Auckland Regional Meeting September 11th 2013

nzLARPS
#1

Auckland Regional Meeting September 11th 2013
Present: Anna Klein, Mikaere Curtis, Cameron Burns, Rowena Knill, Hannah Jackson, Clare Stones
Start: 7:40pm

Matters arising:

  • Hannah – contacted Ryan – he has given her an invoice explaining what has been purchased.
  • Action Point: Hannah to compare Ryan’s information against the gear.
  • Branding weapons – hasn’t happened yet.
  • Anna – followed up with Cheryl, who was very receptive to feedback. Mike also worked through the issues with Cheryl. The Sabbat game is now at Kiwiana’s lodge in Huia.
  • Anna – Rang Motu Moana, had chat with them. We might be able to get deposit returned, even if they don’t fill the spot – the lady Anna spoke to is going to talk to the board about it. However, if it doesn’t get returned, it is a $1300 loss for us. Therefore, it’s important that Sabbat break even.
    [Note: We have since received notification from Motu Moana that they will be returning half of the deposit.]
  • Action Point: Anna to get new budget for Sabbat from Cheryl.

Finance Report:

  • Linda has purchased first aid kit for us, and also brought extra equipment along to Chimera. Big thank you to her from the committee for this.
  • Costs for games are going up – food, venue costs, props ($2 shops).
  • Approximately $6000 in Auckland account – healthy balance.
  • Our accounts have to be filed at the Society’s office by November.
  • Hannah – does NZLARPs want to be getting into purchasing bows and arrows for crew gear? There are safety issues.
  • Rowena – do people need to be trained?
  • Anna – yes, safety plus protecting the gear. Practical training on how to use one.
  • Mike – if we do buy bows at some point, may need to have its own project.
  • Action Point: Hannah to start a discussion with community, about how they feel about bows and bow safety.
  • Cameron – concerns about bows for crew – crew gear gets a lot of hard treatment. Swords can take quite a lot, bows may take a whole lot less. The strings will get dirty and may fray. If they break, could be dangerous.
  • Anna – option could be that you can only capture, not kill, enemy bowmen, to stop people falling on them, throwing to side when they die etc.
  • Rowena – only crew who can use them, and only GMs, need to go on an NZLARPs training course about use and safety.
  • Cameron – people not to hand them to others who are untrained.
  • Mike – Crucible looking at running some training sessions during weekend games – for example, in mornings – so could incorporate training sessions in to this.
  • Anna – Teonn budget to vote on.
  • Mike – good to see transparency around whether GMs pay or not. (They are not paying for this one).
  • Vote to accept Teonn budget – unanimous yes.

Marketing Report:

  • Rowena has spoken to her sister, her sister is willing to set up a website that non-technical people can edit. However, wants to wait until the marketing person for national committee is elected in, in case they want to set up a site instead.
  • Mike has also set up a site people can edit – has a content management system. The first priority is to put Crucible information onto content management system. Once that is done, transfer the NZLARPs website info over. This is not terribly easy as it would require transferring over the information in the membership database. The management system has full security – different passwords can be applied to different pages.
  • Rowena – would be good to get the “What is Larp” site set up on the system – preferably before Armageddon. Otherwise, getting someone to update the details on the existing site would be fine.
    Action Point: Rowena to migrate “What is Larp” to the site Mike has set up. Maybe ask Bryn for help with graphics. If that doesn’t work, ask Ryan to update website.
    Write or obtain copy for: Auckland and National, Crucible, new changeling game, Duchy of Flint (make it clear that these two use different Minds Eye theatre systems), 1001 Nights, other larps.
  • Anna – need more “What is Larp” cards before Armageddon.
    Also need to print more flyers. Anna has a Warehouse Stationary card for printing.
  • NZLARPs printer is out of color ink. Cost is $1000 for color ink/toner for our model, it may be better to just buy a new printer. Ours has been going for 7 years now. Printer drivers are getting old – the printer won’t print in booklet form any more.
  • Mike – has a duplex that only requires about $60 worth of toner. NZLARPs can borrow it.
  • Motion: (by Hannah and Mike): Anna to purchase business cards, with a budget of up to $250.
    Motion carried – vote unanimous.
  • Action Point: Cameron to investigate current cost of ink for printer, to see if it is economical. -> cost of one color is either $204 or $307. Investigate as to whether we can get it refilled.

Gear report:

  • Hannah – gear day. Chimera took about half of the gear and filled the trailer up, so we have a lot of gear.
  • Discussion about whether the gear needs rationalizing, and whether there is a lot that is not being used.
  • Anna – thinks it is all (or mostly all) being used by various games.
  • Mike – we should ask Blair to take away the lamp post, because that doesn’t get used.
  • Hannah – the dragon may not be used much after Teonn.
  • Anna – Dragon cost $300, we can’t just throw it away.
  • Hannah – Chimera has brought back all the gear, and has also supplied a cleaning box.
  • Hannah – are we going to do 3 smaller cleaning boxes, for different areas.
  • Anna – has lots of hand soap from Chimera.
  • Rowena – has obtained quite a lot of hotel soap which NZLARPs can have.
  • Hannah – of our four walkie talkies, two are no longer working.
  • Rowena – Teonn has been using Norms ones, as they are better.
  • Action Point: Hannah to investigate new walkie talkies. Four new ones. Maybe ask James Cooper, as he knows a lot about radios. Find a cost.
  • Mike – maybe crowdsource, to see if anyone on Diatribe knows of any good brands.
  • Action Point: Anna to ask her dad about the printer (he is an engineer, so might have some ideas for fixing).

Upcoming events:

  • Teonn day game
  • Sabbat

    AGM:
  • National Committee – organizing the national AGM, and constitution changes.
  • Anna – would like to move AGM away from September. Crucible is having a game in Sept next year, and Chimera in August = busy month.
  • Rowena has put submissions in for motions to vote on at the AGM.
  • Mike : Do we need a project officer on Regional committees? We used to have one. To help out GMs of smaller projects especially.
  • Anna: Interface between committee and projects.
  • Rowena: It’s good for projects to come along and present information at committee meetings.
  • Anna: As the treasurer, spends a lot of time interacting with GMs.
  • Mike: This would require a constitutional change. We originally removed the Project Officer role because the people who were running games at the time were experienced at running projects already.
  • Hannah: “How to” information required on how to run a game, who to contact about finances etc.
  • Mike: Do we want this put forward as a motion at AGM?
  • Anna: Reluctant to make committee bigger – hard to get quorum with a large committee. Hard to find enough people to run.
  • Mike: People should find a mentor for projects, if they are new to it.
  • Rowena: “How to” guide on what different committee positions entail would be good as well. For example, information on how to book a room, discounts, etc. Make it a google doc attached to committee member email.
  • Regional meeting – can’t set a date yet. We can’t be sure that the month change will be ratified at the meeting, or that the wording will prove to be correct, until the meeting occurs.
  • Encourage people to sign up as members now.
  • Mike: Once the National AGM is booked, we can book the regional meeting.
  • Anna: We will be covered by the societies law if there is a gap in the constitution.
  • Cameron: AGM to be held once a year, according to constitution.
  • Anna: In November, societies office will ask for documents.
  • Mike: Book a time once we know date of Auckland AGM.
  • Anna: Motu Moana has asked us to write a letter for them in support, as they want to expand the new hall. They are applying for a grant to do this.

Past LARPs:
Chimera went well, robust discussion on line bringing a lot out.

  • Hannah: Auckland Council Grants.
  • Mike: Anna and him did not have time to write application. Also, it is risky, as we would be likely to only get space for a year.
  • Rowena: We can afford to rent out space, but would have to be really prudent with other finances.
  • Cameron: Would have to have a really on to it committee for a couple of years, to avoid having the society make a loss. Would have to push the games to put prices up a bit, to make a profit.
  • Nikki has done some investigation into possible gear places during weekend, along with Hannah and Rowena – we may be able to rent a storage garage in Panmure. It would be possible to do gear day work there.
  • Cameron: Pack out nights would have to start earlier.
  • Mike: We could put storage into the budget.
  • Rowena: We can rent a storage place that we can afford, and apply for grants to see if they would cover the cost – this would be a bonus.
  • Hannah – Trailer’s warrant has expired – we need to get this done.
    Action Point: Mike to get warrant for trailer.

Finished: 9:32pm.