MEETING MINUTES 6:14PM Eastern Sep 13 2023
Members PRESENT:
David
Luke
Aldwin
Edwin
Bichen
Nima
Zac
Members MISSING:
Ryan
PREMEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
David: Ryan has informed David that Ryan has resigned from the board.
David: before agenda, wants feedback from the: NAO event withdrawing / community talk / community petition
PRE-AGENDA 1: Feedback on Recent Events
David feels he has been speaking unilaterally, and wants input on that
Luke requests to split convo into pieces for ease of minutes
PRE-AGENDA 1-1: Event withdrawal / Community talk:
Luke: who withdrew event?
David: Ryan said he is no longer comfortable hosting event. David and Ryan prior to event, around sep 2022: "this should be fine". We (David and Ryan) should have done a larger survey. They decided to go forward.
Aldwin: Luke, when did you hear about it
Luke: I heard about it first at last narma meeting
Others: Agree
Luke: Aldwin, you promoted the event. can you give details?
Aldwin: Ryan gave me info to spread this.
David: Ryan and David were already rolling out messaging
SIDEBAR:
Zac: Requests other method for notification due to lack of discord presence.
David tells him he will be notified on anything that requires his input until he is comfortable with Discord.
RETURN TO PRE-AGENDA 1-1:
Luke: David posted a number of messages to the community with the word "we" (we decided, we looked at, etc). It was never clarified to people that in this case "we" means "David and Ryan", not "the board of NARMA". Regarding that, messages received by myself and others in person / online / etc included a lot of negative personal feedback, as people assumed I/others was part of the decision to have the event in Florida, when we are completely against it. Please clarify this in a statement to the public, and be clearer in the future.
David: understood.
David: As soon as i realized the negative siutation on the ground, David and Ryan canceled the event.
Zac: This was a surprise to me, did not know about contemporary florida politics, didnt realize any of this until NAO was announced, this is an unfortunate situation.
David: No one is happy with the situation. Cancelling was the best option.
PRE-AGENDA 1-2: Petition
David lists petition singers that are also on the board:
Edwin
Kyuu (Aldwin)
Zac
David: This is a two part petition. First is saying that the NAO location is a wrong decision. Second is that narma is not functioning properly. Someone who signs means first, second, or both.
For people on board who signed, why did you sign?
Edwin: I will start. Others spoke to me wanting NARMA transparency. Edwin feels NARMA has issues. He talked with Aldwin about it, and with david, and feels that original structure was perhaps too much. He told others that he felt he would push to make it better.
Aldwin: Talking with people, nobody knows what is going on in there. For example, NAO is a David/Ryan project. the board was surprised at the NAO annoiuncement. I dont like surprises. In regards to the climate, Aldwin thought "I hope it works". First thing he thought was "what is the cancellation fee". So you have sympathy in that department. We voted out the bylaws, and went from inertia from there.
Edwin: I dont remember how that went. Maybe since that structure didnt work, why not pick another one.
David: I agree, lack of structure has hurt us.
Luke: Disagreed, lack of effort has hurt us. the bylaws weren't removed. We just have not used "Roberts Rules" since then since no person has made any motion to do anything by the book, it has all been passive consent - until "NAO Florida" was dropped on us. We still have bylaws we just dont use the "table motion etc etc" step by step rules because we didnt need to as there were no conflicts - until NAO.
Zac: Signed to agree that we shouldnt be exclusionary, and NARMA has a lot of issues. He feels that it is a push to improve. Lets do that. What are official clubs? What can we offer community? I want us to offer things to the commnuity that are wanted. There is a lot of political issue regarding Florida, and soon to be Oklahoma. while I may have past issues with others personally (Crosstalk - David says he is slow to reply and apologies, Zac apologizes), that does not matter, I want things to move forward and want to help it happen, within the limits of our effort and ability. We need deadlines, oversight.
David asks Luke to talk on not signing petition
Luke: Not signing doesnt mean not agreeing. I agree that we absolutely cannot condone an event in Florida at this time, and that NARMA needs to get its act together on transparency. But, as being part of the target of the petition, I felt my part was in receiving said petition and then acting on it. Had I signed, would I be unable to be impartial voting on making these changes happen as a NARMA board member? Someone could have made that case. Didn't want to chance it, left it to the local clubs to choose on their own to sign or no
Zac: Agree on the "should I sign I’m ON NARMA" reason
Bichen: Did not sign because while he agreed with it, it did not have a call to action. I can’t get behind the method. Regarding the tournament, Florida having tournaments is fine. National commodities being given is not.
David: Lets look at the agenda and work on doing things to make this better.
AGENDA 1: Updating club map
David: Its been held back. not updated. We need to get this working. Edwin is the only one with access. He needs to update it
Edwin: Discovered I was using Google My Maps, which didn't appear to be shareable to edit. Would probably be better off starting over with a new map.
Aldwin: I have access to jellicode.
Luke: Do you have permission to use their info? Attribution? You’d need that to just take their info.
Zac: Why not collect it ourselves?
David: We need to update it regardless. We need a way to let people put themselves on. Check on old clubs as well.
Aldwin: I can do it.
Luke: Deadlines and oversight on this? David and Aldwin please work it out:
David: OK. Four parts to this work:
Check to see if you have access to other information lists
Do a refresh check in of clubs we have see if they are still around
Put a club signup on the website and dump it to a place all board can see
Broadcast this service exists now
David: I will put club signup on website and dump to board-available list (3), will do so within a week. Aldwin what can you do?
Aldwin: I can contact clubs from a list
Luke: Okay Aldwin, how long do you want?
Aldwin: End of the year
David: That’s a long time
Crosstalk on Aldwin giving a specific answer
Aldwin: We have permission from jellicode. (just received a response to an inquiry sent during the meeting)
Crosstalk: Approximately 60 clubs to contact
David: Aldwin, can you send a contact to all these clubs in a week, and file information received in a board doc?
Aldwin: Yes
David: Are we all in agreement to start this?
Luke: What is listed? Requested on form?
David: Name, fixed address if possible, social media link (for social media, web, discord ) city, state
Luke/David: crosstalk on form specifics
Crosstalk: Agreed, everyone get to work
AGENDA 2: Regular meeting cadence
David: We need regular meetings. Once per month? Find the time once a month? closed meeting / open meeting?
Aldwin: Stream it?
Zac: Some people have issues with streaming in their work location
Aldwin: Set meeting time at end of previous meeting?
David/Edwin/Luke: that's hard because of work responsibilities
Edwin: Setting a basic schedule helps
Luke: Can you clarify the two types of meetings? Closed v Open?
David: Yes, closed is board only, with minutes released after. Open is board discussion with listeners and point where listeners can give voice input/ feedback.
Edwin: So as an example, closed we make an RFP (request for proposal) thing, open we ask for questions on it when its done?
David: Yeah. First half of month closed, second half open?
Luke: Once a month? Can we handle twice a month? Also what kind of things would be redacted in a closed meeting?
David: Things public doesn’t hear for important reasons
Luke: Like talking about others personal information? phone, address, names of people who want to bring anonymous concerns?
David: Yeah. What do people think?
Edwin: We do need times with people not listening because of personal info
Bichen: How about closed part open part all one meeting
David: Thats a long meeting, are people cool with it?
Crosstalk: Lets try it
David: Okay. Still want to do a second open meeting this month to address the current events
Crosstalk: Yes. Will determine meeting time for later this month ASAP after meeting.
AGENDA 3: NAO RFP Process
David: Lots of people want to do NAO, but board needs to see these requests and agree on one. So what specifics are required.
Luke: Clarify specifics?
David: If you are an org and want to run NAO, this is how you tell us that and this is what the event would look like
Crosstalk: Creating list of things to ask for on form:
Club name
Person name
Person contact info (email/social/ohone/etc)
Venue location
Break even budget based on given player count (tentative: 100), including player entry fee
Available lodging options
Event material availability (do you have sets mats: make note that NARMA can offer examples of places to get all items)
Available list of senior staff (referees, etc)
List of previously run events / tournaments
Tentative schedule (min 2 days, min 5 hanchan per day)
Food plan (is lunch provided? or, information of food availability nearby, including locations and distance)
Any other info they want to provide
Edwin/David: Staff minimums?
David: Good, should be x staff per Y tables
Luke: Lets hash that out now
David: OK
Crosstalk: Creating list of minimums (names of staff can change in future but need to know you have it now):
Head referee
Floor referees (1 per 8 tables)
Head and floor referees must know: all rules (given available rule handbook, scoring calculation without need of reference)
3 substitutes
Equipment in good working order (not cracked or otherwise marked)
Equal tournament equipment for all at each stage: for example, half on auto tables half not on auto tables is not allowed, but "all games in top cut are on auto tables" is
David: Also, we need an incident report publically available
Luke: Website should have feedback/incident report communication ability listed at all times regardless
David: Needs a narma observer there
Luke: thats on us to provide
David: OK, we now have an application form. Now we need a good way to receive them. I can make a form that submits to place board can see. I will have it on website by end of week
David: Regarding timing, want to try to get info in by end of Sept, for event in January. If we cannot do that then we will have to move the dates back.
AGENDA 4: Increasing Board membership
David: How should we determine membership? Terms? Etc?
Luke: Historically, the original idea was "there is a board in good-faith that does its best to self regulate and let people on to make things as good as possible". They add people as needed, like if someone wants to be on and it would be a good thing they were. They remove people as needed. If this board sucks, then it sucks, and if the board doesnt fix it, then that means NARMA sucks, and people can disregard NARMA. It self-regulates.
David: Regardless of mechanics, we need to get community people on now. With diverse ideas and representative of the community of today's players. Then with all those opinions we can move forward.
SIDEBAR:
Zac: What does narma offer?
David: At the most core level, david was chosen by JPML to be their liason to the US. David is also on the board of WRC, and "goes to bat" for North America.
Luke: In the past we had attempted to do more, and failed because of bureaucracy and lack of effort. In the wake of it, people built their own things for the community. Hopefully we can get back to making things again.
Crosstalk of future ideas: Leagues? (ARML filled that need) Ranking? (RO, etc) This can come later, this meeting is housecleaning
BACK TO AGENDA 4
Luke: Ok, how should we get people on
David: Some people asked me. But how do we choose Person A vs Person B vs Person C? Should we just ask the community? How? Ask for applications? x spots? Everything has drawbacks.
Luke: Do you advocate for an open popular vote? Gamesmanship issues can occur. How do you assure people are applying in good faith? How do you assure we currently are acting in good faith? Should you on either end?
David: The issue is not that we dont have the best interests at heart. its that the community has grown so much we dont have representatives of this new community.
Crosstalk: Do we look for people from groups? from clubs? specifically new folks?
Bichen: Just ask publically who wants to be on the board and go from there
David: People need to know what they are getting into. Requirements: You need to make monthly / bi monthly board meetings. Do work on behalf of the board
Bichen: They should show a leadership position, not necessarliy a club, but within the community
Luke: Should we reach out to specific people as narma and ask them to apply because we think they would be a good fit, or should they reach out themselves? I don't want nepotism, just because we know someone doesnt mean they should get in
Crosstalk discussion of above
David: We as individuals, not as NARMA, can feel free to suggest to people that they should apply, but they have to reach out on their own, and they don't get any advantage from someone on board liking them
Luke: Regardless of methodology, for transparency, post all applications publically (minus contact/personal info) so that people see all the applications.
Luke: Does the board still exist as individual people? or do you want "club seats"? For example, a board seat could be held by Club X, and whoever they want in it is in it.
Dave: This is about people. they may be people in or running large clubs, but its the people that want to help the community
Crosstalk: Agreeing with above
David: How about all submissions will be made public with contact info redacted. We will review them with the community and select people. Put up notice, "We are looking to add multiple enthusiastic people to better represent the community"
Crosstalk: Agreement
SIDEBAR:
David: Announcements need to be written for discord and website for all this
Calender update
RFP process (David can do this)
Board recruitment
Bichen: WRC national qualifier, proposal given, we need to get this worked on
Crosstalk: who is the point person
Luke: Aldwin wanted to do it so with board approval I handed off to Aldwin with the guidelines agreed to last meeting so i could work on other matters. Will send the currently done work on nationals format info already in the discord for Aldwin to use going forward. We already have a regional qualifier format from historical WRC, sending that as well.
AGENDA COMPLETE
OTHER MATTERS
David: None
Luke: Update bios on site everyone, by the weekend, four are blank
Crosstalk: Agreed, send to David
Zac: There should be an apology statement for the NAO situation
David: I will write an apology, will bring to board by Monday
Crosstalk, next meeting: shooting for end of month, must be at least 5-7 days from meeting time choice to meeting so people can make time