The World Science Fiction Society

The World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting at MagiCon was held in four sessions, scheduled at 10 AM on Friday, Sept. 4, through Monday, Sept. 7, 1992, in Room 20abc of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The podium staff for all sessions consisted of Bruce Pelz, Presiding Officer; George Flynn, Secretary; Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian; and Kevin Standlee, Timekeeper.

In the minutes below, motions whose texts were published in the MagiCon Souvenir Book will be cited only by reference.

The meeting was called to order at 10:05 AM. The Chair announced the awarding of the Japanese Engineering Award to last year's Secretary, Richard Russell, for delivering his minutes immediately prior to this meeting. [Copies of the 1991 minutes may presumably be obtained from Richard S. Russell, Address removed From Electronic Version]

Items 1-9 were constitutional amendments given first passage in 1991, and would become part of the WSFS Constitution upon ratification. [As noted in the meeting agenda, the explanations of these items in the Souvenir Book [pp. 145-146] were mostly those provided by the original makers of the motions, and thus were not necessarily objective.]

1. Counting of "No Award"
MOVED: To amend Article 2 Section 21 by adding the following paragraph:
"After a tentative winner is determined, then unless ‘No Award’ shall be the winner, the following additional test shall be made. if the number of ballots containing votes listing `No Award’ higher than the tentative winner plus the number of ballots listing ‘No Award’ but not the winner is greater than the number of ballots listing the tentative winner higher than ‘No Award’ plus the number of ballots listing the tentative winner but not ‘No Award’, then ‘No Award’ shall be declared the winner of the election."
and to amend Article 3 Section 3 by adding the following to the end of the 5th sentence:
"and shall be the equivalent of ‘No Award’ with respect to the last paragraph of Article 2 Section 21".

- The Secretary suggested that "tentative" should be added before the second "winner" in the second sentence, which would then begin: "If the number of ballots containing votes listing 'No Award' higher than the tentative winner plus the number of ballots listing 'No Award' but not the tentative winner is greater
. . ." The meeting accepted this correction. [This and other questions raised by the Secretary were included in the agenda.] - The default debate time was 20 minutes; 10, 5, and 2 minutes were also proposed; 5 minutes won.

2. Splitting Distribution of the Hugo Rules from Pending Business
MOVED, to replace Article 4 Section 10 of the WSFS Constitution by:
"The Constitution of WSFS, together with an explanation of proposed changes approved but not yet ratified, and the Standing Rules shall be printed by the current Worldcon Committee, distributed to all WSFS members at a point between nine and three months prior to the Worldcon, and distributed to all WSFS members in attendance at the Worldcon upon registration"
and also MOVED, to add after the first sentence in Article 2 Section 18, the following:
"The Committee shall include with each nomination ballot a copy of Article 2 of the WSFS Constitution."

- The Secretary proposed removing the comma after "Standing Rules"; there was no objection. - Default debate time 20 minutes; 3 and 5 minutes proposed; 3 minutes won.

3. Calling the Hugo Award the Hugo Award
MOVED to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:
(1) Change Article 1 Section 2A to read: "To choose the recipients of the annual Hugo Awards"
(2) In Article 1 Section 7, omit the words: "Science Fiction Achievement Awards"
(3) Change the title of Article 2 to "Hugo Awards", and change Article 2 Section 1 to read: "Selection of the Hugo Awards shall be made as follows in the subsequent sections of this article."
(4) Change the last sentence of Article 2 Section 15 to read: "Articles created under this section shall be considered to be Hugo Awards."

- The Secretary suggested that the proposed title of Article 2 be "Hugo Awards"; there was no objection. -Default debate time 20 minutes; 2, 5, 1, 10, and 1.37 minutes proposed; 2 minutes won.

4. Electronic Fanwriting Hugo Eligibility
MOVED, to amend Article 2 Section 12 by adding the words "or in generally available electronic media" at the end of the section.

- Default debate time 6 minutes; 10 minutes proposed; 6 minutes won.

5. Constitution Passalong Requirement
MOVED, to amend Article 4 Section 10 by adding the following sentence:
"Within two (2) months after the end of each Worldcon, the Committee shall send a copy of all changes to the Constitution and the Standing Rules, and all items awaiting ratification, to the next Worldcon Committee."

- The Secretary raised a question: "The information in question is in fact in the possession of the Business Meeting Secretary, who is charged with this duty by Standing Rule 16, and who is in general only nominally a member of the Committee. Therefore, should the motion refer to the Secretary rather than 'the Committee'?" The point was discussed; the Parliamentarian said that the printed text did not conflict with Standing Rule 16, and that it would suffice to so rule. The Chair preferred a suggestion by Mr. Sacks: to replace "the Committee" by "the Business Meeting staff"; this change was moved, and passed almost unanimously. - Default debate time 6 minutes; 3, 2, and 1 minutes proposed; 1 minute won.

6. Anti-Lame Duck Amendment
MOVED, To amend Article 4 Section 6 of the WSFS Constitution by inserting the words "after the end of the Business Meeting" after the word "Worldcon" in the sentence "There will be a meeting of the Mark Registration and Protection Committee at each Worldcon, at a time and place announced at the Business Meeting."

- Default debate time 6 minutes; 1 and ¹ minutes proposed; 1 minute won.

7. Clarifying "No Award" Tallying
MOVED, To amend Article 2 Section 17 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:
In any event, No Award shall be given whenever the total number of valid ballots cast for a specific category (excluding those cast for No Award in first place) is less than twenty-five percent (25%) of the total number of final Award ballots (excluding those cast for No Award) received

- Default debate time 6 minutes; 10 and 1 minutes proposed; 6 minutes won.

8. Natural Person Amendment
(1) Amend Article 3, Section XXX as follows:
Only natural persons shall be allowed to cast site-selection ballots for other than "No Preference", and no individual shall cast more than one such ballot. (This shall not be interpreted to prohibit delivery of ballots cast by other eligible voters.) "No Preference" ballots may be cast by corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities. "Guest of" memberships must be transferred to individual natural persons before being cast for other than "No Preference", with such transfers accepted by the administering convention.
(2) Add the following section to Article 4:
In all matters arising under this Constitution, only natural persons may introduce business, nominate, or vote, except as specifically provided otherwise in this Constitution. No person may cast more than one vote on any issue or more than one ballot in any election. This shall not be interpreted to prohibit delivery of ballots cast by other eligible voters.

- The Secretary noted that the proposed new section would go in Article 5 under the revised numbering. - Default debate time 20 minutes; 5, e, and 2 minutes proposed; 5 minutes won.

9. Bid Notification Deadline
Moved: To amend the WSFS Constitution to change "the close of the previous Worldcon" to "180 days prior to the official opening of the administering Worldcon" in Article 3 Section 4.

- Default debate time 6 minutes; 3, 2, and 1 minutes proposed; 3 minutes won.

10. Report of WSFS Mark Protection Committee (Souvenir Book, p. 146) - The report itself was not ready, and was deferred until Saturday.

Three members of the committee were to be elected for a three-year term. No more than three elected members may reside (at the time of election) in each of the regions described in Sec. 3.6 of the Constitution. The current elected members were:

13. Report of Worldcon Runner's Guide Editorial Committee (not listed in Souvenir Book) - Chairman Robert Sacks submitted the report which appears on p. 5; Ross Pavlac would later be bringing a manual of about 40 pages [see p. 8]. Mr. Sacks announced that he would not be continuing as Secretary, and that the committee needed a "pusher" to head review committees, etc. - Mr. Sacks moved to continue the committee, with the authority to add members, to report at ConFrancisco. The motion passed unanimously.

[MOVED, to] amend the WSFS Constitution as follows (deletions in strike-through, additions in underline):
3.8.1: Voting shall be by written ballot administered by the following then-current Worldcon, if there is no NASFiC held the following year following the Worldcon that year, or by the NASFiC, if there is one held in the following year following the Worldcon, with ballots cast at the administering convention or by mail and only members of the administering convention allowed to vote.
3.5: . . . The aforementioned rules and agreements, along with an announcement of intent to bid, must be filed with the committee that will administer the voting . . . , and as set by the administering convention but no earlier than the close of the corresponding Worldcon voting no later than one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the opening of the administering convention for a prospective NASFiC bid.

[This would make the NASFiC lead time one year less than that for the Worldcon.] Default debate time 20 minutes; 10, 6, and 5 minutes proposed; 10 minutes won (many, to 15 for 20 min., less for others).

That completed the business before the Preliminary Business Meeting. - At this point written acceptances had been received from all those nominated for the Mark Protection Committee (cf. p. 2) except Bob Hillis. It was moved to waive Standing Rule 3.1 to allow Mr. Hillis to turn in his acceptance at any time before the opening of the Saturday meeting: passed. - The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM. - Not counting the podium staff, 61 people signed the attendance list (which, however, was distributed rather late in the meeting).

The meeting was called to order at 10:02 AM.

Text of Items 1-9 as in MagiCon Souvenir Book, pp. 145-146, except for changes noted on p. 1 above.

Items 1-9 have thus all been ratified, and the appropriate changes have been inserted in the text of the WSFS Constitution passed on to ConFrancisco.

See pp. 5-8 for original texts and previous treatment of Items 14-22.

At this point the tellers reported the results of the Mark Protection Committee election (see p. 9). - Also, the Mark Protection Committee Treasurer announced the availability of the financial report printed on p. 9.

Meeting adjourned at 11:18 AM. - Not counting the podium staff, 77 people signed the attendance list. [For comparison, 73 ballots were cast in the Mark Protection Committee election.]

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 AM.

A presentation for Los Angeles was made by Bruce Pelz (from the Chair). - It was announced that the deadline for other 1996 bidders to file was 5 PM Monday.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:59 AM. - Not counting the podium staff, 56 people signed the attendance list.

[After the Business Meeting, the Secretary attended the meeting of NASFiC bidders, convened in the Staff Lounge. Kevin Standlee presided, and examined the bidders' filing documents. The New York bid ("NASFiC: Gotham 95") was accepted; they insisted on the default $20 voting fee, which therefore was in effect. The Atlanta bid ("NASFiC Atlanta 1995") was also accepted; they noted that their bid was for July 13-16, 1995 (proposed dates appeared on the ballot, along with facilities and committee lists). As for the I-95 in '95 bid, however, their organizational document was acceptable (though strange), but their letter of agreement was not (it contained such interesting features as a purported endorsement from the Secretary of Transportation, and the stamped message "Vinnie the Shiv says OK"). The I-95 in '95 bid was therefore not allowed on the ballot, but continued to run as a write-in bid; their votes would count if they submitted a satisfactory letter of agreement before the voting closed at 10 PM. See below for the next thrilling installment . . . The New York and Atlanta bids agreed that anyone who voted would receive an attending membership in the winning convention.]

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 AM.

Kevin Standlee delivered the report of the tellers. He commended the I-95 committee for perseverance and spunk in the face of great adversity. After failing to get on the ballot [see above], they finally found a night manager at the Columbia, MD, Hilton who was willing to fax them a letter of agreement. They came running up at the stroke of 10, waving the fax and shouting "We got it!" Their bid was therefore accepted, at the last possible moment. - The results were then announced: 381 ballots were cast, and Atlanta won. (Write-ins were received for "Hold the election next year" and "Hawaii".) Mr. Standlee submitted the following report:

Mark Olson asked about a rumor that day attendees had been allowed to vote. Mr. Standlee said a few had been allowed: the Constitution is silent on the matter, and all the bidders accepted it. Mr. Olson said the host convention had ruled that day members are not "members," and asked the Chair for a ruling. Scott Dennis pointed out that day members were not allowed to vote on Worldcon site selection. The Chair said he hadn't been aware of the situation, but thought it was up to the bidders and the host convention. Ben Yalow: The host convention has the right to declare that they are not members, but merely purchasers of daily admissions. Robert Sacks: Did the host convention so declare, and could the tellers have distinguished the day members? Also, the Chair had designated Mr. Standlee as administrator on behalf of MagiCon. Mr. Yalow: Anything other than attending and supporting memberships is not in the Constitution, and is up to the judgment of the convention. The Chair suggested that the nitpickers work to define the issue by next year; meanwhile, the MagiCon chair delegated this authority to Mr. Standlee, so all else is moot.

Robert Sacks moved to adjourn sine die. - Kent Bloom asked unanimous consent to introduce a motion. Richard Russell pointed out that a motion to suspend the rules takes precedence. The Parliamentarian suggested a motion to suspend the rules to introduce [the following] motion. There was no objection, so Mr. Bloom introduced his motion:

(Mr. Bloom stated that his intent was to let NASFiCs be run by an organization of their own.) The default debate time was 6 minutes. - The Chair ruled that passage of this motion could not affect any already seated convention. The Parliamentarian spelled out that all references to the NASFiC would end, and WSFS would thus not be allowed to elect further NASFiCs. Robert Sacks suggested specifying that the "NASFiC" trademark would be surrendered to a new organization; that the motion take effect only after new regulations for such an organization are approved by a Business Meeting; or after a succeeding NASFiC organization shall provide rules. [The first of these at least was formally moved as an amendment; things were sufficiently confused that I'm not sure about the status of the others.] Mr. Yalow: Would we be surrendering the mark automatically? We would no longer be using it, so it would be considered abandoned, and anyone could register it. - The time for debate having expired, Mark Olson moved to extend it for 5 minutes: passed.

Mr. Sacks suggested that the Chair could appoint a committee to draft the rules of an independent NASFiC body. The Parliamentarian agreed, and in response to an inquiry ruled that tabling the motion until next year would not be in order. Johnny Carruthers moved to refer the whole thing to a committee, to report back next year. The previous question was called, and the motion to refer to committee passed. - The Chair appointed Terry Berry, Ed Kramer, Robert Sacks, Ben Yalow, and Kevin Standlee to the committee, and authorized the committee to appoint up to 4 more members. The committee chair would be selected by next year's Business Meeting Chair (John Lorentz).

Covert Beach asked unanimous consent to present an award to the Chair. Consent being granted, the Chair was presented, on behalf of the Masquerade, with a hall costume award for the panoply of ribbons on his chest.

Mr. Sacks's previous motion to adjourn was withdrawn. - Kevin Standlee asked that the 1995 NASFiC be allowed to make a presentation. This was done by Ed Kramer. - Steve Aines (of the I-95 in '95 bid) congratulated Atlanta, and thanked everyone. Covert Beach moved to commend the I-95 committee for showing verve and insanity: passed.

Robert Sacks announced a meeting of the committee on the NASFiC. - Kent Bloom moved to commend the podium staff: passed. - Kevin Standlee announced that the Business Meeting at Conadian would be chaired by Donald Eastlake. - Mr. Standlee attempted to introduce a motion to strike "on the first ballot" from Sec. 3.8.4 of the Constitution; there was an objection, so the motion was not allowed.

The meeting was adjourned sine die at 10:43 AM. - Not counting the podium staff, 48 people signed the attendance list.

Items 14, 15, 21, and 22 are amendments to the WSFS Constitution that have been given first passage, and will be considered for ratification at ConFrancisco. Other business for ConFrancisco includes the regular committee reports, and the report of the special committee on the NASFiC described above.

Attendance List - A total of 139 people signed one or more attendance lists or were otherwise noted as having been present at the Business Meeting. They were: Gary P. Agin, Steve Aines, Lynn Anderson, Craig Andrews, Margaret Austin, Shirley Avery, Covert Beach, Judith C. Bemis, David Berry, Terry Berry, Leroy F. Berven, Robert Blair, Kent Bloom, Glen A. Boettcher, Stephen Boucher, Charles K. Bradley, Seth Breidbart, Brian Burley, Jeff Canfield, Johnny Carruthers, David W. Clark, Nancy L. Cobb, ? Cohen, Chris Cooper, Todd Dashoff, Joni Brill Dashoff, James Daugherty, Kathryn Daugherty, Avery Davis, Dan Deckert, Scott Dennis, Martin Deutsch, Michael Dillson, Vince Docherty, David Doering, Paul Dormer, Fred Duarte, Martin Easterbrook, Donald Eastlake, Chris Logan Edwards, Louis Epstein, Judith Ann Eudaly, Gary Feldbaum, Katie Filipowicz, Charles H. Fisher, Naomi Fisher, George Flynn, Jace Foss, Richard Foss, William Foss, Steve Francis, Sue Francis, Doug Friauf, John C. Glindeman, Halmer D. Haag, Les Haven, Shigeru Hayashida, Stuart C. Hellinger, Martin Hoare, Dan Hoey, Tim Illingworth, Saul Jaffe, Mary Jane Jewell, Linda M. Jordan, Rick Katze, Michael D. Kennedy, Ed Kramer, Tom Kunsman, Alexis Layton, Zanny Leach, Mark Levine, Mark Linneman, John Lorentz, Gary Louie, Perrianne Lurie, Robert MacIntosh, J.R. Madden, Eddie Maize, John Mansfield, Charles Matheny, Winton E. Matthews, Karen Meschke, Kathleen Meyer, Ben W. Miller, Patrick Molloy, Mary Morman, Frank C. Olbris, Mark Olson, Priscilla Olson, Val Ontell, Chris O'Shea II, Bill Parker, Sara Paul, Ross Pavlac, Bruce Pelz, James Petrassi, Angela Philley, Sam Pierce, Jeff Poretsky, Charlie Prael, Mark Richards, Roger Robinson, Linda Ross-Mansfield, Teny Rule, Larry Ruh, Ed Rush, Richard S. Russell, Ruth Sachter, Robert Sacks, Gail Sanders, Vincent G. Sanders, John T. Sapienza Jr., Sharon Sbarsky, Jerry Schneiderman, Joyce Scrivner, Samuel A. Smith, Victoria A. Smith, Jack Speer, Dick Spelman, Kevin Standlee, James Steel, Alan Stephan, Tom Stern, Wilho N. Suominen Jr., Gudrun Thomassen, Don A. Timm, Leslie Turek, Bertie van Asseldonk, Mike Vande Bunt, Susan Vanderbeek, Paul de Leeuw van Weenan, Bill Vaughan, Mary Vaughan, Tom Veal, John Waggott, Amy West, Lew Wolkoff, Ben Yalow, Richard W. Zellich.

The Secretary apologizes for taking so long to get these minutes out (I didn't have access to a decent printer for a couple of months, and then things got hectic . . .). Thanks to NESFA for supplies, and to Claire Anderson for mimeography. Additional copies of these minutes may be obtained for the cost of postage (two ounces) from: [Address Removed]

- George Flynn, 13 May 1993

"World Science Fiction Society", "WSFS", "World Science Fiction Convention", "Worldcon", "NASFiC", and "Hugo Award" are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

Constitution, Sec. 1.8, line 5: "reports regarding the disbursement"

Constitution, Sec. 2.2.1, line 3: "eligible for the year" (I believe last year's Business Meeting assented to the Secretary's making this perfecting change.)

Standing Rule 20, first sentence: "These Standing Rules shall continue in effect until altered or rescinded by a motion from the floor of any Business Meeting made by any WSFS member and adopted by majority vote of the Business Meeting." (As amended last year.)

(Corrections to items 1-9 are noted in the agenda above under the respective items.)

George Flynn