Scottsdale, Arizona
Meeting of the WGPO Executive Committee, Board of Player Representatives and Guests
Attendees–From the EC: Keith Hagel, Larry Rand, Stephanie Steele, From the BPR: Bennett Jacobstein, Ruth Hamilton, Steve Pellinen, Susi Tiekert. WGPO members: Melissa Brown (Secretary). Guests: Lynda Finn, Dominick Mancine, Joe Gaspard
Meeting called to order by Stephanie Steele at 1:05 pm
1. TREASURY: Janice Kaye (unable to attend) sent a treasury report – there is $5613.72 in the WGPO account.
2. WEBSITE: Steve and Ruth provided an update on the status of the WGPO website. The switch was successfully made to a new server which now provides 24/7 service. Ruth will act as the funnel for postings on website (tasks to be transitioned from Henry Yeung and Rick Wong). Aaron Daly is working on a website design update. Steve Pellinen will join the tech committee.
3. RATINGS: Dominick finished the ratings using existing code, and arrived at a working process for rating tournaments. Dominick is working toward switching the ratings to Java. Wish list: Listing states next to names, projected number of wins, ideas for changing tournament results for consistent reporting. Dominick would be willing to maintain all of the data associated with WGPO membership and ratings; will follow up with Henry Yeung about web permissions.
4. WORD CUP 2014 STATUS REPORT: the 2014 Word Cup will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, August 1-6 (4 divisions, open format) directed by Lynda Finn and Bennett Jacobstein. So far there are 78 entrants, several already paid. An early bird will be directed by Larry if there is enough interest. Lynda and Bennett are working on detailed planning, and will make decisions regarding cut offs for divisions, distribution of prize money, integration of Collins; will welcome input from EC and BPR
5. ELECTION PROCESS (Ruth & Joe): Discussed ways to increase participation in voting. Joe offered possible options: Do a multiple choice survey asking why people did / did not vote; consider taking votes by email (Ruth reviewed the by laws which do not prohibit this). Dominick commented that we could set up an email group address for the survey if we decide to do one. The EC and BPR will recruit future nomination and elections committee volunteers.
6. ADD MEMBERS FOR LISTSERV: For this Phoenix tournament, Larry added instructions for joining the listserv. Dominick will review the membership document started by Melissa (dated June 2013) to see if it would be useful for tracking listserv participation.
7. DOCUMENTING POLICIES.
a. EC and BPR members agreed we should have a codification of all WGPO policies that have been decided to date. Steph volunteered to compile existing policies, using past minutes as a starting point.
b. Agreement by all that there is a need for instituting a process for revisiting policies.
8. TWL3/OSPD5. General discussion of the availability of the anticipated new dictionary to WGPO members.
9. NUMBER OF TOURNAMENTS: Bennett spoke about MSI (Mind Sports International), which is sponsoring festivals of mind games like chess, with tournaments in LA, Berkeley and Las Vegas planned, and the potential impact on WGPO tournaments.
Meeting adjourned 2:45 pm
Respectfully submitted by Melissa Brown