Committee Meeting, 7 January 2004

Chairman:

• The most recent Division Heads meeting was held 2-3 January.


• Our next Open Meeting will be Monday, February 16. If you have not yet made hotel reservations (for the meeting, for Boskone if you'll be there, or both), you should do so by January 22.


• Many thanks to Chicon 2000 (and Chairman Tom Veal) for an unexpected Pass-Along Funds disbursement! We'll use the funds wisely (which is a pity, really, as I'd hoped to put it all in the Chairman's Discretionary Practical Joke Fund).

Tim Szczesuil, N4's Treasurer, notes that we've come through our January audit with flying colors. N4/MCFI requested that NESFA's audit committee review our books so that an external review could keep us on track. Tim has filed N4's tax forms for our recently-ended fiscal year.

Adina Adler, N4's Webmaster, notes that changes have been happening rapidly on the web site. The online ballot will be added in later this week (it is in final form and undergoing one final test phase) and linked up.

Please note that if you find any broken links on the web site, you should email webmaster@noreascon.org.

Member Services Request for quotes for child care will be sent at the end of the month to companies that might be able to provide professional day care. Tourism/tours information has been gathered for a Red Sox ticket buy and for the LotR exhibit at the Science Museum.

NOTE: MCFI, N4's sponsoring organization, last night decided not to increase rates beyond the current $180 level for full, attending memberships. We will hold rates at this level through the end of pre-reg.

NOTE: It is N4 policy, as set by MCFI, that only attending and supporting members of the convention are "members" for WSFS (Site Selection, Hugo voting, and next year's Hugo nomination) purposes. One-day and children's admissions are not members. (Children who are attending members, however, are eligible to vote, based on the stipulations in the WSFS Constitution.)

Convention Services We're asking committee members to respond to the cell phone survey at their earliest convenience. Convention Services will have several break-out sessions at the Open Meeting, and will be providing information about procurement, logistics, etc.

Publications Progress Report 5 is out and should be in most people's hands by now. Progress Report 6 timelines and content will be available shortly.

NOTE: MCFI last night approved Publications' proposed advertising rate for full pages, black and white, with the base of: $600 per page for pro ads, and $150 per page for fan ads. Joe Siclari, N4's Publications DH, will be posting the full rate structure shortly.

Exhibits Laurie Mann, Exhibits DH, notes that Dealers' Room applications have been coming in at a good clip; Art Show will have its mailing ready and will ship it in the next couple of weeks. If you're local and can help us get that mailing out, we'd appreciate it - Art Show Director Gay Ellen Dennett will let us know when we'll be doing the processing.

Facilities Reservations are now being taken for N4 hotel rooms. All suite reservations will need to go through N4 facilities; all other reservations are made directly with the hotels. You may reserve by going to http://www.noreascon.org/facilities/ and following the appropriate links. (Suite prices begin at $231 in the Sheraton and $337 in the Marriott.) Ben notes that we've had problems with the reservation system at the Sheraton; if you hit a glitch, please let us know at housing-problems@noreascon.org.

Events Marc Gordon, the Events DH, reports that the major events are moving right along: the Guests have all agreed to the basic structure for the Friday night Retro Hugo/Guest evening; Masquerade is delighted with the prizes offered by Harper-Collins and by Terry Pratchett; and there will be two event-related break-outs at the Open Meeting (one on Opening Ceremonies/First Night and one on Closing Ceremonies).

Program Priscilla Olson, our DH for Program, happily announced that the first N4 Program invitations have gone out via email and snailmail. Because of the hard work of a number of people, Program has a working database, online forms, etc. Priscilla says she's gotten back about 150 responses to date.

Related news: GoH Books

Tony Lewis, who is editing GoH Peter Weston's book for NESFA Press, noted that we will have books for all four guests, but that we only have one firm title (William Tenn's book will be "Dancing Naked") at this point. Fred Lerner will edit a book by fan guest Jack Speer; Laurie Mann is editor of the Tenn book; and Priscilla Olson and Sheila Perry are editors of the Pratchett book. (Mr. Pratchett does not, alas, like the working title of "Oh, Bugger! by Wossname.")

Times/Places/Tables

We'll have tables at:

• Arisia (Deb Geisler and Tony Lewis)
• Boskone (Dale Farmer)
• Confusion (Sharon Sbarsky)
• Lunacon (Saul Jaffe)
• DeepSouthCon (Pat Molloy)

Please do come by the tables at these conventions and put in an hour smiling and selling memberships. The people whose names appear in parentheses above are the point people, but they'd *LOVE* company.

Our next meetings:

Open Meeting, February 16, 2004, on-site at the Sheraton Boston. Basic schedule: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on-site; 6 p.m. at the NESFA clubhouse to unload the truck if you can help. Dinner will be provided by Boskone 41 and Noreascon Four.

March 3, 7:30 p.m.: MCFI/N4 meeting, NESFA clubhouse.
April 14, 7:30 p.m.: MCFI/N4 meeting, NESFA clubhouse.

(September 2-6, 2004: Noreascon Four.)