July 2008

Hotel

Radisson needs the bill paid by July 31. We have enough to pay the hotel and a tad left over - The bill will be paid on July 14.

Corporate Credit Card

Still under consideration. Needs to be reviewed. Brad will investigate. It would help us with large bills near the start of the convention when available money is at its lowest.

For PR

Get info about CONduit to the Convention Bureau and they will help publicize the event.

Guests

Pam handed out a list of possible guests by estimated transportation cost. We decided to use the $300 and under list.

• Writer Guest of Honor Nominees in order of preference:
• Eric Flint
• Barbara Hambly
• Carole Nielson Douglas
• Terry Goodkin
• Tracy Hickman
• Artist Guest of Honor Nominees in order of preference:
• Howard Tayler
• Leonard Parkin
• Sarah Seiter
• Cliff Green
• Lubov
• Jessica Douglas
• Meredith Dillman
• James Christenson
• Other Guests
• Wait to see how other guests play out

Positions

These are the elected positions. The positions are in order as they were voted on by the board.

Other Business

We still need to broaden the volunteer base for CONduit, especially for people to move toward heading efforts. One idea is to encourage assistants and have them follow the current head at Con and attend meetings. Now that we have a Volunteer Coordinator (dot, dot, dot)

Brad is officially closing out the CONduit 18 finances, so all reimbursements must be already turned in.

Aug 12 (Tue) Kathy Mar, coming back from WorldCon - she will have brunch with whomever would like to join her. Contact ufo_muses@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining her.

August 2008

Upcoming ConCom Event

ConCom meetings

Local events

Positions

Financial report

We're broke.

Mountain Con 4

• We run their masquerade.
• Davis County Convention Center.
• Ruth Roper is heading our efforts in that area.

Hotel Contract

For 2009 and 2010 - Pertinent summary

• Room: Standard Non-Smoking Room

  Single Rate	Double Rate
  $ 89.99	$ 89.99

• Sleeping rooms will be held until 5/20/2009 12:00:00 AM
• Individual Guest Reservations can be made by calling the Hotel directly at (801) 531-7500 or (800) 333-3333.
• Hotel corkage fees will not apply in:
• Cottonwood 1 and 2
• Presidential Suite, should we decide to reserve that
• The fees and rates will remain the same for 2009 and 2010.

Room utilization decisions

Other Room Assignments

• Programming
• Exec Board
• Wasatch 1
• Wasatch 2
• Red Butte
• Millcreek
• Gaming
• Parleys 1
• Parleys 2
• Juniper
• Maple
• Cottonwood 2
• Dealers
• Wasatch 4
• Art Show
• Wasatch 3

September 2008

• The agenda and "Evil Overlord Master Plan" page were distributed. Pam Oberg pointed out the instructions on the Master Plan for the various convention and fandom mailing lists.
• Pam gave a brief reminder of upcoming CONduit meetings and local conventions. Mountain-Con is only a week away.
• The list of open ConCom positions was discussed. The following positions were voted in:
• Co-Chair: Pam nominated Mike Oberg, voted in.
• Poetry Contest: George Trosper volunteered, voted in. George is looking for judges. Cheryl Sneddon-Powell offered to fund the prizes.
• Charlie Harmon was forced to use a personal credit card to guarantee the Radisson, and asked whether the convention had pursued getting its own card. Pam agreed to check with the treasurer.
• Financial discussion was postponed due to the treasurer not being present.
• The status of the application for 501(c)(3) was briefly discussed. Debbie Lords is working on this. Its limitations were also briefly discussed.
• Ruth Roper presented the plan for the Mountain-Con masquerade, including the space layout and a request for volunteers.
• Plans for the Mountain-Con publicity table were discussed.
• Memberships will be sold at Mountain-Con. A vote was held for charging $25, $30, or $35; $30 was voted for.
• A raffle for two free memberships will also be held, to collect postal and email addresses for mailing lists.
• The possibility of a third Guest of Honor was discussed.
• Paul Draper's (Las Vegas magician) cost versus the audience he might bring in was debated. Voted against.
• Dawnya Thill mentioned that the Utah Filk Organization could help pay expenses to bring Joey Shoji (filk guest) to CONduit, and that he is willing to come. It was decided to wait for a financial report before pursuing this further.
• The tentative due date for material for the progress report was set for December ConCom. The report will likely be mailed in January.
• Steve and Charlie Harmon reported that there should be 27 dealers tables. Joe Monson has not decided on an art show layout yet. Signup lists will be made available at Mountain-Con.
• George agreed to put together a flyer detailing the various contests at CONduit for the Mountain-Con table.
• A brief discussion of acquiring and selling David Weber and Eric Flint autographs for charity was agreed on.
• Joe reported that he will start selling art show panels soon.
• Steve and Charlie Harmon reported that four dealers tables have been sold, with four more in progress.
• Dawnya reported that the planning for filk at CONduit is nearly complete.
• Names for the special CONduit menu at the Radisson restaurant will be discussed at next ConCom.
• Radios have been procured for the next two conventions.
• The hotel has offered to provide cookies for the ice cream social. Cheryl agreed to give this thought.
• Charlie reported that she is looking for new panelists for programming, particularly science and art panelists. She is also already talking to the GoHs about programming, and Howard Tayler and Newton Ewell have both agreed to do art for T-shirts.
• Chris reported that Public Relations is still digging through the list of ideas generated at their first meeting and that things are moving along.
• Martin Calderwood reported that the Swap Meet will happen.
• Dawnya mentioned that UFO is working on a local filk artists CD.
• Brandon Mull was proposed as a possible guest.
• Chris is tired of typing.

October 2008

• Start about 10:25
• Next meetings:
• November 8 at Day-Riverside
• December 13 at Sprague
• Locations after that have not been reserved


• Open Positions remaining
• Contest Coordinator
• Taxes
• Short Story & Novella
• Miniatures
• Secretary


• Financial
• Pam needs a copy of the budget.
• Need to continue to work on credit card


• MountainCon IV wrap-up.
• Attendance was low enough to be a concern
• CONduit did their masquerade and staffed a table in their Clubs space
• Massive Kudos to Martin Calderwood for an Exceptionally Excellent performance as Master of Ceremonies.
• Thanks to UFO for all their work.
• Special thanks to George T., Charlie H., and Chris P. for their help with the fan table.
• We need to do better on providing media programs at CONduit for Mountain Con folks, not just program ideas.
• Had a contest for a free membership for those who filled out a form to be on the mailing list. This was a mistake. People wanted to wait to see if they won before they paid for a membership. By the time the drawing came, money was all spent. Consider doing another "reward".
• Kid fun - Quest. Kids loved it. People with silly headbands had things for kids to do. There was a grand prize.
• Mountain Con is a good thing to do.


• Anime Banzai
• Missed the program book deadline.
• Check into getting flyers on a freebie table


• Radisson Specialty Dishes
• Discussion on the Concom list after the meeting changed this result
• Several suggestions were not part of the vote
• The vote will be held again at the November meeting
• A request for next year is that one selection be vegetarian


• Family rate
• This shows CONduit is Family Friendly
• Two attendees 18 or over and four attendees between 7 and 18. (Children under 7 are not charged a registration fee.)
• Pre-Reg - $125
• At door - $150


• Quick Reports
• Computer Services - issues with PayPal still. Debbie needs to contact the Computer list about this.
• Dealers Room - 4 dealers paid, 4 tables requested, posters getting put up around town.
• Filk is moving forward well
• Hotel - hotel has done gangbusters for us. Specialty menu, promoting us, giving us deep discounts on room rates, have shown they want our business
• Media - Julie Andelin will do it again
• Middle Eastern Dance - Charles is doing it again, and its moving forward
• Programming - Special presentations are somewhat set up, but they needed to be defined for slots and who is doing them. Needs input from costuming
• Progress Report - working with David, deadline in December, mail in January
• Program Book - looking at April 11
• Public Relations - Great job at Mountain Con and getting things out and around the town.
• Registration
• Needs registration forms from ConCom people to show they have registered. Not just a name. Discussion resulted in the decision that it is the responsibility of the person registering to provide the completed form to Debbie.
• Needs a list of ConCom Emeritus. Some come to Registration and claim they are ConCom. We have nothing to show if they are or are not.
• Security progress is ongoing


• Charlie is doing Utah SF publication.
• Discussions about how to get the publication sent out to the different mailing list.
• Do we have the $100 to buy the ads?
• Put on agenda for next time.


• Non-profit status.
• Need a business meeting to examine this and other business issues
• In Jan 24 1:00
• Debbie will find the location


• Conduit needs one or two more trustees


• Meeting closed at 12:20

November 2008

• Meeting called to order around 10:30 a.m.
• Open positions include Contest Coordinator, Miniatures Contest, Secretary, Short Story & Novella Contests, and Taxes. No volunteers present.
• The (long) list of potential "subtitles" for CONduit (e.g., "Evil Overlords of CONduit") was trimmed to a shorter list.
• Pam's list of potential author guests of honor was reviewed for CONduit XX. We looked at authors with estimated travel costs of $300 and under, including a few authors suggested on the ConCom email list, and to generate a larger list than normal in case we have trouble getting early commitments. An ordered list of the top eight was created, along with an additional unordered list of alternates. Contact Pam or Chris for the lists.
• Dave W. presented a working draft of the progress report. Pam indicated that the con will pay for printing this year, but that Public Relations should solicit ads. The following rates were agreed:

  Business card ad	$30
  1/4 page	$50
  1/2 page	$100
  Full page	$200
  Advertiser-provided flyers	$125

  Dave agreed to add a list of local conventions, among other changes.
• Chris asked about the budget for publicity this year. Pam indicated that $200 should be available.
• Chris presented the possibility of buying an ad in ConNotations, an Arizona fanzine with a long history and good circulation (LTUE received an email solicitation from them). Charlie volunteered to help pay the cost, and Chris agreed to give the ad further consideration after looking at the new publicity budget.
• Chris asked about CONduit's "philosophy" in selling ads, presenting the previously discussed possibilities of sponsorships, banner ads on the website, etc. The committee agreed that the con needs additional funds but that advertisers should be SF&F-related or neutral, in general.
• Mailing costs for the progress report were briefly discussed before those involved decided to take the conversation to email.
• Richard presented the complete list of submitted names for the hotel's special menu for voting (some names were missing at the last vote). The following names were decided:

  Reuben	Sliced Heart of Targ
  Turkey club	Callahan's Club
  Black Angus trio	Hobbit Fare
  Spaghetti & meatballs	Attack of the Killer Meatballs
  Bison burger	Bantha Burger

• Art show quick report: Joe reported he will have 76 panels, with 10 sold at the time of the meeting.
• Dealers' room quick report: Steve and Charlie reported that there will be 28 tables, with 4 sold and 4 ordered at meeting time.
• Hotel quick report: Richard reported that he is negotiating to cut the room night parking charge from $10 to $5. The committee raised the issue that a $5 / room night "room recharge" rebate may not have been fully collected from the hotel for CONduit XVIII. Richard agreed to pursue this.
• Programming / guest liaison quick report: Charlie reported that she is talking to all of the guests. Howard Tayler will be doing badge art. Pam repeated that she wants all contact with the guests to go through Charlie. Brandon Mull was suggested as a special guest, and the committee agreed to wait on the funds situation before extending additional invitations.
• Progress report / program book quick report: Dave agreed to shoot for an April 11 due date for the program book.
• Meeting adjourned at 12:55 p.m., due to invasion by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.