NatOrg Discussion Week 3: June 25 – July 1

This week there has been an eclectic mix of topics surrounding the NatOrg. I will try my best to put them all down here and summarise any agreements reached.

· Versions 4 and 4-1 of the NationalBodyProposal was put on the website for discussion. These points were raised..

1. It was suggested that payment by the Natcon for NatOrg memberships be handled after the event, given that any monies left over would be going to the NatOrg anyway.
2. We suggested that Guests of Honour get honorary memberships.

• We agreed that we probably need a document of some sort to go to fans, most of which could be done via email, although we have to allow for costs of postage as some fans don’t have internet access. Perhaps this could be a quarterly thing which gets mailed to everyone where badges and membership info could be sent out.
• We discussed what seems to be a lack of trust in our fellow fans in regard to club membership – eg the potential for block voting. We also discussed more pitfalls in having club membership. Perhaps all that is needed from the clubs is a reciprocal agreement in regard to promotion of both parties where appropriate – or the club acting as agents for the NatOrg.

Then we got on to the tricky topic of Membership. The main issues were how membership would be measured, the dates for membership etc. Points raised were:

• Membership of the NatOrg comes down to perspective. –whether you see the natcon and natorg as separate entities that happen to work together, therefore membership as optional. If the natcon is part of natorg then voluntary membership doesn’t quite make sense – Martin Kealey (abridged)
• Finance of the NatOrg was again discussed. It will take quite a lot of money to post out to fans details of the NatOrg and will probably cost about $400 a time. This is a vote against voluntary membership.
• There may be a need for membership cards in the future (once we have discounts) and there may be difficulties in doing this for individuals. But should they be cards or badges…another issue of debate this week. We discussed having them go from Natcon to Natcon (or AGM to AGM) but given that as with membership that doesn’t equal a year there were many concerns. We are going to draw up a list of pros and cons on the issue of membership dates.
• Remember that NatOrg is here to enforce the “will of the fans”. At the end of the day fans will dictate how NatOrg is set up/run, and what its powers will be.
• We discussed regulations a NatCon might have placed upon them. At present the couple mooted are: Having a business session and holding the awards. There would be some conditions attached to money given to the bidding natcon but that’s about it
• Norman called a vote this week on two issues:
1. Is it acceptable for a natcon member to automatically be a member of the natorg?
2. Is it acceptable to have clubs able to join, and thereby have all their members as members of the Natorg?

Results:

Received Votes: 30
Automatic Natorg membership on joining a natcon
For: 25

Against: 4
Maybe: 1
Automatic Membership of the natorg along with club membership:
For: 3
Against: 27

• We talked about the number of business sessions needed at Con With the Wind. At this stage 2 or 3 may be needed.
• Suggested funding of NatOrg and Natcon fees.

eg, 100 people register for the NatCon:
70 join the NatOrg at the same time and pay $60
10 opt out of NatOrg membership and pay $60
20 are already NatOrg members and pay $55
The NatCon is paid a total of $5900, and from that, pays
(70 x $5 = $350) to the NatOrg.

• We discussed how things worked at WorldCons and compared the World Science Fiction Society to how we would run NatOrg. In some respects we are trying to do more than the WSFS.
• We talked about promotion of NatOrg and speaking with libraries to put up posters etc, getting bookmarks made with generic information on them which could be distributed with cooperative bookshops around the country. This would particularly help Southern Fandom. There are about 200 fans listed on the database but there aren’t too many active fen. Perhaps we could advertise on like-minded websites like TheOneRing.Net? Scott Marks of PORTAL offered some support.
• If there was no NatCon one year, then the expiry date for membership could be the end of June, Norman suggested. Day members for the NatCon could also be members of the NatOrg for the day they registered (if they wished to) and registered on the day of the AGM.
• For CWTW (since NatOrg won’t exist yet) we would probably have to ask for donations from individuals and if CWTW wished to give us something then that would be great. We may also have trouble with Emoticon (2002) because memberships have already been taken.

The list of pros and cons regarding membership expiry dates will be available later this week. As with all other summaries, please let me know of any alterations or additions required.

Lynelle