2015-12-03 AGM Minutes

Minutes of the AGM, Thursday 3rd December 2015

rob [5:47 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [5:47 PM] 
set the channel purpose: Minutes for the Nottingham Hackspace AGM - Thursday 3rd December 2015
:+1:1  

russellh [5:48 PM] 
joined #agmminutes. Also, @amy-screenqueen joined, @johnh joined, @biwhite joined, @jennifer joined, @leah joined, @daniel1111 joined, @geeksareforlife joined, @msemtd joined, @aithne joined, @moody joined, @tdc_hodgy joined, @iandickinson joined.

rob [6:35 PM] 
Currently 38 members present (including proxies) which brings us to 48% quorate
:+1:1  

sophierach [6:39 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [6:52 PM] 
Ok as of 18:50 we're 78% quorate with 61 members in attendance (34 members present at Antenna, 27 proxies)(edited)

alex.w [6:53 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

alex.w [6:54 PM] 
I'm here remotely, but already proxied to @butts. Just gonna kick back and enjoy the show, as we finished ​_way_​ earlier than expected

amy-screenqueen [6:56 PM] 
I'm with @alex.w . On the remotely... Whilst rocking a screaming baby to sleep.  OK good looking numbers and course some will be late(edited)

alex.w [6:57 PM] 
I'd be surprised if you were here @amy-screenqueen :stuck_out_tongue:

​[7:00] 
How're we doing for numbers, @rob?

rob [7:01 PM] 
As of 19:00 we're 101% quorate with 79 members in attendance (47 members present at Antenna, 32 proxies)
:sweat_smile:1 :fireworks:1  

amy-screenqueen [7:01 PM] 
Whoop!

sid351 [7:02 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

leah [7:02 PM] 
:+1:

rob [7:17 PM] 
As of 19:13 we're at 119% quorate with 93 members in attendance (58 members present at Antenna, 36 proxies)

​[7:15] 
AGM started at 19:15

​[7:15] 
Everyone in attendance should have picked up a raffle ticket on the way in for a chance to win a £50 Amazon voucher

​[7:16] 
We're 120% quorate now

​[7:16] 
First up State of the Union

​[7:17] 
Followed by the financial Report

​[7:17] 
Potential changes to the rules

​[7:17] 
Discussion on Hyson Green

froggy [7:17 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [7:17 PM] 
Sorry, was posing to the wrong channel to start with

​[7:18] 
Finally a discussion on Hackspace 2.5 expansion

​[7:18] 
Member Growth, we're currently at 492 members

​[7:19] 
4 new trustees, Daniel, Rob, Soph and Adam

​[7:19] 
New bank account, all members should now be paying into the TSB account

​[7:20] 
Any members who didn't switch will no longer be able to gain access to the hackspace

​[7:20] 
First annualised budget

​[7:21] 
We're now in a better position to plan our expenditure throughout the year

​[7:21] 
Teams

​[7:21] 
We've spent a lot of time focussing on teams recently

​[7:22] 
We're encouraging all members to get involved in teams they might be interested in

​[7:22] 
Teams urgently requiring members:

​[7:22] 
3D Printing

​[7:22] 
Comms

​[7:22] 
Electronics

​[7:22] 
Woodworking

​[7:23] 
See, the teams slack or the wiki for a list of teams

​[7:23] 
Introduced a long term loan form for members who have loaned tools to the space

​[7:24] 
Complaints, we're sped up the process of dealing with complaints and aim for a much quicker turnaround now

​[7:24] 
2014 - 2015 Financial Report

​[7:24] 
Income 40,888

​[7:24] 
Value of fixed assets 4873

matingslinkys [7:25 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [7:25 PM] 
Income

​[7:26] 
Membership Payments, 32k up from 27k last year

​[7:26] 
events 523

​[7:26] 
snackspace 3541

​[7:26] 
tool usage 2683 (laser cutter)

​[7:26] 
Tool inductions 510

​[7:26] 
donations 286

​[7:27] 
members boxes and RFID cards 117

​[7:27] 
Expenses

​[7:27] 
rent 13962

​[7:27] 
insurance 1046

​[7:27] 
electricity 6736

​[7:27] 
utilities 628

​[7:28] 
infrastructure 2804

​[7:29] 
Teams, various expenses (will be available on the slides after the AGM)(edited)

​[7:30] 
Dominic: why is the events income less this year?

​[7:30] 
Soph: we've now got the events teams so we've planned a set income we want to bring in every month
:+1:1  

​[7:30] 
James: we started offering free workshops with no income to the space

​[7:31] 
Next topic: Potential changes to the rules

​[7:31] 
(copy of the rules are being handed out)

​[7:32] 
You have until the 3rd of March (3 months) for the initial consultation period

​[7:32] 
from 3rd March, 1 month for the trustees to review any changes

​[7:33] 
(quick break for 10 minutes to review the rules document)

alex.w [7:33 PM] 
link for those of us not there?

tdc_hodgy [7:33 PM] 
Is there an online version we can see?

rob [7:34 PM] 
We'll provide a PDF shortly
:simple_smile:1  

alex.w [7:34 PM] 
:+1:

tdc_hodgy [7:34 PM] 
Ta

amy-screenqueen [7:34 PM] 
Ta and great job here @rob

david_clarke [7:38 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [7:39 PM] 
Toby is about to draw a raffle ticket

​[7:39] 
Number 6

​[7:39] 
Congratulations Kirsty
:simple_smile:1  

alex.w [7:39 PM] 
ha

rob [7:39 PM] 
uploaded a file 
nottinghack-draft-rules.pdf
81KB
PDF
 Click to open original
Add Comment
rob [7:40 PM] 
The rules are a complete replacement of the existing rules

​[7:42] 
The old rule 3 has disappeared (talk is cheap / get things done)

​[7:43] 
The culture of the rule still exists but now we're no longer 20 people it doesn't make as much sense

​[7:43] 
We're not expecting you to write notes on these rules and hand them back, in an online world we will do it in an online way

​[7:44] 
Our rules are on Github

​[7:44] 
Don't worry if you're unfamiliar with Github, we'll be running some free workshops in the space

​[7:44] 
We'll be using the "issue" and "pull request" features to facilitate this

​[7:45] 
Changes can be integrated on Github and the rules document will be re-generated live into a updated document

​[7:45] 
We'll share the details for this at the end of the AGM

​[7:46] 
(side note, next years elections will take place from 16th May 2016)

​[7:46] 
David Hayward: is there is a reason we got rid of specific list of items in the donations rule?

​[7:47] 
As we started going though the list we found exceptions didn't fit well as there always exceptions that people will get around

​[7:47] 
We tried to keep it more general

​[7:47] 
Chris Cain: what if you're not 18, 19 20 etc?

​[7:47] 
Adam F: we're spotted and corrected this already

​[7:48] 
Dominic: we used to have a rule about no sleeping the space, is this still in there?

​[7:48] 
James H; it's still in there

​[7:48] 
Michael E: how will be inform members who don't visit the space often?

​[7:49] 
James H: we'll be making use of a personal mail account to ensure our emails don't get stuck in spam filters or filtered out into promotions

​[7:49] 
James H: We'll also put up some new signage around the space with the rules

​[7:50] 
Michelle S: We're saying that inductions "certify" members, are we liable for certifying them?

​[7:50] 
James H: no, it's just a wording issue, you're just marking them as inducted on the tool(edited)

​[7:51] 
Reminder: consultation opens tonight, we'll send out links tonight or tomorrow morning

​[7:52] 
James H: we'll be running workshops to get you up to speed on the various tools

​[7:52] 
Next: Hyson Green

​[7:52] 
Hyson Green is an area of Nottingham

​[7:52] 
The "New Art Exchange" is in Hyson in Greeen and have been offered the old Library for use

​[7:53] 
We we're approached by a consultant from the art exchange and to corden off 2-3000 ft of space for a hackspace

​[7:53] 
We would be given around50k for tooling

​[7:53] 
we would have to pay around 25k yr for rent

​[7:54] 
there is no real budget yet

​[7:54] 
the numbers are preliminary at the moment

​[7:54] 
James H: I don't think anything is going to happen for the next 1-2 years as things are moving slowly(edited)

​[7:55] 
James H: this is important because the Trustees don't think we can do both Hyson Green and the potential Hackspace 2.5 expansion

​[7:56] 
James H: They are looking for a kind of "Satellite Hackspace" to Nottinghack

​[7:56] 
Mouse: Will it cost us anything to do this?

​[7:56] 
James H: yes, 25k in rent

​[7:56] 
David Hayward: When we setup hackspace I imagined that we should have a hackspace in every area

​[7:57] 
David Hardward: it sounds like they want us to do all the work and pay the rent

amy-screenqueen [7:57 PM] 
What is the overall rent of Hackspace 2.5 in comparison?

sophierach [7:57 PM] 
it'll come

​[7:57] 
check yoru briefing pack

​[7:57] 
for rent etc

amy-screenqueen [7:57 PM] 
Can't open from phone.  :(

rob [7:58 PM] 
Dominic: maybe we should be listed as a partner during the consulatation period

​[7:58] 
Toby: do we have any idea what sort of independence we would have?

​[7:59] 
James H: we'd be effectively renting the space, they are putting "community workshop / hackspace" on their promotion

​[7:59] 
James H: we'd need a second set of Trustees to manage the space and report to Nottinghack

​[8:00] 
Michael E: in the absence of our involvement in this venture are we aware of any other groups willing to perform this function?

​[8:00] 
James H: Not aware of other doing a Hackspace sort of thing?

​[8:00] 
Kate: has a hackspace done this before?

​[8:00] 
James H: Not that we're aware of

​[8:01] 
Mouse: Sounds like there willing to put in some money for equipment

​[8:01] 
James H: They would be willing to put in 50k investement

​[8:01] 
James H: there would be some outdoor space

​[8:02] 
Russel H: 25k rent also has a ramping up period for the rent over 2-3 years

​[8:02] 
Q: What would parking be like?

​[8:02] 
Dominic: parking available

​[8:03] 
Jennifer (non member): I live near Hyson Green, I met David Hill, he mentioned hackspace in Hyson Green old library building

​[8:03] 
Jennifer: I would like to be kept in the loop about what's hapenning

​[8:04] 
Jennifer: Sounds like a lot of wiggle room yet to sort things out, room for more than 1 hackspace in Nottingham

​[8:04] 
Jennifer: Lot of people in Hyson geeen to potentially do a lot of the running but would benefit from Hackspace experence of Nottinghack

​[8:05] 
Joe :anguished: 50k investment, would we be expect to match funding?

​[8:05] 
James H: No, equipment would belong to hackspace

​[8:05] 
James H: Think we should stay involved in the project but not commit at this point

​[8:05] 
Joe :anguished: do you know where the funding is coming from?

​[8:06] 
James H: lots of places Arts council etc.

​[8:06] 
Dominic: Library in Hyson Green moving, for the funding bid they wanted a project available to the larger community rather than individuals(edited)

​[8:07] 
Dominic: My suggestion would be to encourage a team of people to manage this project and support it with our name

​[8:08] 
Michelle S: Having flashback to hackspace 1, do we have a fixed amount of time to do this?

​[8:08] 
Michael E: how recently have we been in contact with them?

​[8:09] 
James H: 4 weeks ago via art exchange

johnbell [8:09 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [8:09 PM] 
Russel H: Think there getting 70-80 year lease on the place

​[8:09] 
Russel: see no reason not to get involved if it's not costing us money(edited)

butts [8:09 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [8:09 PM] 
Q: would it be possible to work in cars or have a garage?

​[8:09] 
James H: no

​[8:10] 
Denny: assuming the new art exchange has a membership body already, how much would be pooled into the hackspace?

​[8:10] 
James H: none

amy-screenqueen [8:10 PM] 
Do we know If it's ERDF (European Regional Development Funding) ?  Like most of the rest of New Art Exchange?

rob [8:10 PM] 
Paul M: I;ve come from Derby, having one at Hyson Green would steal some of our members

​[8:11] 
James H: it would be a satellite hackspace, members would be a member of both spaces

​[8:11] 
Q: would they provide services?

​[8:12] 
James H: not had those sort of discussions yet

​[8:12] 
Next: Hackspace 2.5
:simple_smile:4  

​[8:12] 
Soph: We have had to hold the last few AGM at Antenna as we've run out of space

​[8:13] 
The church below us have moved out so space below us has become avilable

​[8:13] 
You should have received a briefing pack with details

rob [8:13 PM] 
uploaded a file 
AGM Briefing Pack.pdf
2MB
PDF
 Click to open original
Add Comment
rob [8:14 PM] 
Slides are bing show on project or the floorplans

​[8:14] 
Current Space

​[8:14] 
4400 sq ft of space

​[8:14] 
2000 deposit

​[8:14] 
exempt from council rates(edited)

​[8:15] 
We're not suggesting taking on the whole space as it's not feasible

​[8:15] 
We've tried various financial scenarios but it's just not feasible

​[8:15] 
We've got a proposed layout

​[8:15] 
it's just an idea we came up when brainstorming

​[8:16] 
We're all involved so you can bikeshed any idea if you want

​[8:16] 
Good Points:

​[8:16] 
Street Level Access

​[8:16] 
Potential for a staircase, disabled lift

​[8:16] 
partial concerte floor in downstairs

​[8:17] 
things such as a kiln would be possible

​[8:17] 
larger blue room / classroom

​[8:17] 
potential space for more laser/CNC kit

​[8:17] 
Proposed changes for upstairs

​[8:18] 
Blue Room -> Craft Room
:simple_smile:1  

​[8:18] 
Workshop to expand to provide more benches

​[8:18] 
More project storage,

​[8:18] 
Dusty area made bigger

​[8:18] 
Downstairs Zone:

​[8:18] 
Big blue room

​[8:19] 
Member storage

​[8:19] 
CNC kit , 3D printing

​[8:19] 
infrastructure / teams store

​[8:20] 
roughly 3500 sq ft

​[8:20] 
4850 deposit for new space

​[8:20] 
cost per month for new space 1578

​[8:20] 
(floor space would be larger than London Hackspace)
:smile:2 :+1:3  

​[8:21] 
Possibly have to pay council rates with the new space

​[8:21] 
Council currently offer 50% discount for the current year (this could change)

​[8:22] 
it's on a year by year basis

​[8:22] 
Lot of work to do to make it usable

​[8:22] 
Lighting, Toilets, Electrics, furniture

​[8:22] 
decorating

​[8:22] 
cost to all these things

​[8:22] 
What would make this viable?

​[8:23] 
we need 13k to consider this expansion

​[8:23] 
Increase the monthly membership payment, currently £8 month

​[8:24] 
it costs us around £10 hour to run the space

​[8:24] 
We would like to be bringing in £150-200 a month from running events at the space
:relaxed:1  

​[8:25] 
Adam F: if you any skill that people might be interested in please get in touch with the #events team
:+1:1  

​[8:25] 
We've hit this the past 2 months
:+1:1  

​[8:25] 
Thanks to @iandickinson @jamesfowkes  for the Arduino workshop
:kissing_heart:1  

​[8:26] 
Matt Little: question about the rent, how may years is that for?

​[8:26] 
Matt Lloyd: 5 year licence

​[8:26] 
Mattl Little: think we can get more from events

​[8:26] 
Toby: Do we have a fallback, is this make or break?

​[8:27] 
James: we would have signed a 5 year leas so no

​[8:27] 
Dominic: there would likely be a penalty

​[8:27] 
James H: we don't know yet

​[8:27] 
Chris Cain: would we go over the £18k VAT limit?

​[8:28] 
James H: not yet, we have an accountant and they advise us on this

​[8:28] 
Q: do we have a time scale on this?

​[8:28] 
James  H: we need to decide on this tonight!
:+1:2  

​[8:29] 
David H: why is the deposit so high?

​[8:30] 
James H: we negotiated the deposit up to avoid having a guarantor

​[8:30] 
Michael E: it was a substantial financial risk

​[8:31] 
Michael E: does the personal guarantor get removed from the current lease?

​[8:31] 
James H: we'll negotiate the changes when the lease is up

​[8:32] 
Mouse: We've only had 20 new members is that related to the bank changes?

​[8:32] 
Adam F: that the growth

​[8:33] 
we've lost a lot and gained a lot

​[8:33] 
Still members who  haven't changed bank accounts who will become ex-members shortly

​[8:33] 
James H: we've had 5 new members in the last 3 days
:+1:1  

​[8:34] 
Mouse: do we have a strategy for recruiting new memberS?

​[8:34] 
James H: I don't think we'll be aggressively pursuing members  but we're coming up with a strategy

​[8:35] 
Soph: One of the things we've committed to doing if this goes ahead

​[8:35] 
Soph: 5-8 members a month

​[8:35] 
Soph: Trustees an active effort to be more accountable

​[8:36] 
Our actual grown is nearer 70 members

​[8:36] 
We lost around 50 member in Jan 2015 due to an overdue audit

​[8:36] 
Q: considered a pay per visit membership?

​[8:37] 
James H: no, we've always had a pay what you want policy, we've had a few people pay 1p a month but we've dealt with them

​[8:37] 
James H: putting more focus on existing members to pay for what they use

​[8:37] 
Toby: suggestion by a member for a hackspace shop

​[8:38] 
Toby: hackspace could take X percent from sales of items

​[8:38] 
Toby: could potentially help the space

​[8:38] 
James H: open to anything

​[8:38] 
James H: What we need is people to go ahead with these sort of things, there are on 7 of us trustees

​[8:39] 
James H: lots of members getting involved in teams

​[8:39] 
Michelle S: why are we proposing to take all of the space rather than half?(edited)

chunkyhampton [8:39 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [8:40 PM] 
James H: if we look at the downstair space, the most sensible part is the round part at the front

​[8:40] 
James H: the additional spaces are only a small amount more per month

​[8:40] 
James H: we get the most discount by taking the extra spaces

​[8:40] 
Michelle S: is it still worth taking the extra space for the extra risk?(edited)

​[8:41] 
James H: it's going to be up to you to decide when you vote if you consider it worth the risk

​[8:41] 
Q: how does this consider with renting elsewhere?

​[8:41] 
James H: it's much much cheaper(edited)

​[8:42] 
James H: in the briefing pack we suggested taking a 15k loan

​[8:42] 
James H: unfortunately we weren't accepted for it

​[8:42] 
James H: we've consider some options

​[8:42] 
James H: we;ve had several offers of loans from members

gmjhowe [8:43 PM] 
joined #agmminutes

rob [8:43 PM] 
James H: we could accept loans from members with a 4 years term and 4% interest rate

​[8:44] 
James H: also various grant options for disabled access

​[8:44] 
James H: crowd funding an option, indiegogo

​[8:44] 
James H: fund raising party, at a venue such as Antenna to raise money, BarBot etc.(edited)

​[8:45] 
Opening it up for questions

​[8:45] 
Michael E: offered to put forward a loan of 2k

​[8:46] 
David H: Joe pointed out cost for the staircase is quite optimistic

​[8:46] 
Matt Lloyd: figure was very rough, good chance the figures could be a lot higher

​[8:46] 
David H: disabled access should be obtainable for a lottery grant or funding grant

​[8:47] 
David H: Expanding downstairs seems like something we need to do, Hyson Green seem like a longer term project
:white_check_mark:2  

​[8:47] 
Q: Tried any other loan sources?

​[8:48] 
James H: no, just our bank (TSB) to get an idea if it would even be possible

​[8:48] 
James H: We invested a lot which didn't help our afforability

​[8:48] 
Paul M: I could offer a 5k loan at 4%

​[8:49] 
Michael E: notice a leaflet from the Creative Quarter

​[8:49] 
James H: we could improve our relationship with the creative quarter
:simple_smile:1  

​[8:50] 
Q: possibility for a shorter term loan?

​[8:50] 
James H: yeas, we've only just come up with this

​[8:50] 
Soph: we have a pledge drive in progress if you want to donate anything towards it
:+1:1  

​[8:51] 
Mouse E: lots of stuff contingent on raising funds, do we have a fund raising team?

​[8:51] 
Kirsty: I guess that could come under events if you want to join
:sweat:1  

​[8:52] 
James H: Happy for events and Mouse to work together to form a team

​[8:52] 
Q: increasing membership, you said something about £10 a month

​[8:53] 
James H: no minimum but we want to get from £8 to £10 average

​[8:53] 
Kate: we want to encourage everyone to come to the space
:simple_smile:1  

​[8:54] 
Q: you said average is £10, would you want that before expanding?

​[8:55] 
James H: yes, pay what you get out of the space, if you use the space every day and paying a small amount you might want to increase you payment
:+1:1  

​[8:55] 
Mouse: is it worth hiring fundraisers?

​[8:55] 
James H you want us to spend money to make money?

​[8:56] 
Mouse: have no experience of raising funds

​[8:56] 
Dominic: we have lots of contacts who can help us
:simple_smile:1  

​[8:56] 
James H: we currently have around 17k on offer from members, this doesn't make it risk free

​[8:57] 
James H: we tried to cover a range of scenarios in the briefing pack
:simple_smile:1  

​[8:57] 
James H: we need to take a vote of if we should sign a 5 year lease to take on downstairs
:wink:1  

​[8:58] 
Dominic: there is also risk in not doing

​[8:58] 
(Voting for members present at Antenna will be counted first)

​[9:02] 
(10 minute break)

amy-screenqueen [9:08 PM] 
This is like a film awards ceremony! #suspense(edited)

tdc_hodgy [9:09 PM] 
The suspense!
:+1:3  

rob [9:17 PM] 
James H: Just to make it clear what we're voting on

​[9:18] 
James H: The proposal is that we take on the downstairs space and the financial risk

​[9:18] 
James H: You as members are getting involved in raising money helping with the new space

​[9:18] 
James H: This is not something to take lightly, you as members are representing the space

​[9:19] 
(we will takes votes from members in attendance now)

​[9:20] 
All members vote yes, 2 abstain

​[9:21] 
All proxy votes are yes

amy-screenqueen [9:21 PM] 
Wow!!!!

rob [9:22 PM] 
If you want to offer a loan to the space, please contact trustees@nottinghack.org.uk

​[9:22] 
We'll be formalising the details more over the next few days

​[9:23] 
Mouse: An increase in your regular contribution will be valuable overall to the space
:+1:2  

​[9:23] 
Close of AGM

​[9:23] 
Thanks you everyone

​[9:23] 
Dominic: Thanks to the directors
:+1:1