Language Creation Society Minutes of Annual Board of Directors Meeting Saturday, February 4, 2012 Board members present: Sai, David Peterson, Sylvia Sotomayor, Amanda Furrow, George Corley, John Quijada, David Durand, Alex Fink, Doug Ball. Board members absent: Don Boozer (Sotomayor, proxy), Sally Caves (Peterson, proxy), John Clifford, Henrik Theiling Prior to meeting being called to order, new Board members Amanda Furrow and George Corley agreed to the Non-Disclosure Agreement. Call to Order Meeting called to order by Sai at 3:00:10 Pacific Time. Agenda Item 1: Vice-President Election Peterson nominated Sotomayor for Vice-President. Sotomayor declined. Discussion ensued as to the role of Vice-President. Peterson (and Sotomayor) nominated John Quijada for Vice-President. Seconded by Sai. Motion: Shall John Quijada be elected to Vice-President? Yes - 9; Abstain - 2. Motion passed. John Quijada elected Vice-President for term of 4 years. Agenda Item 2: Offering Membership in Exchange for Volunteer Service Peterson explains proposal: "To give two examples: First, Matt Haupt does our taxes every year pretty much for free, but is not a member. Also, certain volunteers have popped up to do stuff for us that all we can really do is say "thank you" to. For example, Jhamie Latonero, who does all the webifying for fiatlingua.org. I think it would be a nice way to reward/encourage their service to provide them with free membership. We could, of course, vote on each free membership on the board, still (i.e., consider each proposal separately, and year-to-year)." Discussion ensued. Summary: Sai noted the two primary objections in the past: 1. Someone can't be *made* a member (i.e., they must join voluntarily). 2. It might be perceived as "diluting the value of membership" David Durand stated a solution to objection (1) is to offer and allow recipient to accept or not. Similarly, one could ask and LCS could grant or not. Peterson stated (in acknowledgement of discussions) voting on each instance via email should "safeguard against" objection (2). Sai noted that free period should be specific in nomination. Members agreed in principle not to limit free membership by a percentage but to limit via voting. Sai, in reply to Doug Ball, stated that free membership should be offered, not advertised, on an individual basis. John Quijada added "free memberships are our response for work volunteered, not the other way around." Motion: Shall the Board and/or Officers, by a plurality vote on the BoD list [Revised by Sai: a plurality of Board members / Officers who respond to a nomination for honorary membership advertised on BoD], offer free memberships of some specified duration (default 1 year) to people who have contributed to the LCS through volunteer work? Yes - 10; Abstain - 2. Motion passed. Honorary LCS membership will be offered. Amanda Furrow exited meeting, provided proxy to Peterson. Agenda Item 3: Should the LCS offer official reviews/opinions regarding the quality of conlangs? Peterson explained the reason for the agenda item: "Jeffrey Brown e-mailed me and asked me to have the board honestly and seriously discuss the idea of the LCS doing official reviews of conlangs." He was thinking of bringing it up during the members meeting. So I wanted to honor his request and put it on the agenda, at least. Discussion ensued John Quijada requested the floor. Quijada: "We have to remember that LCS viability will always remain precarious. Therefore, the last thing we want to be seen as is being arbiters of what is good/bad conlanging" [General agreement expressed] "What I suggest instead of this proposal is that we SHOWCASE/HIGHLIGHT good conlangs. By means of a CONLANG OF THE MONTH article or announcement (like a mini version of DJPs smileys)." [Discussion on relative merits of "awards"] "I myself, am willing to go scouting for conlangs that we can feature as CONLANG OF THE MONTH or whatever and am willing to write the reviews." Considered issue of endorsing conlangs, decided not to take any action at this time. Motion: In principle, should the LCS start hosting some kind of LCS-branded "conlang of the month" series, with further details to be worked out on BoD list? Seconded by David Durand. Yes - 7; Abstain - 4. Motion carries. Agenda Item 4: Shall the office of Chairman of the Board be eliminated? Duties of Chairman of the Board: Running the Board meeting; ability to call special meetings. If not existent, Chairman replaced by President in all duties. John Quijada asked for confirmation of this in By-laws. Confirmed by Sai. aricle 14 §9. (https://docs.google.com/View?id=dct5h6zd_30cdzntv just search 'chair') Peterson: "The proposal is essentially to eliminate the redundancy. The chair does nothing that the president either doesn't or can't do, but does have the power to call a meeting (something that, otherwise, only two board members, at minimum, can do). Also, unlike other offices, the chairman of the board has no term." Discussion ensued. Sai proposed: - All offices have 4 year terms, including now the office of board chair - Effective the end of this meeting, my term as chair expires - No chair is nominated to replace me Discussion ensued as to the term of the Chairperson, the need for the office, and result of its remaining vacant. Motion: Shall the Board Chairperson's term be considered finished at the end of this meeting, as it has a term of four years, as already specified in Article 4 sections 1-2. Yes - 9; Abstain - 2. Motion passed. No nominations were raised for replacement of the Chair. Agenda Item 5: Representing/Negotiating Conlanging Contracts with Film & TV [Initial discussion covered under non-disclosure agreement] Additional in-depth discussion on relative merits of differing scenarios including: - Reverting to "status quo" (new entertainment contracts awarded to "FOAF" (i.e., "Friends Of A Friend" or someone who has already done a language for a project) - LCS retaining the services of an entertainment lawyer or agent (The issue of lack of funds was addressed) - The creation of a "Conlangers Guild" (NOT formed by the LCS) - Creation of a "Conlangers for hire" web page or list George Corley moved to table the issue. Sai seconded and there was general agreement. New Business Sylvia Sotomayor asked whether a "token amount" of LCS pins should be purchases or delayed until supplies are closer to running out. After discussion, it was decided to give Sotomayor the authority to buy additional pins or not. Adjourn Sai adjourned the meeting at 5:12:56 pm Pacific. Summary: On-going Projects and Action Items - John Quijada agrees to write up a summary of his idea for a "Conlang of the Month" spotlight feature along with a sample article on a conlang, to be mailed to Board of Directors within two weeks (approximately). - Post further discussion of LCS's role in representing/negotiating TV & film conlanging jobs to BoD mailing list. - Sylvia Sotomayor will decide whether or not to purchase additional pins.