LMN Meeting minutes 3/1916 Called to order 1:15pm Present: * Brian Adams * Carl Raymond * Mike Flaga * Jody Applegate * Rosangela Canino-Koning (interim Secretary) * Member - Carl Lance Discussion of secretary duties and who is going to do it. * Should be someone on the board. * Could be rotating. * Job * Custodian of records * Meeting minutes * Rose is going to do it for 6 weeks, then Mike will take it on. Carl - addt to agenda - Dues structure Treasurer’s report * Carl has printed report. See link to electronic version -- where should we keep * Big chunk of cash in January * Annual memberships * Amortized expenses outstrip income by about $200 * Insurance went up in the new space. ($268 in new space) * Due to correction of square footage. ($116 in old space) * Brian wants a comparative report of how we were at the temple vs here. * Average membership price is $53/month * Discussion of how to normalize the pricing structure * General consensus is to leave it as is. * Senior membership is very generous (%50/off) * Any dues price changes would need to go to the membership for a vote * Carl - Dues Structure * Dues are on a calendar month basis. * This could be robbing us of a week of membership dues. * Brian likes moving to a rolling structure rather than prorating. * Gives us more visibility on the membership levels * Doesn’t like prorates. * Signup people are waiving some of the prorating. :/ * Brian proposes doing it day-of. Signed up on the 16th, membership starts on the 16th. * Grace period 5-7 days to renew * This would give a member more control of how they use their membership. * Jody suggest opt-in auto-renew. * Thinking about how to market to grow our membership before worrying too much about the $191 loss number * Let it be recorded that Mike does A TON of outreach * But this is different, not targeted demographics * 496 billboard * Jody - the 50/80 cost structure - think about 60 flat fee * Frame it as a utility increase? * Maybe rather have the members make the decisions. * Bring it up in the member meeting * People like to dicker/deal * Punch-card or some other option to feel like they’re making choices * Consensus: Bring it up with the members * Brian has been reading a book about non-profit governance * Takeaway, always ask more people their opinions. * Temple club repairs quote * Jody has call out to Will * Waiting for quote * This is holding us up. * Jody will ask Al for help in getting Will's quote. * Potentially suggest to Al that we get a quote from Mike’s acquaintance. Board proposal - Board voting on IRS extensions * 990 has been filed. woohoo * Carl mailed in the form to the IRS years ago, but GuideStar doesn’t have it. * This could be a problem * Carl will call and find out if we didn’t do the right thing, or if they didn’t get it. * Carl will wait until we receive the notice that we are behind. * Historically, we’ve just been filing for extensions, rather than properly filling in the long form. * No extensions are being submitted at this time. * This is just so we have to vote on it if we were to file for an extension. * Objections? * Jody Q - Are these time sensitive? Meeting once a month… * Email votes may not be valid in Michigan. * We should probably amend our bylaws to accept email votes. * We can just have emergency meetings. * Make sure we schedule every February a meeting about taxes * No Objections - Proposal passes. Strengths and weaknesses of LMN * We need to grow. * Rent increase $350 in 6-9 months * 4 new members for $191 deficit overcoming * 6 new members for rent increase * We need to get >40 this year. * What do we need to do better so that we can grow, so we can support the larger numbers to support grow. * + We talk a lot about a lot of stuff * + We do checkout classes * Suggestion - Open it to the public - $10 * - Organizing and scheduling checkout classes * + We have a lot of interest in soldering classes, etc. * Suggestion - schedule these things 6mo in advice. * Make a brochure with our class schedule * - Classes we aren’t making a lot of money…? * Suggestion - raise the price? * No, we already made the investment. * New classes have capital costs * Classes that are already built out don’t cost much to maintain. * Neet have to have business plan for new classes * Capital costs * How many seats * - Furnace is too loud * + Services - Maker Space * + Services - Classes * - We don’t have enough SOPs for everything. * We make it hard to learn the tools. * Some machines don’t need checkout class * We need to categorize this. * Suggestion: we could do bulk-tool checkout classes * Suggestion: we can book the classes ahead of time, and you have to RSVP/Register, or no-one will offer it. * Suggestion: online scheduling, or better scheduling of machines. * - We don’t have equipment scheduling * Suggestion: use google calendar? Scheduling software? * Suggestion and look at how other spaces use it. * You have a 5-10m grace period for no-shows. * + People feel like this is a community space * Don’t over-formalize or we could lose that feel. * - We’ve created a culture, but we’ve never said what our values actually are. * For example: * Respect * Suggestion: formalize our statement of values. * Bring it up with the Membership? * Ask them like we did for “What is a Maker?” * ++ We aren’t snobby! We are inclusive! We take a very broad view of what a maker is. * Artists * Writers * + A culture of willingness for helping/asking/teaching about how to do stuff. * - The cultural participation is hard for new people. Having to ask people for help requires a level of extroversion * Suggestion: Make classes for checkout! * + We have a space to hold classes * Offer more specialist classes - woodworking * + We are inclusive of people’s use of their space. * Casual non-community is ok. * + We are good at showing passion about how we give tours and things * - We aren’t good at conversion. * Suggestion: give lots of contact, lots of exposures * - We don’t give great presentation about the space * Disorganized * Suggestion: Clutter graveyard to neaten-up. * Suggestion: add “presentation of the environment” to our statement of values. Specifics of what our intention is. What level we want to hit. * Extremes: Adhoc, more freeform appearance (I3), and clean business (techshop) * We’d like something in between. * Suggestion: Scheduled space beautification day - projects! * Pizza! * 3rd Saturday of the month. * Decided by committee of area coordinators * - We aren’t well organized in terms of the hierarchy of authority. * Warden vs Working Groups * - We are bad at empowering people to do things. * We need constraints so people aren’t OVER EMPOWERED * How do we strike a balance? * Make a plan and distribute it, then request help for the action. * Brian as ED, gives the blessing. * Moving away from Do-ocracyo * - Brian has too much gatekeeper authority. * Defaulted to zone-wardens at Templeclub. * Maybe we should have this again. * Warden is a terrible word * Zone Coordinator * We need an org-chart * - We don’t have a newsletter * - We don’t have a budget * - We don’t have an inventory * - We don’t have a mission * We will discuss this next board meeting Creating of Coordinator Positions (Marketing, Membership, Facilities) * Marketing coordinator - Jody is taking the lead * Do or cause to be done * Facilities coordinator - Rose is not it. :P * Membership coordinator * On-boarding * Shannon may be taking it on, but in the mean-time Brian will be doing it. * Fleshed out descriptions of the roles will be shared with the board in the coming weeks. Org-chart! Yay! Live Sign Suggestion * TV with a cycling list of info, that could pull from the wiki * Combine with kiosk, so if you wanted to pop out and access the wiki, you can do it from there. * Carl Lance picked up a Pi 3 and would be willing to loan it for a kiosk. East Lansing Classes * Mike needs to have a class to schedule/syllabus for EL Robotics * 50% EL people * 50% open to the community. * 6 months ahead of time * 3 weeks long class? * Schedule it differently? 3 Days? * Brian and Mike + whoever else is interested, will meet. LMN going to Penguicon - April 29-May 1 * Artemis - own hotel room * Needs to get back to running by April 29. * Megas * We need list of volunteers * 4-6? * Opening up to membership for some of the free-spots. * They are super organized. How do you do it? What’s your method. * Makerspace summit panel? Constitutional convention? * YES * Ask i3 and some of the others. * Info about LMN for their program Jackson - August 19 - Artemis * Setup is 9-noon * Program is getting printed, make sure they don’t say STARTREK Meeting Adjuourned 3:42pm