NAAMA organisation would be great.
- Anna: Get applicants to send in a CV.
- Cameron: Someone with a realistic vision.
- Anna: Someone professional.
- Mike: Not this summer, but next summer, would be a great time for event.
- Cameron: Official site visit would be great: Project manager, plus a couple of experienced members of the community, plus a couple of committee members.
- Action Point: Find a project manager. Someone within NZLARPs, or maybe 2 people- someone outside the LARP society and someone within it.
Cage Trailer:
- Mike: We should investigate Lions Funding for a cage trailer.
- Michelle: Maybe have a funding planning day in Jan? – Muppet keen for one
- Rowena: Our current trailer is big and heavy, difficult to find someone to tow it.
Maybe we could hire a couple of cage ones for Teonn, would however be expensive. - Mike- Truck hire for Teonn?
- Anna- not feasible- too expensive
- Clare- When are the Lions clubs grants due?
- Michelle- Rolling throughout year.
- Action Point: Investigate grant for cage trailer.
Winterdale:
- Mike: Zara has not replied back to the email that was sent, requesting actuals and game payments.
- Anna:
No actuals have been submitted.
NZLARPs gave Zara money for props and food. Only one receipt returned, props not returned to NZLARPs.
Currently $100 loss.
No props paid for.
No cash takings from night returned to NZLARPs. - Mike to send email. Anna wants him to ask about props in the email, as this could potentially cost $150-$200.
- Hannah: concerned society being brought into disrepute, due to late cancellation of last game.
- Cameron: Not sufficient disrepute to do anything though.
- Anna/Hannah: Both concerned.
- Anna: Should we take future Winterdale dates off NZLARPs calendar, as other games might currently be avoiding booking these dates?
- Clare: Zara will probably not be able to keep dates, due to being sick.
- Action Point (completed): Mike to send email to Zara. To cover: Committee considering disestablishing project. Finalised actions and props required.
Meeting closed: 10:15pm.
Postscript:
Following the meeting, regarding the letter and community safety, we are also discussing getting some legal advice. This is so we can better understand what our obligations are and what actions we can take in the event of future incidents.