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TORONTO MINUTES BOUCHERCON BUSINESS MEETING Toronto, Ontario, CANADA Saturday, October 9, 2004 11:00 a.m. The meeting was called to order at 11am by Thom Walls, Chair of the Standing Committee. He welcomed all present to the meeting and thanked them for attending. Elizabeth de Vries was appointed the recording secretary for this meeting. The following members of the Standing Committee were present: Bouchercon ’04 Toronto Al Navis Bouchercon ’05 Chicago Sonya Rice Bouchercon ’06 Madison Mary Helen Becker and Al Abramson Bouchercon ’07 Anchorage Dee Ford Members at Large: Thom Walls (02/03/04) Gary Warren Niebuhr (03/04/05) Elizabeth de Vries (04/05/06) The Chair called on Al Navis for a report on the current Bouchercon. Al reported that approximately 1350 people were in attendance and that all were enjoying themselves. Everyone was pleased that the Dealer Room has aisles. Panel topics have been praised as was the 20 on the 20 track. Due to its location, the Alibi Lounge was being underutilized. Al praised his organizing committee for their dedication and hard work. Al gave a brief preliminary financial report – basically the income totaled approximately $315,000, and expenses so far are about $300,000. As to the topic of finances, Al stated that he used his personal dollars to start up this Bouchercon as he received no monies from the Las Vegas or any other previous Bouchercon. As a consequence, Toronto will give any surplus monies to their designated literacy program. Al also pointed out the lack of a financial report from the Las Vegas Bouchercon, in spite of such a report being mandated by the By-Laws. Sonya Rice gave the report on the status of the 2005 Bouchercon. September 1 – 4, 2005 at the Sheraton Twin Towers, Chicago. Sign up is going well and she said that the committee liked the idea of the “20 on the 20” track and is considering keeping it. Guest of Honor: Dennis Lehane International Guest of Honor: Jonathan Gash. Body of Work Honorees: Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. Toastmaster: Harlan Coben. Al Abramson gave the report of the 2006 Bouchercon which will be held September 28 – October 1, 2006 at the Concourse Hotel in Madison. Guest of Honor will be Nevada Barr, Fan Guest of Honor will be Jim Huang and a Life Achievement Award will go to Robert B. Parker. Dee Ford gave the report on the Anchorage Bouchercon in 2007. It will be held the last weekend in September and she said that there will “Probably be no snow”. Hotel rooms will be at the Hilton Hotel and the convention itself will be held at the Anchorage Convention Center (which she said they got for free!) The committee will also be coordinating the “Authors to the Bush” program and is starting to look for volunteers for that program. The following amendment, submitted by Bill Gottfried (10/19/03) was discussed and will be voted on at the Chicago Bouchercon. Existing: IX. The following process shall be used to amend the Bouchercon Bylaws.
NEW: By-law changes may be brought to the annual business meeting for adoption by a majority vote The following Standing Rule change was proposed by Elizabeth de Vries (08/04) NEW: Standing Rule II, F: The most junior member-at-large will serve as the recording secretary during their first year on the Standing Committee. Motion was made by Gary Warren Niebuhr and seconded by Al Navis. Motion was passed by acclamation. Proposed Standing Rule Changes With Regard To Anthony Awards:
Larry Gandle talked about putting in a bid for Bouchercon to be held in Orlando in 2008. However at this time there is concern about the possibility of hurricanes in the area at the time of the convention and insurance is not available. Discussion on this matter was tabled until next year’s business meeting. One possibility that was lightly touched on, was moving Bouchercon on a one-time only-basis to another time of year. This was tabled to the Standing Committee. Tom Schantz suggested a single Bouchercon web page, one that would have links to the individual conventions. The profits (if any) from Bouchercon could be used to set up and maintain the site. Robin Burcell strongly supported this as she feels that the registrants of Bouchercon should be reminded that they are members of an organization, not just bystanders in a convention. That as participants they need to be educated in the nomination and voting process. We need to emphasize that the membership dollars is not just a ticket to attend panels and visit the Dealer Room. Jan Burke remarked that we have to look at ways to increase participation in the nomination and voting process for the Anthony Awards. Al Navis said that this year, his committee had tried having the voting done by e-mail. There was concern about people couble voting, but it was pointed out that checks could be put in place. Everyone seemed to agree on the benefits of having a permanent Bouchercon website, and that this is going to have to be utilized to a greater extent than have the individual committee’s websites. Also mentioned was the possibility of having a professional conference organizer in charge of the conventions. Elaine Viets questioned on what the procedure was when a Bouchercon chair violates the by-laws. Jan Burke and Dina Willner reported that they will continue to work on the assumption of the Bouchercon trademark by the Standing Committee. As there was only one nominee this year, Dina S. Willner was named to be the newest Member-at-Large of the Standing Committee. Thom Walls thanked Al Navis and his Toronto committee for putting on such a wonderful Bouchercon. He then turned over the Chair of the Committee to Gary Warren Niebuhr, who thanked Thom for his years of service on the Committee The meeting was adjourned at 1:55pm.
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