(Apologies for the lateness of these minutes: real life reared its unpleasant head. I managed to subdue it with liberal episodes of ‘Hannibal’.)
Meeting opened at 8:02pm, following a hiatus in the National Committee AGM and a rousing game of pen-keys.
Number of members present 16, (14, plus 2 new members paid at meeting). Present: Anthony Doornebosch, Chris Rosedale, Daniel Atkins, Hannah McKie, Jessica Casbolt, Jon Ball, Joshua Marshall, Kurt Gentil, Mel Duncan, Naomi Guyer, Rebecca Harris, Robert Godden, Russ Kale, Scott Kelly, Steph Cybart, and Thomas Joychild. Scott offered apologies for the absence of Ellen Boucher, although it transpired that Ellen was present for the National AGM.
The minutes from the 2013 AGM were tabled and accepted; there were no matters arising from the previous meeting to be addressed.
Election of returning officer
Jon Ball nominated and voted on to be official vote counter for 2015 Committee.
Election of regional committee
There was a discussion on the location of members in official database. Several members mentioned that they had relocated to a different jurisdiction, or identified others who had. Russ mentioned that the official database had been updated to reflect these changes. Quorum was recalculated and based on number of members present & number of online votes received.
As general officer is the only position that can have nominees declared at the meeting, a vote for this was halted halfway through to allow other members to make their self-nominations clear. The vote was performed again to reflect the new nominees list.
Discussion was held around number of General officers, what the role entailed, why the motion was tabled and the consequences around any change.
The results of the vote are as follows.
Number of General Officers: Two
Regional Director: Scott Kelly
Secretary: Russ Kale
Treasurer: Anthony Doornebosch
Gear Officer: Mel Duncan
Marketing Officer: Idiot Savant
General Officers: Bryn Jones, Thomas Joychild [Daniel Atkins was also nominated and seconded]
Officers’ reports
Reports from each officer position were read out. Treasurer, President, Secretary, Marketing & Gear.
Discussion: Gear Storage
Chris and Mel currently have most of the Wellington gear library. At the moment Chris is looking to sell his house and requires the gear to be moved by mid-November.
Mel presented a brief outline of possible locations for paid storage. However the options are cost prohibitive, as there is no simple or renewable way to provide the funds. Several suggestions around funding were discussed, including LARPs, Membership increase, GM/Game charge increases, pub charity/pokies, and council shared spaces.
There were options for storing gear for free, Vogelmorn Hall have been approached, as a place where we often have LARPs, waiting for a response. Brookfields in Wainuiomata have advised we can store gear there, but it’s a fair way to commute to the camp, especially for short one-off games in Wellington. Daniel and Russ mentioned a spare room at their place for a temporary solution; Mel said that she could also store some more of the gear if it doesn’t fit into this spare room.
The possibility of getting a shed was discussed, similar to Auckland’s gear plans. Although it sounds like a good idea, still requires space to be erected (preferably someone’s own home) as well as the initial outlay of money for the shed. At the time of the meeting, temporary storage was considered to be the best short-term solution, with an eye to more permanent storage in the near future.
Discussion: Workshops
More workshops to be run this year, including Makeup, Acting, Game Writing and Weapon / Shield Making. There has been a large influx of new LARPers, a few people are interested in learning how to write games. Experienced LARP writers are keen to help out new writers, in order to get more people interested. This will give some of the veteran writers an opportunity to step back and enjoy new games they’ve not written. There was also discussion of doing another “Writers Weekend” where people can go away and brainstorm flagship game ideas.
Discussion: Conventions
HYDRA: Next year’s Hydra is considering what to run as its flagship, as the GMs for Great Exhibition aren’t available to run the game, and uncertain about delivering it to others to run. Call for other games will go out shortly, as Hydra ramps up its preparation for next year.
KAPCON: KapCon registration will open late in October, with a superhero LARP ‘Crisis Point’ being run as its flagship.
Meeting closed at 9:07 p.m.