Preliminary Business Meeting Report

[kevin_standlee]

My apologies for not putting this out sooner. After the Business Meeting this afternoon I absolutely had to have lunch, and then I had responsibilities around the convention including a panel at 5 PM, and besides, it takes a long time just to pull the recorded video off of my camera and into my computer.

The Preliminary Business Meeting used the entire 3-hour program slot, and really didn't actually get through the entire agenda even then. The meeting adjourned leaving one item unresolved, and will have to deal with the resulting conflicts at Friday's Main Business Meeting.

• Received nominations for the four vacancies on the World Science Fiction Society Mark Protection Committee (the body that manages WSFS's service marks like "Hugo Award" and "Worldcon," and that manages TheHugoAwards.org and Worldcon.org). The election will be at Friday's Business Meeting.


• Received reports from ongoing Business Meeting committees on Rules, the Worldcon Runners Guide, Hugo Eligibility for non-US works, and the Worldcon History List.


• Received financial reports from current and future Worldcons as well as past Worldcons that still have surplus funds.


• Established debate-time limits for the debate at Friday's Main Business Meeting for the amendments to the WSFS Constitution passed on from last year that are up for ratification this year (see pp. 134-137 in the Souvenir Book).


• Referred a proposal regarding registering prospective future Worldcon web site names in advance (e.g. worldcon2025.org) to the Mark Protection Committee for further study.


• Renewed the "blanket extension" of Hugo Award eligibility for works originally published outside the USA in a past year and first published in the USA this year.


• Granted extended Hugo Award eligibility to the English-language translation of the anime movie Summer Wars due to limited distribution.


• Adopted a resolution overturning a rule passed by the WSFS Mark Protection Committee affecting the Hugo Award eligibility of members of the MPC and its subcommittees.


• Adopted a change to the WSFS standing rules requiring reports and proposals to be submitted at least two weeks before Worldcon rather than 18 hours before the first Business Meeting, in order to allow more time for distribution of reports and proposals through the convention's web site.


• Rejected without debate a proposal to create a new Hugo Award category for Best Children's/Young Adult's Book.


• Rejected without debate a proposal to restrict members of the WSFS Mark Protection Committee or any of its subcommittees from being eligible for nomination for the Hugo Award.


• Referred overlapping proposals regarding the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine to an ad hoc committee to hash out the differences and report a single proposal to Friday's Main Meeting. This proposal will probably come back with a proposal to create a new "Best Fancast" category to include serial fan-produced audio-visual productions such as podcasts, separating such works from the existing Best Fanzine category.


• Discussed, but did not resolve, differences between various proposals to modify the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. Because the Preliminary Meeting was unable to resolve the issues, the Main Meeting on Friday will have to work out the differences between the various proposals.

Copies of the reports received by the Business Meeting will also be available at Friday's Main Business Meeting, and most (but not all) of them are also available on the Renovation web site in the WSFS section.

Because the Preliminary Business Meeting did most of its job (resolving conflicts and setting agendas), the agenda for Friday's Main Business Meeting is substantially shorter and manageable.

• Elections to the WSFS Mark Protection Committee. 4 seats available. The first three people elected will fill three-year terms, while the fourth will fill a one-year term left vacant by the resignation of Ruth Sachter. The following people were nominated (I)=Incumbent:
• Adina Adler


• Stephen Boucher (I)


• Warren Buff


• Linda Deneroff (I)


• David Gallaher


• Kate Kligman


• Dave McCarty


• Mark Olson (I)


• Business Passed On From Aussiecon 4: Ratification of Constitutional Amendments. If ratified, these items take effect at the end of Renovation


• Change the Membership Rate Limitations


• Electronic Voting


• Allow Electronic Distribution of Rules


• Expand Hugo Nomination Eligibility


• Technical Change: Run-Off References


• Technical Change: Mark Notice Revision


• New Constitutional Amendments: Amendments passed at Renovation will be passed on to Chicon 7 for ratification


• Fanzine/Fancast/Audio-Video Production


• Semiprozine Committee Report, which includes multiple alternative proposals

The last item above was not resolved at the Preliminary Business Meeting because the meeting did not want to remain in session past its scheduled 1 PM adjournment, as that would have preempted the panel scheduled for then. The PBM therefore adjourned and left the reconciliation of the conflicting proposals to the Main Business Meeting on Friday.

Yes, it was a very long, tough meeting. Seriously, the Westercon Site Selection Business Meeting at San Jose last month was relatively easy — only one issue, albeit a vastly contentious one — compared to this. I'm really amazed we accomplished as much as we did.

Comments

[alces2.livejournal.com]

Will this (if it returns from ad hoc committee) be voted on on Friday? If I read things right, if approved, it still would have to be ratified in Chicago, correct?

"Referred overlapping proposals regarding the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine to an ad hoc committee to hash out the differences and report a single proposal to Friday's Main Meeting. This proposal will probably come back with a proposal to create a new "Best Fancast" category to include serial fan-produced audio-visual productions such as podcasts, separating such works from the existing Best Fanzine category."

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

This will come back from the committee; I saw them working out the final version later that afternoon.

Yes, It will be voted upon at Friday's Main Meeting.

Yes, if it passes here at Renovation, the proposal would be passed on to Chicon 7 for ratification. It would not take effect unless ratified at Chicon 7. Until next year, the existing Best Fanzine category continues the way it is currently written.

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

Wow, sorry I missed it. (Stuck in the UK for medical reasons.)

[katster.livejournal.com]

Kevin -

I'm not sure if Business Meeting fandom is for me, but you're awesome at it.