April 2014 Board Meeting

Board Meeting April 13, 2014 Magic Mansion, Boulder Yes it’s crunch time folks! The stress and tension inherent in event planning is escalating, and it seemed appropriate that Koda took a little extra time to reflect on “Robert’s Rules of Order” that are meant to help keep meetings productive and positive. Koda elucidated the value and wisdom in these rules when they are enacted. The Mansion was a full house, with 31 attendees and eight of the nine board members present.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

BAMF Donated Tickets

Shutterbug said he’d like to thank the BOD and BAMF for the thought and effort they are putting into the donated ticket issue, as it’s a contentious and emotional issue. He added that Apo was started with the idea that everyone buys a ticket, but that it is admittedly difficult to keep people vested in the event on multiple levels without incentives. Every BOD has struggled with this, and found that it’s difficult to selectively choose one department over another. He doesn’t feel tickets being donated to BAMF is the best way solve the issue of filling hard-to-fill shifts at the event, and there have been other suggestions. He suggested the idea of having an oversight, non-operational, year-round position for BAMF that handles interactions with tickets, calls out to the community on issues, monthly socials, recruiting and more to remove stress off the people who deal with the actual event. Though this doesn’t solve the immediate need, he doesn’t feel the free tickets fix is a long term solution. He admitted that BAMF burns out and that we as a community have the responsibility to help stop that burnout and allow volunteers to enjoy their vacation.

Mark “Exit Wound” reminded the group that Burning Man radically changed its model and attitude toward free tickets as the event grew. It was asserted that Apo has the right to be unique and veer from what Burning Man or any other regional has done.

Further discussion about the free ticket issue was reserved until after the official Board Meeting in the interest of time. People stayed late to continue discussing this very sensitive and emotional issue.

NOTE:

For a bit of history on the subject, check out the transmissions posted:

⇒There was an initial transmission to broach the issue to the community on April 8, 2014. ⇒The BOD took a survey to get a feel of the community’s opinion and the results were posted on April 23, 2014: Survey results

Since the April board meeting, the BOD voted to offer the 20 tickets as initially requested by BAMF, but this would not be the case next year, which was somewhat relieving to hear. The BOD senses the decision could certainly set a precedent and create unintended consequences if not dealt with carefully. Check out official announcement about the BOD’s free ticket decision.

Even though BAMF initially requested these tickets, it seems as if they might find a way NOT to use them. They produced a BAMF newsletter describing their ticket pricing, and nowhere does it mention the free tickets.

Apo’s Annual Growth

Exit Wound asked about the history of growth and there was some discussion on the positives and negatives of Apo’s growth. The growth does have a huge impact on staffing, especially for BAMF and Ranger roles, which require extra training and experience. While this year is the greatest increase in the number of participants, our growth percentage, about 27%, is still consistent with the last few years. In light of the rapid growth, Koda expressed confidence that event growth is still only serving part of the overall growing demand. He added that we are a community that has the ability to affect change the larger we grow, and that it’s imperative to grow so we can increase the influence of our principles and culture. It will be a question of how.

Jigsaw Jen chimed in saying that based on previous comparisons she found, Apo’s growth rate is in line with other regional burns. She would like to research and publish updated comparison results.

Uncle Dave brought up a few concerns about the board’s process this year for soliciting recommendations from Department Leads and deciding on the growth. Though they admitted some miscommunication that happened, Koda and Eric pointed out that only six (6) people attended the 2013 “Retrospective” meeting that is meant to reflect on the event. The solution seems to be to effectively utilize each year’s Retrospective to plan and improve the following years.

OFFICERS REPORT

President, Koda, presented the timeline (which was slightly changed after the meeting):

52 days until the event opens
Ignition frozen 4/20/14 (extended)
Ignition Retreat 4/26 & 4/27
Survival guide on 5/1
Work Weekend Registration opens 5/5
WWWW 5/16 published (tentative)
Placement Map – there will be three map releases this year
- 1st will be before the retreat (perimeter, zones, roads)
- 2nd will be around the 1st of May
- 3rd in around WWWW publication
Registration
Work weekend registration closes on 5/26. DPW is in charge of work weekend until Tuesday

There will be Ranger presence from work weekend to the end of Apo.

Volunteer Database

The Volunteer Database is open online. At the time, there were over 350 shifts, or only one quarter (¼) filled and 296 users were registered. Koda and Piper were working on rolling out a few software updates.

Vice President, Sherpa, was not in attendance, but Koda spoke on Sherpa’s behalf.

The Burning Man Global Leadership Conference was an amazing event. The folks that went worked hard but got so much out of it. He reminded everyone that attendees can qualify for a reimbursement paid by Apogaea if they do recorded presentations. They will have the chance to present at the upcoming April and May Ignition Mixers. If there is no presentation, there will be no reimbursement. Per the policy made in January 2014 Board Meeting there will be a total maximum of $1500 and up to $300 per person.

The Last Chance/OMG Ticket Sale is on May 10th. Volunteer ticket codes were to be sent to Leads after the Board Meeting.

April 30th 11:59pm is last day for volunteers and Ignition to get their tickets before released into the Last Chance sale. (The date was pushed back to May 1st after the board meeting).

Secretary, Caroline “Caroshine”:

The March 2014 Board Meeting Minutes were unanimously approved.

Online Votes

Motion to release volunteer ticket codes to leads after the April board meeting on April 13th to allow time for community to fill shifts in the volunteer database before issuing codes to leads to help fill those positions.
Motion to reduce the Apogaea reserve ticket count from 50 to 0.
Motion to create the 131 Red Shirt positions as listed.
Motion to offer Red Shirts a $50 reserved ticket.
Motion to approve the following reserved ticket counts for the following departments: A-Con 10, DPW 40, BAMF 64, Rangers 32, Gate 25, Parking 20, Work Weekend Grill Assistant 1.
Motion to release 27 of the 700 orginally held back for reserved use for sale in the 2nd GA sale.
Motion to set up an Authorize.net payment gateway for credit card processing and to use this gateway inconjuction with TicketFly for the remainder of ticket sales for Apogaea 2014.
Motion that the board approve the thirteen art projects from the Seed Round, as recommended by the Art Committee and the Finance Committee
Motion to authorize Eric Moutz to bind insurance policy at cost of $10,000 no later than April 4, 2014 and to authorize payment for same.
Motion to ratify a Freedom as volunteer coordinator XXXO

Treasurer, Steve Merager:

The CD account money has been moved to the savings account and is ready for spending.
The 2013 taxes are currently being prepared by our CPA.
Almost all the creative grant payments are complete, except for the Cross Pollination round.
The money from TicketFly ($40,000) has not been received yet.
Kris, our business lead, has secured most large purchase items. They will set up account with Conoco in Bailey, so there won’t be credit cards this year after all.
Michael will be providing a pair of two totes for DPW diesel and gas needs.

Uncle Dave mentioned that firewood has been an issue in the past. Camps have stolen wood for burn barrels. Gate can check people arriving to make sure they have burn barrel approval. BAMF, Rangers and Gate will work together to create checks and balances for monitoring this.

2014 EFFIGY AND TEMPLE

Based on the feedback from the community, the BOD voted which night the Effigy and the Temple would be burned, given no burn ban.

Check out which night each will be burned!

<3 REPORTS

Eric Muntz, Board Member

Procured event permit
We don’t have insurance but working to get it

Claire “Éclair” Lay, Volunteer Lead

Entering lots of shifts into the database; awaiting shwag responses
New XXXO
Down 1 volunteer daily lead

Jen “Jigsaw” Whitesell, Board Member & Center Camp Lead

Media Department (AMP) is trying to get a video version of the survival guide
History banner is missing – anyone know where it is?

Caroline “Caroshine” Kert, Secretary and Ignition Fluffer

Very inspiring March Ignition Mixer; April and May Mixer announcements will be out soon. Folks will be presenting what they learned from the BM Global Leadership Conference.
DMV has registration up and running
Leave No Trace/Greening still needs three (3) more Red Shirts

Brad “B-Rad” Holland, Acculturation and BM Rep

Working on making a more interactive way to connect with community
They hope to have more posters/art at the Acculturation tent

Terri “Kiki” Beach, Volunteer Appreciation Lead

She needs info from leads by April 25th for shwag orders – she’ll send email
She is taking orders for hoodies again (eligibility requirements: been on Ignition for 2 years)
Swag options are a dog tag or patch

John Collins, Land Search Lead & XXXO Parking

Land visit targeted for after Apo
Sawmill will be used for parking. But it was originally designated for possible emergency heli-landing. John will work with Cyn, our new Medical Lead, to ensure there is a pre-planned location for the heli-landing.

Julie “Kiosk” Murphy, Gate Lead

Volunteer positions are filling up very quickly
Looks forward to hearing more from BOD regarding possible gate changes (if they open up more land below, then gate would have to moved closer to road – not sure it’s even viable yet)
Re-entry registration is open and closes on May 20th
Need to HAVE A WRIST BAND to re-enter. Departments should have extra wristbands to give to their crew if re-entry is needed.
Damien needs to know who need to be in Tuesday to open the door

Luke Tilsley, Placement XXXO and Peter “Puck” Debruyn, Placement Operations

Placement has been working on the process of making decisions around the data received. Importing registrations into a relational database. Attacking mapping via zones and layers (neighborhoods).
Designing a new map format. It will have different layers such as zones (sound, residential, etc) and neighborhoods. The layers will be collapsed into a single map at the final version.
Will work with safety on a grid map for emergency response
A map for the departments will be ready for the retreat
Sound policies are up

Pat “Rooster” Libra, BAMF

Did inventory in trailers and discovered 3 of 4 carports are missing parts
Did site visit on land and they have a good plan as to how the placement will work for placement and rangers
Center camp tent needs to be moved slightly for a drive-through area for ambulance

Cynthia Van Lingen, new Medical Lead

They are at a clean slate due to all the changes, so they are going to work with all departments
Just created a communications team today
Cyn is stepping into this as of 2 days ago
Has new social coordinator to help get gigs together to help recruit throughout the year

Steve Merager, Treasurer

Wants to discourage anyone from buying things on own: It is better to set up vendor accounts; we do have a purchasing agent and items can be pre-purchased where dept leads can pick up and not have to worry about getting reimbursements

Capn’ Ron, Transportation

He needs to know where trailers are to be placed and will work with DPW and placement
There will be a 3rd trailer to place
He will need names and job descriptions for lanyards

Michael Yancy, Board Member

Registration is back on the rails and is working on unified registration process for all registration

RATIFICATIONS

Assistant Treasurer (currently Community member of Finance committee) – Tim Collins
Center Camp Daily Lead – Angela Andersen-Honnecke
BAMF XXXO – Andrea Lewis
BAMF XXXO – Lisa Darr
BAMF XXXO – Adam Clark (“Dash”)
BAMF XXXO and Radios – Linda Cox
BAMF XXXO – Kristen Labrador
Degreeter Lead – Sarah Nava
Medical Lead – ‘Cyn’
Ranger Khaki – Robyn
Signs Lead – Rose Swansong

Redshirt Slots

Art Diversity Director
BAMF XXXO 2
Fire Ice XXXO
Radios Lead Assistant
8 Rangers

EARLY ENTRY AND MONDAY EXODUS RULES

These two subjects were broached and some conversation ensued, but it was decided that the BOD would continue the conversation online. I’ll keep you in the loop as more information is divulged at the May Board Meeting.

Early Entry from 2013:

Early entry granted to Ignition and to those who were registered for a volunteer shift in the volunteer database for a shift.
Up to four individuals were allowed from preregistered theme camps

Monday Exodus wristbands available at info booth?
– Info booth is shut down on Sunday
– Need to create solution by next board meeting
– BOD will be in charge of getting folks off the land as there is currently not one person assigned to the task.

FIRE PERFORMANCE DURATION LIMITED

Fire performance was supposed to be 25 minutes total and now it’s gotten up to 45 minutes with chaos and everything else. Michael Yancy moved to limit fire performance at the effigy to 25 minutes including the chaos performance. It was unanimously approved and several applauded.

NOTE: the motion was later withdrawn as no representative from conclave nor their liaison were in attendance when the motion was passed.

NEXT BOARD MEETING

Sunday, May 18, 2014
1:00pm – 4:00pm
Fusion Factory, Denver