Discuss Board Meeting
Raw transcript:
Mark: So what let's see. As as I said, I've been really busy, so I hadn't had time to prepare for this meeting.
Mark: So that, said
Mark: I, don't remember what was on the agenda last time. Do you have the agenda for last time? So like
Mark: last time there was No, there was no agenda. Well, okay, what our to dos were from that time
Cindy: not not the agenda. You're right. Probably we want to talk a little bit about em. W.
Cindy: So Brian had some questions, as far as equipment are concerned.
Cindy: I don't know whether we answered those, but probably that would be a good thing to start with.
Mark: Yeah, Brian. Why, don't you start with that?
Bryan: Sure, we we're just kind of looking what we did last year, and we had to juggle some computers. I think it sounds like we actually use both your own and Cindy laptops from
Bryan: time to time.
Bryan: But we we rented
Bryan: a speaker projector and screen, and then some power strips from a company that was pretty reasonably priced.
Bryan: This time. Company we looked at is probably not reasonably priced
Bryan: functionally. Everything that we
Bryan: are quoted for renting. We could just buy and throw away at the end, and it would be cheaper
Bryan: from even a lectern. I mean we could go to like.
Bryan: you know, Home Depot and buy one for 120 bucks, and be better off than whatever you could get. One probably as long as it's under, you know, 200 bucks and be better off.
Mark: So
Bryan: I have a microphone. Your own has a microphone. I have the same camera that I brought last time.
Bryan: So the only thing is just kind of getting it all the work
Bryan: locally. So this time i'll be arriving early enough that hopefully I can test it, although I might not be able to test it with all the computers that we're going to be using.
Bryan: But it's still, and I think maybe now it's too late unless I buy it on Amazon and ship it to the hotel, but to buy stuff for use for future conferences, and then have
Bryan: somebody log it around. But I think that might be
Bryan: a decent idea
Bryan: what what stuff to buy. I was looking at the cheapest stuff I found was Karaoke equipment.
Bryan: where you can get like the you know, 2 wireless mics in a mixer.
Bryan: but
Bryan: not sure the best way to implement everything the big items, you know, like in this case the hotel actually comes with a projector and a
Bryan: and the LCD. TV that we can use. So we don't have to log those around. but it would be kind of nice to figure out.
Bryan: you know, some good way to minimize costs, you know, before once.
Bryan: you know, even if the argument was that we paid for it once, and it would pay itself off over 3 years, we might decide to do it but a lot of times it's
Bryan: It's pretty restrictive on the pricing, so
Bryan: So the only
Mark: the only question I have, I mean. Well, I have a few, but up it
Mark: as far as the Karaoke, other than you know, the odd look using the
Mark: Karaoke equipment would be. Is there an audio output that you could feed into the computer or whatever
Bryan: I mean. That's yeah. If you look at the I think I sent you the links or one of the links I was looking at, and you can look at it. There's audio out, you know, just a ox cable
Bryan: that comes out. There's to 2 sizes like, you know.
Bryan: an eighth inch and quarter inch the equivalent. No mere one. But
Bryan: there's other ones that you can get that Also have HDMI Inputs and outputs or or whatever. I mean. I use that for my TV, but I just don't know how it all works together. I mean, I know I we're kind of piece together what we did last time.
Bryan: But we believe we use your own computer for the speakers.
Bryan: But there was some issue.
Bryan: They're not sure exactly what it was. We also used one of the cindy's laptops, or Cindy's laptop and I think it had something to do with
Bryan: when there is a remote versus in-person
Bryan: presenter. We had to do some switching which also meant for hop in. I needed to leave the room Bernhard. I'm not sure if you had to do with that for S. Smw. Con when you had
Bryan: when you had remote presenters. There was, you know, an up to a maybe 8 s delay for them to come across, so I couldn't be in the room at the time I was trying to talk to them and and hear them, so I had to like. Go out in the conference hall.
Bryan: Did you have any issues with that?
Bernhard: No, not really.
Bernhard: But my task was more to to listen to what what was
Bernhard: going on online. So I wasn't the one speaking in the room. So I had my my headset on, and I just listened if the sound was was coming through, and everything is working.
Bernhard: So we did. Still.
Cindy: we did still have a delay, because when I did the keynote with Selena I went back to my hotel room to do it. I left the meeting room.
Bryan: Okay, so
Bryan: right, okay, because you're saying yes, Lena was remote. Selena was in Portland. Yeah.
Bryan: Yeah, I mean, as far as I know, I think there's like, an you know, around an eight-second delay from hop inside. And so
Bryan: if you are in the room.
Bryan: possibly even with I think I I did try using that
Bryan: your buds in.
Bryan: but maybe your buds in a mic would would do it, you know, like a gaming set or something.
Bryan: But yeah, I ended up just removing myself from the room to
Bryan: mitigate that.
Bryan: That's what i'm planning on doing again this year.
Mark: So the other. The other question I have about purchasing the equipment beforehand is. I don't think you should do it
Mark: for this one, because that then there's a problem of you need to figure out how it's all hooked up and in. You don't want to do that
Mark: the day of, or whatever
Bryan: I'm: I'm: I'm arriving on Sunday.
Mark: Hmm. Okay. So you think you would have time to do it there.
Bryan: Yeah, if I could find the right
Bryan: equipment.
Bryan: But I mean, you know I'll be there early, too, so I can make runs that
Bryan: you know best buy, or whatever it might be. audio visual store.
Cindy: I do have one.
Cindy: I don't know if i'll say request, or requested requirement. especially if MW Steak is going to be using funds to buy stuff for the conference.
Cindy: and I've asked this before, and I guess I could go and edit it myself. But I would prefer somebody associated with the conference like Brian do this. But the conference page should really show that
Cindy: the medieval key stakeholders group is a fiscal sponsor.
Cindy: and I've gone back and looked at the previous conferences, and we've never done that before. Aside from when stakeholders group was actually one of the sponsors themselves, which is silly at this point, for stakeholders group to give money only to get it back because they're the
Cindy: But since they're no longer an official sponsor.
Cindy: they're not listed at all, and I think that's wrong.
Cindy: and I think that somebody this is associated with the conference needs to go and edit the page and put down that. So what are there is a sponsor.
Mark: What I I think what is best is if we say we're the organizers of it not not use the word sponsor, but organizer.
Cindy: I I don't know how your own would feel like about that, as the
Cindy: I don't know what we call his for. Well.
Cindy: he's currently the program chair, but
Cindy: I think he also sort of thinks of himself in an organizational rule.
Mark: Well, you know we're quote. If you want to think of it that way, we're co-organizing with them.
Mark: That's why i's doing a lot of the work here. So
Cindy: we're providing a lot of the funds.
Cindy: Yeah, I I i'm not so much
Cindy: caring what the particular wording is, but I think it's really important that the stakeholders group you mentioned on the conference page.
Eric-Jan: If I look at the as, and W. Come of last last fall.
Cindy: There's no mentioning I would have, so it says it's just it's just MW steak right organization where?
Eric-Jan: So there's one box of sponsors, together with organizations.
Eric-Jan: and there you you can find MW. Stake only as as in the word MW. Take no so no logo. and also no further, no further elaboration on this or something like that. So.
Cindy: yeah.
Eric-Jan: But we.
Cindy: I should definitely at that time have made sure that that was
Cindy: taken care of.
Bryan: not for anything. I mean, we're you know some of the extensions have a banner at the top. Do we want something like that just modified for the conference.
Bryan: And then.
Bryan: yeah, organizers, backers, sponsors. figure out whatever the best name
Bryan: for it to be.
Mark: Well, I i'd be comfortable with sponsor or organizer so or back, or but and
Mark: actually there was. There was some discussion I had with
Mark: with someone about, you know, when you say you're back, or whatever some of these words you know
Mark: they were getting.
Mark: They were saying it. They weren't comfortable with it. So
Cindy: yeah, I thought we had discussed fiscal sponsor
Cindy: a real term or not, but all sort of what we
Mark: I remember what the what the word was that they weren't comfortable with underwriter, so that was the one that they weren't comfortable with
Mark: it's it's my wife, who who has this? She She is very particular about what words mean, and and especially since she has this interest in auditing, so she's like
Mark: making sure everything works.
Cindy: and that's good. We need somebody who actually
Mark: yeah.
Cindy: As I said, i'm not as much of a sticker as for what the words are, as long as they don't get us into trouble. But
Cindy: yeah, but I would like to make sure that the stakeholders group is mentioned, because we certainly stand a good out of our time.
Eric-Jan: So
Cindy: good money can we.
Eric-Jan: Can we decide on the on what we're going to use, and where
Mark: I think I it, Brian, If we could ask you to update this after the meeting, if if that's okay.
Bryan: what? And with.
Mark: Yeah. Well, that that's the other thing. I'm just saying, you know, once we decide.
Mark: Could you update it?
Bryan: Yeah.
Eric-Jan: you could on the sponsorship you could. You could begin with with with mentioning our role and responsibility as as an organizer slash sponsor. So I I I don't particularly like the word background or underwriter.
Eric-Jan: And
Eric-Jan: but if if if there is, if there is a question you you we should be able to respond on. What exactly do we sponsor? And with what amount.
Eric-Jan: because we are not, as in as in a wiki based, or Wiki tech, because they receive an invoice for the sponsorship. As we, where we don't.
Eric-Jan: So
Mark: So
Mark: I I think I I like the word organizer, you know, organizational sponsor or or just organizing
Mark: that we're doing that.
Eric-Jan: Yeah.
Eric-Jan: So you you could put that before you could put it on the on the sponsorship before the current sponsor of Ew. Com are
Mark: Oh, you know, coordinated. Is is that it
Cindy: sure
Eric-Jan: coordinate spon coordinates
Cindy: just coordinated by
Mark: Yeah.
Bryan: So that's fine to me right now. There is a you know, sponsorship. The current sponsors of em. W. Kon are.
Bryan: And then there's kind of, you know, 2 tiers, Premier and contributor
Bryan: we're talking about putting and another tier in there as
Bryan: well. You guys just say it was an organizer. It was a
Cindy: coordinator, and I i'm not. I'm not thinking a T or i'm thinking like an overall umbrella thing like you know, at the beginning of the sponsorship thing, just have a sentencing.
Cindy: This conference was coordinated by the media with you stakeholders group.
Cindy: and additionally has such and such sponsors.
Cindy: and and that i'd say.
Cindy: can we just vote on some
Cindy: amount of money that we think is reasonable to spend for Brian for equipment? And then we can get whatever he thinks makes sense for the conference, and
Cindy: you know. like, what if if $500 enough, I don't know
Bryan: Well.
Bryan: I mean it at this point, like I said I'm, we might be. We might be beyond the time for this conference, unless I, you know, drop ship it or expedite
Bryan: to get it here, you know. All right. Okay, so I could drop it to the hotel, but I still don't even know what to buy
Bryan: right, I mean so like here's what he I mean the the thing actually, that would be the nicest to have. But I just don't want to bring myself, and I don't want.
Bryan: Ideally, we don't have to use would be a laptop right? Because
Cindy: yeah.
Bryan: But
Bryan: so I
Mark: I would it. A a tablet do Enough
Mark: that a laptop would do, or is that
Bryan: I mean sometimes hop in, can be a bit resource intensive, not exactly sure. But then it also needs Really, what we're after is some computer that can run, hop in, but also has the inputs and outputs on it
Bryan: to allow everything that happened. So I think I mean even the most basic laptop, just normal laptop would work.
Bryan: It just has to have the right inputs and outputs for whatever equipment that we.
Bryan: you know, either purchase or rent at the time.
Mark: So I wonder if I wonder if it makes sense for you to, you know. Say, make a list of the things you need, and then make a list of what's available at the hotel, and then plan to just purchase it at best buy, or whatever in
Mark: in Austin, because you know, they. Austin is like Silicon Gulch.
Mark: so they have a lot of stuff going on there.
Bryan: Well, I mean at at this point right now. I'm gonna have these silly little Bluetooth speakers over here that also have an ox auxiliary. Input
Bryan: and I have.
Bryan: I was playing around with some of the stuff, but I have like a little splitter. So if I have one ox coming out of there
Bryan: a computer, I can have one go into each one of my silly little, and with, you know, with the count of people we have, I think we might have 18 people now
Bryan: at the in person.
you know. I think I think even if we didn't have speakers, it'd be fine. But I don't know if there's any
Bryan: critical pieces that we have missing as long as I can just get everything to work with what we have in place.
Bryan: and and part of that is in Cindy. It might be that we use your your laptop again the same capacity where you're. You're using it. But you're just at the front, and
Cindy: and I think it was when we switched over and had to record remote people zoom. We were using your laptop for whatever reason. But yeah, I don't remember, because that we
Cindy: there's been so many instances of this.
Cindy: you know. It's like which one was which. But I can sort of visualize the conference room there, and you running out to the outside, and
Cindy: but I want to say, even when we were in Breda I was using my laptop for something because I was sitting in the front. I remember that I had a little camera to my left.
Eric-Jan: Sure.
Cindy: there, too.
Mark: So it if I understand you right, Brian, you're saying you think you have everything already that you're gonna need. Should we just give you a budget like 200 bucks in case there's anything else you need.
Bryan: Yeah.
Cindy: Yeah, I've got. I've got an ancient chromebook. I don't know if a chromebook has the inputs and outputs you need, and it's not a terribly fast one. I don't know if it can keep up with Hop in.
Cindy: But I I could throw that in my suitcase.
Bryan: I would, and but it has all the the standard inputs and outputs.
Cindy: I think so.
Bryan: Me, I mean, maybe before later day, or I just give you a hollering somebody what the inputs and outputs are. But I mean to put in perspective, you know, I think, even like a $400 budget would work, and still be better, because right now our Our quote from the audio visual guy is $411,
Bryan: so we'd be saving all of that if we can just cobble stuff together. But if we, you know. if I run into issues, I haven't told him no yet.
Bryan: And so, as long as I don't make him mad when I tell him. No. And then I call him desperately on.
Bryan: You know
Cindy: he's the guy that you would. You could get the stuff from.
Cindy: Yeah.
Mark: yeah, I think I think 400 fine. I think
Cindy: the other thing in the future for future conferences. Also, it's not necessarily a matter of people logging stuff to the conferences, but we could also ship stuff to the Conference location, if we.
Cindy: you know, new far enough in advance, and if it wasn't prohibitively expensive to ship it.
Bryan: Yeah, that's that's kind of what I was saying. It is like we could have like a little package, you know, like this box that had all this stuff, and then it would just be shipped, and maybe we would have one box in Europe, you know one box and
Cindy: ship across the pond.
Mark: So so what do you think you could make that One of the things that you do is look at the what sort of things you would put in a box. Brian.
Bryan: Yeah. And and then we can. We can
Mark: do that. But but first we need to vote on on. We only have 5 min left. We need to. Yeah, Brian, could you give us a financial update on the possible outcome of the event?
Eric-Jan: So are we going to make.
Eric-Jan: or are we have a positive result of, let's say, a a profit for a nonprofit, or where we stand exactly at the at this moment in time.
Bryan: Yeah, I think we're actually looking good. Now, I took a quick look yesterday at it. There's some unknowns, you know, with the AV. Stuff, but basically largely because of sponsorship, we do stand to make to make a profit on on the conference. So.
Bryan: And you know I kind of redid the
Bryan: the cost, the ticket prices so largely. Even the freelancers are paying for themselves, because this time we have way more skewed toward freelancers.
Bryan: But
Bryan: but you know we're we're we're looking good. So i'm sure. Very good news is very important. Yeah. I'm: I'm thinking something like $1,500.
Eric-Jan: Great great.
Cindy: that will cover the investment in the
Eric-Jan: So that's that's it. That's close to SW. Cons Result, which was around $1,400.
Eric-Jan: That's that's that's excellent to Brian.
Bryan: Yeah. And and that actually can. You know that can be better if if it does work out that whatever we cobble together
Bryan: for 80 stuff works right. So that is one thing, Cindy. Maybe you you might bring. I'm probably going to bring just one extension cord and one powership. But
Cindy: alternatively, we could just. I could just buy that there and then see if someone wants to be sent home with it. But either way that's definitely. I think I do have a couple of power strips that I could probably. Yeah, I guess i'll be bringing a bigger suitcase. So
Cindy: But yeah.
Bryan: and that's the other thing. I I was thinking with the shipment thing is, it could be that, you know, instead of shipping it. We have, you know, a suitcase, and you know maybe it stays in in in Europe with you, Eric and on, and it just sets in a closet at wiki-based solutions, you know. Headquarters
Bryan: and then wonderful conference. You know you You log it out and same thing with us somewhere, and and then, with that being said we would pay
Bryan: Nw. Steak would pay, you know, whatever baggage fee you know you, you you would incur by lugging this extra thing, right?
Eric-Jan: So we would actually have assets on our balance sheet. That's nice.
Mark: Yeah.
Mark: So okay, I I think. But we're agreed that Brian can spend that money. Is that correct?
Eric-Jan: Yes.
Lex: okay, yes.
Cindy: my hand is raised, but you can't see it.
Mark: Oh, wait I
Eric-Jan: you! You could also raise your hand in the as a reaction.
Eric-Jan: Yeah, you you yeah. Great.
Cindy: So what amount are we Are we approving?
Eric-Jan: The last was said, was $400. What Mark said.
Mark: Yeah.
Eric-Jan: is that still the case?
Bryan: Yeah, 400. We'll have a we would replace the the amount that we're spending on.
Cindy: I just don't want you stressing at the last minute. Oh, my gosh, it's! You know, $408.
Cindy: That's fine.
Mark: Yeah.
Cindy: Okay. So
Mark: yeah, bless you. I think I think this is. This is, I. I think
Mark: we actually accomplished something here today. So
Mark: that's good. And and, like Eric, John said, we have. We're going to have assets now. So
Mark: milestone, milestone
Cindy: and and Brian Don't forget to update the page with the
Bryan: Yeah, I'm: I'm actually doing that now. It's going to read something like this. Conference was coordinated by, you know MW. Steak and the current sponsors are, or something like that, and that lead to.
Cindy: and you'll have a link to MW stake, org, and maybe the logo
Bryan: right? Well, i'm not sure if the best
Cindy: I wasn't thinking about the logo, but certainly to MW. stake.org, which instantly just fyi mark. I was visiting MW. Stake Org this morning, and I got a
Cindy: blank page. and then I refreshed in it. But at any rate it was unhappy
Bryan: and just. Just a clarification is that that is the best link to to take us to, not the MW sake, page on medie wiki.org.
Cindy: I don't know.
Bryan: Okay, I'll just i'll do the the mistake, because that is our kind of our site. So
Bryan: nothing.
Cindy: Yeah, it is fine with them.
Mark: No. And and actually, I should point out, Brian has been very helpful as well. Brian Wolf. with getting the Wiki apiary
Mark: and dealing with some of the server side issues there. Also. We have had a lot of activity on the Wiki a peering, mailing list, so you know I i'm happy that there's so much a life there.
Cindy: Yeah. And there's a couple of people that have been well, at least one mostly that's been going, and like editing templates, and you know, and then Charlie also has offered to update it to work with Chameleon.
Cindy: So you know I'm. I'm a little bit conflicted about hoof-hearted.
Cindy: Who's the user I don't know who hard it is, but they're doing a lot of work on the
Cindy: templates on Wiki Pierre
Cindy: and that's kicking off a 1 million jobs.
Cindy: And some of the things that they're doing are just cosmetic, but that's not their fault.
Cindy: That's the way maybe Wiki works.
Cindy: So it's actually logging down the site by making trivial edits. And i'd rather really see us completely
Cindy: change the model of the site to be something that's
Cindy: more performant, recognizing the the size that it's become. and how it works. But that's a major redesign that's. You know more time than anybody has to donate at this point.
Mark: Well, I also, I think, 1 one more thing before we quit. I I think that
Mark: it is important to recognize that the the interface people are used to the people who are active on the site now
Cindy: are used to is what we have now, which is last performance, of course; but and so if we made it more performant, then what is that?
Cindy: Do you know who this h of it is?
Mark: I'll reach out to him. I'll talk to you. I'll try to find.
Cindy: for all we know that they would actually be in favor of a
Cindy: model change.
Mark: All right.
Cindy: Yep. Well.
Mark: i'll. I'll reach out to him.
Eric-Jan: So all the all the best to Brian with your preps.
Bryan: Thank you. And
Eric-Jan: yeah, very nice.
Bernhard: All right. I'm from you all later. Just 1 s, because you Wednesday. That's for sure.
Bernhard: We we ran out of time for something I wanted to discuss. But i'm i'm going to share a document with you. because next week I'm going to have at a 10 min talk
Bryan: about S and the sponsorship opportunities, and I want to. I want you to read that beforehand.
Bernhard: and so maybe you you you find time to for some feedback. If not this fine, then I would just announce it. But I don't want to announce anything that you haven't read.
Mark: Could you post that in Kabul Channel as well?
Bernhard: Okay, yeah, I can.
Mark: Of course. All right, Thank you. Alright. Bye.
Eric-Jan: I will. Surely you react on that, Bernard. Thanks, thanks in advance.
Cindy: Thanks. So, bye.
Eric-Jan: bye.