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| — | meeting:chair_report_20220510 [2022/05/11 02:42] (current) – created swalde |
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| | Welcome to the first membership meeting under the new board. For those not in the loop, I was chosen as Chairperson for this year. James Chamberlain was chosen as vice-chair, Karl Niedzielski as Treasurer and Rylan Grayston as Secretary. |
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| | You might notice a change in the format of the meetings this year. I intend to keep the meetings as short as possible. The agenda will be set at the start of the meeting, so if you wanted to propose something officially, then was the time to add it. (As always, I encourage people to stick around after the meeting and chat as long as you want.) |
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| | Under “Reports” you will hear information presented by officers, the board, or committees. A report may include a decision to be made, but it is preferable to schedule decisions in the New Business time of the meeting. Questions may be asked at the end of a report. |
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| | Unfinished Business and New Business are for decisions that need to be made. Unfinished Business is specifically for items that were on the agenda at the previous meeting but were not voted on for whatever reason. |
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| | If you wish to have something on the agenda, feel free to email it to me prior to the meeting. It can also be added to the agenda at the start of the meeting. |
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| | With that housekeeping aside, I’ll get on with my report, proper. |
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| | Saskatoon TechWorks has had a rough couple of years. Membership is down, and the majority of last year’s board chose not to run again this year for a variety of reasons. But it’s not all doom and gloom. We have fresh new board members with fresh enthusiasm and new ideas. I am looking forward to working with this new crew as I take on this new role this year. |
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| | That said, I don’t want the Board to be the only people helping out around here. When I first joined Techworks, the board did nearly nothing. It was the members who took charge and did whatever needed to be done. I want us to return to that. I will be encouraging members to form teams to help spread out the workload. If you are willing to participate on a team, please let us know. Otherwise, you might find your arm getting gently twisted in the next little while. |
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| | Since our AGM, two months ago, we have been working hard. James organised a very successful fundraiser in a very short time. Karl has begun learning the books. We have had issues with Paypal and have begun the process of moving our credit card processing and subscriptions over to Square. (Which also means we can now accept chip and pin debit cards.) Tyler Franson brought a bunch of outdoor-ed homeschooled kids to TechWorks on four Thursday afternoons to make projects. It was exciting to see the space so alive after two years of declining activity. We even signed up two new members from that group. |
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| | We have a total of twelve new and returning members in the past two months, so I believe things are looking up. |
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| | On April 12th we started fundraising for some new 3D printers. This was spearheaded by Tyler B and Rylan. By the end of that evening, we had already secured enough money to order the first of three planned printers. That printer arrived about a week later and was set up and configured by Lee and Braedon. The second printer was ordered as soon as we were comfortable with the first. The third, and final, was ordered yesterday. Talk to Braedon for instructions on how to use these new printers. |
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| | On April 23rd we held an Open House. Attendance was less than previous open houses, but we still had one signup and several more interested people. (You never know when someone might return and sign up.) |
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| | Michelle gave notice that she would be vacating her space by the end of April. This is a financial hit, but we immediately started looking for someone to fill the space. Barrel Town will be moving into the space over the next month and a half and will be fully moved in by July 1st. |
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| | Tyler B has offered to run some surveys on new and departing members so we can better understand what we are doing right and what we can improve. We have sent the first survey to a few new members. |
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| | A few upcoming events: |
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| | May 20th at 6pm is our next Potluck and Board Games night. |
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| | Makerfaire returns this year! On June 25th we will be participating in the greatest show and tell in the world. Think about what projects you’d like to show in our booth. (or register for your own booth) |
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| | As always, keep an eye on the events section of our website for upcoming events. |
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| | I said I wanted to keep meetings short, and this report is already too long, so I’ll leave it here. |
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| | I’m looking forward to seeing TechWorks thrive again. |
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