1. Call to Order

The Preliminary WSFS Business Meeting was called to order at 9:00 AM in the Regent Room of the Fairmont Hotel. An attendance sign-up list was distributed. Similar lists were made available at subsequent meetings and a copy of the final list is attached.

The Chair activated the Secretary. The Secretary responded, "I am the Emergency Holographic Secretary; please state the nature of the Clerical Emergency".

The Chair proceeded to explain that the original Secretary, Mr. McMurray, had been unable to attend Chicon 2000 due to a family emergency and that his replacement, Mr. Sacks, had sadly passed away shortly before the convention. Therefore Ms. Morgan has been acquired to fill the role.

2. Committee Reports

1. Mark Protection Committee

Gary Feldbaum, Secretary of the Mark Protection Committee, presented the report of the committee. As the meeting took place late on Thursday no written minutes were available. Mr. Feldbaum promised to supply these in time for the Main Business Meeting on Saturday. The only business reported from the Mark Protection Committee was that a resolution had been passed in memory of Robert Sacks who had been an active member of the Committee.

2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

Tim Illingworth presented the report of the Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee (attached).

1. Continuance of the Committee

The Committee moved the adoption of the following resolution:

Moved, To continue the WSFS Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee as previously constituted.

The resolution passed by unanimous consent.

2. Power to Adopt Standing Rules

The Committee moved the adoption of the following resolution:

Moved, To direct the Secretary, under the authority of Standing Rule 23, to move Section 6.5 of the WSFS Constitution into Section 5.1 to replace the existing Section 5.1.3.

The resolution passed by unanimous consent.

3. Numbering of Standing Rules

The Committee moved the adoption of the following resolution:

Moved: That the Standing Rules be collected into Groups and numbered as follows:

Group	Old Rules	New Rules
Group 1: Meetings	1, 2, 3, 4, 9	1.1 - 1.5
Group 2: New Business	5, 6, 7, 8	2.1 - 2.4
Group 3: Debate Time Limits	13, 14, 15, 16, 17	3.1 - 3.5
Group 4: Official Papers	21, 22, 23	4.1 - 4.3
Group 5: Variations of Rules	25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33	5.1 - 5.8
Group 6: Mark Protection Committee Elections	11, 12	6.1 and 6.2
Group 7: Miscellaneous	10, 19, 32, 18, 24, 20	7.1 - 7.6

1. Amendment of numbering

Richard Russell moved to amend the numbering of the rules to make them "loosely packed," so that, for example, Group 1 rules would be numbers 1.10 to 1.50. The intention of the amendment was to allow space in the numbering scheme for new items to be inserted. Nobody seconded the motion so it was not considered.

The resolution passed by unanimous consent.

4. WSFS Constitution Drafting

The Committee moved the adoption of the following resolution:

Resolved, that the proper formatting of the WSFS Constitution is as follows:

1. The WSFS Constitution is divided into a number of Articles, which are numbered in Roman numerals, thus: I, II, III, IV….

2. Each Article is divided into a number of Sections, which are numbered with their Article and Section number in Legal format in Arabic numerals, thus: 1.1, 1.2,…. Each Section has a title relevant to its contents.

3. Each Section may be divided into subsections, which are numbered with their Article, Section and subsection number in Legal format in Arabic numerals, thus: 1.5.1, 1.5.2,…. Subsections do not have titles.

4. Enumerated lists of items are numbered with their sequence number in Arabic numerals enclosed in parentheses, thus: (1), (2),….

5. Sections should be arranged in approximately chronological order within articles, as should subsections within sections, and items within lists.

Louis Epstein spoke against.

1. Amendment of numbering: format

Mr. Russell moved to amend item 1 in the motion as follows:

1. The WSFS Constitution is divided into a number of Articles, which are numbered in Roman Arabic numerals, thus: I, II, III, IV 1, 2, 3, 4….

Mr. Russell's amendment passed by unanimous consent.

2. Amendment of numbering: spacing

Mr. Russell moved to amend the numbering scheme to make it loosely packed to allow space for insertion of amendments. Nobody seconded the motion so it was not considered.

The motion passed many to one.

5. Hugo Voting Clarification

The Committee moved the adoption of the following Constitutional Amendment:

Moved, to amend Section 3.10 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:

3.10.1: Final Award voting shall be by mail, with ballots sent only to WSFS members. Only WSFS members may vote. Final Award ballots shall include name, signature, address, and membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter.

Perrianne Lurie raised a point of information asking about whether the wording of the segment of the Constitution in question included electronic mail.

Saul Jaffe, who will be running Hugo Administration for the 2001 Worldcon, said that it was his understanding that it did. The Chair confirmed this.

Martin Hoare asked what constituted a "signature". The Chair said that was up to individual Hugo administration committees.

1. Amendment of mail to ballot

Martin Hoare proposed to strike out "mail" and insert "ballot".

Kent Bloom spoke against on the grounds that "ballot" might be assumed to mean that voting could only take place at the convention whereas "mail" clearly implied advance voting.

The motion to amend failed.

Because the motion is a Constitutional Amendment it was passed to the Saturday Business Meeting. The debate time was set at 2 minutes.

Enquires were made as to whether an amendment to clarify the situation regarding electronic mail would be in order at the Saturday Business Meeting. The Chair said that it would and asked anyone with an interest in doing so to talk to Parliamentarian.

2. Amendment of mail to advance balloting

Bob Daverin moved to strike "mail" and insert "balloting in advance of the Worldcon". There was no debate because the time limit had expired. After a serpentine count the motion to amend was passed 37-24. The motion therefore reads:

Moved, to amend Section 3.10 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:

3.10.1: Final Award voting shall be by mail balloting in advance of the Worldcon, with ballots sent only to WSFS members. Only WSFS members may vote. Final Award ballots shall include name, signature, address, and membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter.

6. NASFiC Reporting

The Committee moved the adoption of the following Constitutional Amendment:

Moved, To amend the WSFS Constitution by replacing all occurrences of "Worldcon" in Sections 2.8 and 2.9 by "Worldcon or NASFiC" or effectively similar wording, as follows:

Section 2.8: Financial Openness. Any member of WSFS shall have the right, under reasonable conditions, to examine the financial records and books of account of the current Worldcon or NASFiC Committee, all future selected Worldcon or NASFiC Committees, and the two immediately preceding Worldcon Committees and the Committees of any NASFiCs held in the previous two years.

Section 2.9: Financial Reports.

2.9.1: Each future selected Worldcon or NASFiC Committee shall submit an annual financial report, including a statement of income and expenses, to each WSFS Business Meeting after the Committee's selection.

2.9.2: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee shall submit a report on its cumulative surplus/loss at the next Business Meeting after its Worldcon.

2.9.3: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee should dispose of surplus funds remaining after accounts are settled for the current Worldcon or NASFiC for the benefit of WSFS as a whole.

2.9.4: In the event of a surplus, the Worldcon or NASFiC Committee, or any alternative organizational entity established to oversee and disburse that surplus, shall file annual financial reports regarding the disbursement of that surplus at each year's Business Meeting, until the surplus is totally expended or an amount equal to the original surplus has been disbursed.

Ben Yalow objected to consideration. There being less than two-thirds opposed to consideration, the objection failed.

The Chair suggested a debate time limit of 6 minutes.

1. Amendment of debate time

Mr. Yalow moved to amend the time limit to 10 minutes on the grounds that any motion mentioning the NASFiC always resulted in substantial debate. This passed.

The motion was passed to the Saturday Business Meeting.

7. Awaken the Sleeping Dogs

The Committee moved the adoption of the following resolution:

Moved, To renew all Continuing Resolutions included in the Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee Report.

Mark Olson moved to postpone discussion until the Saturday Business Meeting on the grounds that the motion was very complex and time was needed to study it. This passed by unanimous consent.

3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

Mr. Jaffe presented the report of the Worldcon Runners Guide Editorial Committee (attached).

Mr. Jaffe moved to continue the Committee. This passed by unanimous consent.

4. Rest of World Hugo Eligibility Committee

Vincent Docherty presented the report of the Rest of World Hugo Eligibility Committee (attached).

1. Blanket Extension of Eligibility

Mr. Docherty, on behalf of the Committee moved a resolution from the report as follows:

Moved, To extend for one year, based on limited availability, as authorized by section 3.4, the eligibility of all works that:

1: Would otherwise qualify for a "specific work" 2000 Hugo Award (sections 3.3.1 through 3.3.6 inclusive);
2: Did not qualify to appear on the Final Ballot for the 2000 Hugo Awards;
3: Have not been published in the USA as of 31 January 2000; and
4: Have not previously had their eligibility extended by resolution of WSFS;

Winton Matthews asked if eligibility could be extended for more than 1 year. The Chair said that the eligibility extension provisions in the Constitution only allowed for a single year extension.

Gary Blog asked if each book would have to be voted on individually. The Chair replied the point of the resolution was that it covered all items.

Mr. Blog spoke against.

Lew Wolkoff pointed out that one of the alternative motions presented in the report would allow eligibility extension for more than one year. The Chair explained that the resolution before the Meeting would not allow this but the constitutional amendment contained in the report would allow >1 year if it were considered and passed.

Mr. Olson and Mr. Yalow spoke in favour. Mr. Olson said that he felt that a Constitutional amendment would be the best solution but that the resolution could be implemented immediately whereas a Constitutional amendment would require ratification.

Louis Epstein spoke against.

Victoria Smith asked what the resolution would do for foreign language books. The Chair said that different provisions already exist to allow for translations.

Mr. Russell asked if anyone on Rest of World Hugo Eligibility Committee was against resolution. Mr. Yalow said that he had originally been against but had changed his mind. Mr. Standlee said that no other opposition had been formally expressed.

Under Section 3.4 the motion needed a ¾ vote to pass. After a serpentine count the motion was passed 53-5.

2. Extension of the Committee

The Chair asked for unanimous consent to extend the committee.

Rick Katze, the WSFS Business Manager for the 2001 Worldcon, asked to be added to the Committee. The Parliamentarian said that the Business Meeting chair can appoint members.

1. Amendment to scope of committee

Ms. Morgan moved to extend to scope of committee to cover general changes to regulations for the Hugos.

Rick Kovalcik spoke against. Mr. Feldbaum and Mr. Yalow spoke against on the grounds that the scope of the Committee would be too broad.

The motion to amend failed.

2. Amendment concerning appointment of committee chair

Mr. Russell moved to amend so that the new chair of the Committee be appointed by the Presiding Officer of the Business Meeting. This passed by unanimous consent.

The motion to continue the Committee passed by unanimous consent. The Chair said that he would appoint a chair for the Committee at the Saturday Business Meeting.

3. Other motions from the report

The Chair raised the subject of the other motions included in the Committee report. No member wanted any of the other motions passed on to the Saturday Business Meeting.

4. Withdrawal of Sky Road motion

Mr. Yalow asked that the motion on The Sky Road be withdrawn from the agenda as it had been rendered irrelevant by the passage of the Blanket Extension of Eligibility motion. This passed by unanimous consent.

3. Worldcon Reports

1. Past Worldcons & NASFiCs

1. ConAdian

Linda Ross-Mansfield presented the ConAdian report.

Mr. Illingworth asked if this was a final report. Ms. Ross-Mansfield said it was not because ConAdian still has money.

2. L.A. Con III

Mike Glyer presented the L.A. Con III report. This was also not final.

3. Bucconeer

John Pomeranz said that no report was available but that they do have money.

4. Conucopia

Mr. Yalow pointed out that Conucopia, being a NASFiC, was not required to report and objected to item being on the agenda. The Chair said that appearance on agenda did not imply a requirement to submit a report. It was simply a courtesy to Conucopia to allow it to present a report if it wished to do so. No one from Conucopia was available to make a report.

5. AussieCon Three

Stephen Boucher said the report would be available at the Main Business Meeting on Saturday.

2. Seated Worldcons

1. Chicon 2000

The Parliamentarian passed on a message from Tom Veal, Chairman of Chicon 2000, to the effect that a report would be available at the Main Business Meeting on Saturday.

2. The Millennium Philcon

Mr. Feldbaum said that a report would be submitted at the Main Business Meeting on Saturday.

3. ConJosé

Brenda Daverin presented a preliminary financial report.

3. Business Passed on from Aussiecon Three

No business was passed on from Aussiecon Three.

Dr. Lurie moved to commend the A3 Business Meeting for not passing on any business. This passed by unanimous consent.

4. New Business

1. Resolutions

1. The Sky Road

This motion, which was for an extension of eligibility for a novel by Ken MacLeod, had been rendered irrelevant by the passing of the Blanket Extension of Eligibility resolution and had been withdrawn.

2. STET

STET was published in USA and so not covered by the Blanket Extension of Eligibility resolution. Mr. Olson moved as follows:

Moved, To extend the eligibility of issue 9 of the dated periodical STET, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.

Johnny Carruthers asked which Hugo category STET qualified for. The Chair replied that it is a fanzine.

Mr. Olson and Mr. Yalow spoke in favour, pointing out that whilst the magazine carried a publication date of 1999 only a few copies had actually been mailed in that year.

Mr. Epstein spoke against, pointing out that cover date (which is given as 2000) already takes precedence over copyright date (1999), per the WSFS Constitution, and that the resolution was therefore redundant.

Rick Katze said that as head of WSFS Division for The Millennium Philcon he would consider STET eligible for nomination in which case motion was not necessary

Mr. Carruthers asked whether the motion was necessary as the fanzine award is for a body of work, not an individual issue. The Chair replied that under the rules for the fanzine award there was a requirement for number of issues to be published in the year in question so the publication year for the issue in question could be important.

Under Section 3.4 the motion required a ¾ vote to pass. Following a serpentine count the motion passed 46-13.

2. Standing rules amendments

1. Breakfasters rights

Mr. Standlee moved the following:

Moved, to amend Standing Rule 4 as follows:

Rule 4: Scheduling of Meetings. The first Main Meeting shall be scheduled no less than eighteen (18) hours after the conclusion of the last Preliminary Meeting. No meeting shall be scheduled to begin before 10:00 or after 15:00 local time.

Mr. Katze said that at The Millennium Philcon Business Meetings would start at 10.00 am.

1. Amendment of last possible start time

Mr. Yalow moved to amend by striking out 15.00 and replacing it with 13.00. His argument was that 15.00 was prime programming time and that the Business Meeting should not conflict with any major program items.

Mr. Feldbaum made a speech that appeared to be against the main motion.

The amendment was passed on a show of hands.

Debate proceeded on the main motion with Mr. Standlee, Kent Bloom, Ms. Smith and Mr. Yalow in favor. Chris Edwards spoke against.

After the expiry of debate time a vote was taken and the motion passed on a show of hands.

2. Postponment of future Chicon meetings

Mr. Olson asked whether the times of later Chicon Business Meetings could be changed to a later hour. The Chair said it was possible.

Mr. Olson moved that podium staff investigate the postponement of Saturday and Sunday meetings to a more civilised hour. Ruth Sachter said that Program Division staff would work with podium staff to facilitate this.

2. Amending amendments

Mr. Illingworth moved as follows:

Moved, to amend Standing Rule 2 as follows:

Rule 2: Preliminary Business Meeting(s). The Preliminary Business Meeting may not directly reject, pass, or ratify amendments to the Constitution; however, all motions adhering to a Constitutional amendment are in order if otherwise allowed. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not refer a Constitutional amendment to a committee unless the committee’s instructions are to report to the Main Business Meeting. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not postpone consideration of a Constitutional amendment beyond the last Preliminary Business Meeting. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not amend a Constitutional amendment pending ratification. The Preliminary Business Meeting may consider any business not expressly forbidden to it by the Standing Rules or expressly reserved to the Main Business Meeting.

Mr. Russell asked whether, if passed, this rule could be changed by suspension of the rules. The Chair replied that it could. Mr. Feldbaum raised a point of order that a previous ruling had said that such a motion could not be changed by suspending the rules because the rule implicitly protects absentees (people not attending the Preliminary Business Meeting), and such rules may never be suspended. The Chair found the point of order well taken.

Debate proceeded on the motion. Mr. Matthews, Mr. Kovalcik, Mr Wolkoff, Mr. Illingworth, Ms. Morgan and Mr. Blog spoke in favor. Mr. Olson and Mr. Yalow (twice) spoke against.

Those in favour were generally of the view that the Preliminary Meeting was advertised as an administrative session and should not be used to make major amendments to the Constitution. Those opposed were of the view that it was incumbent on members who wished to have a say in Constitutional matters to attend all Business Meetings and thus it was irrelevant what was done in individual meetings. Mr. Yalow held that it was wrong to restrict important business to a single meeting as this made it easier to pack a meeting with supporters of a particular motion. Ms. Morgan said that manipulation of voting was also possible by bringing up important business in a seemingly unimportant meeting that members did not understand the need to attend.

Following a serpentine count the motion passed 37-26.

3. Mark Protection Committee Elections

The Parliamentarian called for nominations for the three places on the Mark Protection Committee that were due for re-election. Nomination forms were made available.

Mr. Carruthers asked for unanimous consent to nominate the incumbent members (Ms. Sachter, Scott Dennis and Mr. Eastlake). There being no objection, nomination forms were filed on their behalf.

[See below about the deadline for nominations and acceptance.]

3. Constitutional Amendments

1. Return to 2-year Lead Time

Mr. Docherty moved as follows:

Moved, To Amend Section 4.1.1 of the WSFS Constitution to shorten the lead-time for selection of future Worldcons from three years to two years, as follows:

4.1.1. WSFS shall choose the location and Committee of the Worldcon to be held three (3) two (2) years from the date of the current Worldcon.

Provided that this amendment shall not take effect until the conclusion of the 2004 Worldcon; that there shall be no Worldcon site selection election at the 2005 Worldcon; and that the 2006 Worldcon shall select the site of the 2008 Worldcon.

Dr. Lurie objected to consideration of the motion. There being less than two-thirds opposed to consideration, the objection failed.

Being a constitutional amendment the motion would be passed through to the Main Business Meeting on Saturday. The Chair suggested a debate time of 12 minutes.

1. Amendment of debate time

Mr. Yalow asked to amend the debate time to 20 minutes. Mr. Epstein countered with a suggestion of 15 minutes.

The Chair announced the creation of a blank and said that the options would be voted on in descending order of time.

After a serpentine count the option of 20 minutes passed 36-17.

The motion was passed to the Main Business Meeting on Saturday.

2. Dramatic Presentation

Three motions (Best Television Series, The Long and Short of It, and The Not So Long and Short of it) concerning the Dramatic Presentation Hugo were on the agenda. Anticipating reluctance to debate such a complex issue, The Chair began by asking for votes on any objections to consideration. In all three cases there was more than two-thirds opposed to consideration, so the objections were sustained and all three motions killed.

1. Reconsideration

Beth Moursund questioned whether the motions could be reconsidered at the Main Business Meeting on Saturday. The Parliamentarian, at the request of the Chair, explained that only someone who voted against consideration – that is, when asked ‘shall we consider this question?’ voted ‘no’ – could move to reconsider the question.

2. Committee on the Dramatic Presentation Hugo

Chris Edwards asked what had happened to the committee appointed to consider this issue of splitting the Dramatic Presentation Hugo.

Mr. Jaffe, a member of the Extending Dramatic Presentation Eligibility to Entire Seasons Committee, spoke to this question. This committee was formed in 1995 and was last heard from at the 1998 Business Meeting. It never produced a report. This committee was not specifically charged with ‘splitting’ the DP Hugo. No committees charged with studying additional DP Hugos were created at the 1999 Business Meeting.

Mr. Wolkoff moved to create a committee to study the Dramatic Presentation Hugo and make recommendations to the 2001 WSFS Business Meeting.

Doug Friauf asked if new motion on the subject could be introduced at the Main Business Meeting on Saturday. The Chair said no, the deadline for submitting constitutional amendments had passed, so new ones could be introduced only by permission of the Chair or by suspension of the rules.

Debate proceeded on the motion to create a committee. John Lorentz, Mr. Glyer, Mr. Pomeranz, Mr. Russell, Chris Barkley and Tom Sharpe spoke in favor. Mr. Yalow (twice), Mr. Blog and Ms. Labonville spoke against.

After debate time had expired a vote was taken and the motion passed on a show of hands.

3. Other business

1. Provision of coffee

Mary Morman asked if coffee could be provided at future meetings. Mr. Barkley, on behalf of Hotel Liaison, said he would look into it.

2. Robert Sacks

Ben Schilling asked if the meeting could send condolences to Robert Sacks' family. This passed by unanimous consent.

3. Nomination deadline for Mark Protection Committee

Mr. Katze moved to extend the deadline for written nominations to the Mark Protection Committee from the end of the meeting to 3.00pm. The Parliamentarian said that this would be OK provided that nominations were delivered to him in person, or to con office, by the agreed time. There being no objection the motion passed. The Secretary, as authorized by the Standing Rules, set the deadline for accepting nominations to 3:00pm, and asked for acceptance forms to be delivered to the Secretary, the Parliamentarian, or the Chicon Operations Office.

4. Presentations by bidders

Mr. Docherty asked whether, time permitting, bidders for Worldcons after 2004 could give presentation at the Sunday Business Meeting. The Chair said that he should ask at that meeting.

5. Adjournment

Without objection, the meeting was adjourned at 11.02 am in memory of Robert Sacks.

Saturday Business Meeting

Saturday September 2^nd 2000

1. Call to order

The meeting was called to order at 9.10 am.

The Chair explained that attempts to move the meeting to a later time had actually resulted in the meeting being moved to a different location but at the same time, such being the vagaries of Worldcon programming.

The Chair announced that coffee would be provided. There was rapturous applause (followed by complaints from those who prefer to obtain their caffeine in other ways.)

Johnny Carruthers requested a recess to allow members to obtain coffee. The Chair said that this would take too long and that he would recess only long enough to allow the podium staff to obtain coffee.

2. Committee Reports

1. Mark Protection Committee

Ballots were distributed during the meeting by Rick Katze and Sam Pierce. The ballots were to be counted overnight and the results reported at the Sunday meeting. The Chair appointed Mr. Standlee, Mr. Illingworth and Ms. Morgan as tellers. The Chair also announced that there would be no zoning restrictions in the ballot as no combination of electoral results could breach the zoning regulations.

The Chair announced that minutes from Thursday's meeting of the Mark Protection Committee, and the minutes from the Australia meeting, were available but had not yet been reproduced. By unanimous consent the presentations of these minutes were postponed until Sunday when copies would be available.

3. Worldcon reports

The Chair changed the order of the agenda so as to allow discussion of hopefully non-contentious issues while members were obtaining coffee.

1. Conucopia

No report was presented (and none was required as Conucopia is a NASFiC).

2. Aussiecon Three

A report was presented by Stephen Boucher and is attached. The Secretary thanked Aussiecon Three for making a copy of their report available in electronic form thus allowing it to be easily incorporated into the minutes. She asked that other Worldcons might consider presenting electronic versions of their reports in future.

3. Chicon

A lengthy financial report in the form of taxation filings was made available to the Meeting.

4. The Millennium Philcon

Todd Dashoff presented a report to the podium staff. Mr. Dashoff said that copies of the report would be available to members at the Sunday meeting. He added that a financial report was in their Progress Report 3, available from their bid table.

2 Committee Reports Continued

2.2 Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

2.2.1 Hugo Voting Clarification

Moved, to amend Section 3.10 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:

3.10.1: Final Award voting shall be by mail balloting in advance of the Worldcon, with ballots sent only to WSFS members. Only WSFS members may vote. Final Award ballots shall include name, signature, address, and membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter.

This motion had been passed forward from the Friday meeting with a debate time limit of 2 minutes.

Rick Katze moved to amend that the lack of a membership number should not disqualify a ballot. The Chair ruled that this was outside the scope of the amendment.

The motion passed by unanimous consent.

Mr. Standlee said that the NP&FS committee would consider the issue of membership numbers.

2.2.2 NASFiC Reporting

Moved, To amend the WSFS Constitution by replacing all occurrences of "Worldcon" in Sections 2.8 and 2.9 by "Worldcon or NASFiC" or effectively similar wording, as follows:

Section 2.8: Financial Openness. Any member of WSFS shall have the right, under reasonable conditions, to examine the financial records and books of account of the current Worldcon or NASFiC Committee, all future selected Worldcon or NASFiC Committees, and the two immediately preceding Worldcon Committees and the Committees of any NASFiCs held in the previous two years.

Section 2.9: Financial Reports.

2.9.1: Each future selected Worldcon or NASFiC Committee shall submit an annual financial report, including a statement of income and expenses, to each WSFS Business Meeting after the Committee's selection.

2.9.2: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee shall submit a report on its cumulative surplus/loss at the next Business Meeting after its Worldcon.

2.9.3: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee should dispose of surplus funds remaining after accounts are settled for the current Worldcon or NASFiC for the benefit of WSFS as a whole.

2.9.4: In the event of a surplus, the Worldcon or NASFiC Committee, or any alternative organizational entity established to oversee and disburse that surplus, shall file annual financial reports regarding the disbursement of that surplus at each year's Business Meeting, until the surplus is totally expended or an amount equal to the original surplus has been disbursed.

This motion had been passed forward from the Friday meeting with a debate time limit of 10 minutes.

Ben Yalow spoke against on the grounds that the amendment would add further solidity to concept of NASFiCs.

Perrianne Lurie spoke in favor, saying that she was opposed to the concept of NASFiCs but supported forcing them to report while they existed.

Seth Breidbart added that forcing NASFiCs to make reports would discourage people from wanting to run them.

The motion passed on a show of hands by many to few.

2.2.3 Awaken the Sleeping Dogs

Moved, To renew all Continuing Resolutions included in the Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee Report.

This motion had been postponed from the Friday meeting.

Richard Russell inquired as to whether the Continuing Resolutions would cease to continue if motion to formally continue them failed. The Chair said that he did not think that they would, although this could be debated.

Mark Olson moved to suspend the rules and postpone the motion indefinitely. This motion is not debatable. It requires a 2/3 vote to pass, and obtained the required support on a show of hands.

The Parliamentarian explained that as the motion had not been voted on (and therefore neither approved nor rejected) this meant that Mr. Russell's point was not relevant.

2.3 Rest of the World Hugo Eligibility Committee

The Chair appointed Kevin Standlee (standlee@lunacity.com) to chair this committee. Ordinary members appointed were: Saul Jaffe, Ben Yalow, Rick Katze, Tim Illingworth, Vince Docherty, Mark Olson, George Flynn, Perrianne Lurie, Chris Barkley, Cheryl Morgan, Sharon Sbarsky. The chair of the Committee has the right to appoint new members. Subsequent to the Meeting Mr. Standlee renamed the Committee as the Hugo Eligibility Rest Of World Committee (HEROW).

2.4 Dramatic Presentation Committee

The Chair appointed John Lorentz (jlorentz@spiritone.com) to chair this committee. Ordinary members appointed were: Johnny Carruthers, Chris Shuldiner, Chris Barkley, Richard Russell, Gayle Surrette, Paul Haggerty, Brenda Daverin, Lew Wolkoff, Michael Mason, Skip Morris, Tim Illingworth, Vince Docherty, Geoffrey Surrette, Cheryl Morgan, Tom Schaad, Kevin Standlee, Mary Morman. The chair of the Committee has the right to appoint new members.

Mr. Russell announced that he would create an e-mail discussion list for the committee that would be open to all persons.

4. Constitutional Amendments

1. Return to 2-year lead-time

Moved, To Amend Section 4.1.1 of the WSFS Constitution to shorten the lead-time for selection of future Worldcons from three years to two years, as follows:

4.1.1. WSFS shall choose the location and Committee of the Worldcon to be held three (3) two (2) years from the date of the current Worldcon.

Provided that this amendment shall not take effect until the conclusion of the 2004 Worldcon; that there shall be no Worldcon site selection election at the 2005 Worldcon; and that the 2006 Worldcon shall select the site of the 2008 Worldcon.

This motion had been passed forward from the Friday meeting with a debate time limit of 20 minutes.

John Pomeranz spoke against the motion on the grounds that the extra year gave Worldcon committees time to recover after their bids.

Mr. Olson spoke in favor, saying that taking a vacation as Mr. Pomeranz suggested is a mistake.

Gary Feldbaum spoke against, saying that the Millennium Philcon has found the extra time useful.

Rick Katze said that as a member of the Millennium Philcon he found that the extra year only allowed committee to go round in circles for a year.

Perrianne Lurie (a member of both the Millennium Philcon and Bucconeer committees) said the extra year was useful for sorting out staffing. She also said that WSFS should take time to get used to current changes (i.e. No Zone) before changing things again.

Mr. Carruthers asked why WSFS had originally switched from 2-year to 3-year lead-times.

Mr. Yalow explained that at time the decision was taken hotels required a 3-year lead time. Hotels now book 8 to 10 years in advance so it is no longer sensible to have the extra year. Mr. Yalow added, in support of Mr. Olson, that halting work and restarting again later was bad for committees.

Rick Kovalcik said he understood that hotel policies were changing back towards 3-year booking.

Mr. Standlee said that bidding time related to lead-time. 3-year bidding was too long. Shortening lead-time would shorten bid time and reduce bidding cost.

Ken Smookler (Toronto) said he wanted a 3 year lead-time. He added that people will work hard if they want so he did not think that shortening the lead-time would affect bid time scales.

Vince Docherty (Intersection, UK2005) said that places with a limited number of available volunteers cannot afford to risk burning people out and that therefore a 2-year lead-time was preferable.

Ruth Sachter asked about the effect the motion would have on NASFiC bidding. The Chair said it would go to a 1-year time scale. He added that the situation is explained in more detail in the Preliminary Agenda.

Dave Ratti said that it would be better to have 3 years and not need them than to not have them and need them.

Mr. Breidbart noted that those people who have work under both 2 and 3 year lead-times all prefer 2 years.

Alexander von Thorn said that committees need the extra time to set up their organization. He added that in his experience hotels are not comfortable with a 2-year lead-time.

Kent Bloom said that a 3-year lead-time increases costs. In addition more people are tied up in committees running future Worldcons and are therefore not available to work on the current Worldcon.

Gary Blog said people are exhausted after bidding and need time to rest.

Bruce Pelz said he had worked under both 2-year and 3-year systems and he felt that committee planning could be done during the bid.

Lew Wolkoff said that in contested races committees would be too busy trying to win.

Sam Pierce said that a 2-year lad time would force us to try other venues, which might be a good thing.

Bob Hillis said hotels would laugh at us if we could not commit to contracts until 2 years out.

Mr. Docherty said that committees have to negotiate with hotels during bid anyway so relations with hotels take place over a much longer time scale.

Following a serpentine count the motion failed 38-51.

5. Other Business

1. Further lead-time motions

Mr. Carruthers asked if the lead-time question can be stopped from coming up again. The Chair said that a standing rule could be adopted if that was the desire of the Meeting. However, no one proposed such a rule.

2. Archiving of panel tapes

Louis Epstein moved a resolution:

Moved, to encourage Worldcons who tape their sessions to make copies available to the Worldcon history exhibit.

The motion passed by unanimous consent.

Subsequent to the Meeting Steven Silver announced on behalf of Chicon 2000 that they had complied with this request.

3. Start time for Sunday meeting

Mr. Yalow proposed to set a start time of 10pm for the Sunday meeting due to lack of business. This was passed by unanimous consent.

6. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 10:38 in honor of Ross Pavlac.

Sunday Business Meeting

Sunday September 3^rd 2000

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 10.01am

2. Site Selection

1. Report of site selection committee

Tim Szczesuil presented the site selection results. Toronto won. Details are:

Bid	Pre-Con	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Total
Toronto in 2003	253	162	389	571	1375
Cancun in 2003	50	25	41	131	247
No Preference	15	4	10	27	56
None of the Above	3	0	2	3	8
Write-In	0	2	1	9	12
Total	321	193	443	741	1698

Mr. Standlee asked what the count time had been. Mr. Szczesuil said no official time had been recorded he understood that it was less than 1 hr. In the absence of firm data Aussiecon Three still holds the record for the shortest count.

2. Questions to the winning bid

Larry Hancock (bid chair) and Peter Jarvis (con chair) for Toronto made a presentation. Progress Report #0 was made available to members. The Toronto table would be opening for membership sales and conversions from 12.00 am. The Guests of Honor will be George R.R. Martin, Kelly Freas, Mike Glyer and Toastmaster Spider Robinson. The Ghost of Honor will be Robert Bloch. The name of the convention will be Torcon III.

The dates for the convention will be August 28^th to September 1^st 2003. The following membership rates are good until March 31^st 2001.

	Did not vote		Voted
Membership	$CAN	$US	$CAN	$US
Supporting	$60	$40	Automatic	Automatic
Attending	$170	$115	$105	$70
Attending & Pre-supported	$140	$95	$75	$50
Attending & Eager Beaver	$50	$35	Automatic	Automatic
Child	$60	$40	Not Applicable	Not Applicable

A member asked if sales taxes applied to membership fees. Torcon III replied that this was not the case.

Torcon III will use the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Royal York Hotel, Crowne Plaza Hotel and, especially for baseball fans, the Renaissance Toronto Hotel at the Sky Dome.

Payment was currently acceptable in cash, checks or by Visa card. Mastercard facilities would be available soon. Members were warned that credit card payments would be processed in Canadian funds and may therefore be liable to currency exchange charges.

Asked if their organization was a non-profit, Torcon III replied that it was, but under Canadian Law, not US law. Rick Katze asked whether this would affect pass along funds. He was assured that it would not. Perrianne Lurie asked if Torcon III would be making pass along payments. Mr. Jarvis said that no official decision had been taken but that he supported doing so. Linda Ross Mansfield said that if there was any problem getting Torcon III funds out of Canada then Conadian could process them because it had successfully made pass along payments.

Mr. Katze asked about any data protection laws that may affect data transfer for the purpose Hugo nominations and so on. Ken Smookler said that Ontario has no such law, nor is there a Canadian federal law.

Johnny Carruthers asked what would happen if a law were passed between now and the convention. Would Torcon III mail nomination ballots for the subsequent year's Worldcon themselves? Mr. Hancock said that no such law was likely.

3. Ballots and thanks

The Chair asked for permission to destroy the ballots. This was agreed by unanimous consent.

The Chair moved to thank site selection staff. This was passed by unanimous consent.

4. Questions for seated Worldcons

1. The Millennium Philcon

Todd Dashoff was available to answer questions. He noted that the current membership level is 2800, not counting sales at table during Chicon 2000.

Ruth Sachter asked when hotel information would be available. Mr. Dashoff said it would be in the next Progress Report, along with nomination ballots for the Hugos. The Progress Report was expected to be published in January.

John Addams asked about handicapped access. Mr. Dashoff said that hopefully this would also be in the next Progress Report, along with information on childcare.

Perrianne Lurie asked permission to remind audience that there would be a Millennium Philcon programming brainstorm meeting that day. Details were in the Chicon newsletter.

Mr. Dashoff reminded members that Progress Report #3 was available from the Millennium Philcon table.

2. ConJosé

Ms. Sachter was available to answer questions, but there were none.

5. Questions for future bids

1. Charlotte 2004

Irv Koch of the Charlotte bid announced that they had letters of agreement for 1905 rooms with 600+ more available. There would be a free shuttle bus and trolley system. There was plenty of space for dealers and the art show, both with good loading access. Good, inexpensive food would be available in the convention center. The ballroom theoretically seats 4200 but the effective capacity would probably be nearer 3000. Charlotte intends to pipe video of major events to hotel bedrooms. The committee is 100% Internet based so help from anywhere is welcome. The con intends to provide for self-registration online. Good meeting space would be available, including a special garden plaza for smokers (smoking being prohibited except in designated areas). Transport is easy both from outside and within city. A trolley service connects the convention center to the city facilitating restaurant trips.

Mr. Katze asked about shuttle times. They run 24 hours a day.

Mr. Smookler asked about the weather. It is comparable to Washington DC.

Tim Illingworth asked what the dates of the convention would be. It will be the week before Labor Day.

2. Boston in 2004

Deb Geisler spoke on behalf of the bid. The facilities would be similar to those used for Noreascon 3. Hotel negotiations are complete. The average temperature in Boston at that time of year is 76F. The convention would be on Labor Day weekend. The two main hotels connect directly to the convention center. There are 100 restaurants within 1/3 of a mile of the site. The committee is 2/3 from Boston, others from all over the place.

Louis Epstein asked about seating for major events. Ms. Geisler said that the largest theatre seated about 4000 in auditorium style.

Mr. Smookler asked about hotel rates. Ms. Geisler said they would be in the region of $129.

In response to questions about local transit Ms. Geisler said that the Boston subway system is very good, as are the buses. Driving in Boston is survivable, if you have a killer edge.

Rick Kovalcik asked about the distance from the facilities to subway. It is about 100 yards.

3. Committee Reports

1. Mark Protection Committee

Mr. Illingworth reported on the election. Donald Eastlake III, Scott Dennis, and Ruth Sachter were elected to three-year terms. The results in detail are as follows.

First Seat

Donald Eastlake III	28	34	45
Scott Dennis	26	27	36
Ruth Sachter	14	20	-
Martin Hoare	13	-	-
Invalid	1	-	-
Total With Preference	82	81	81
Needed To Elect (majority)	42	41	41
No (Further) Preference	-	1	1

 

Second Seat

Scott Dennis	36	42
Ruth Sachter	23	38
Martin Hoare	22	-
Invalid	1	-
Total With Preference	82	80
Needed To Elect (majority)	42	41
No (Further) Preference	-	2

 

Third Seat

Ruth Sachter	46
Martin Hoare	34
Invalid	1
Total With Preference	81
Needed To Elect (majority)	41
No (Further) Preference	1

The Chair announced that a meeting of the Mark Protection Committee would take place following the Business Meeting if time allowed.

The Chair moved to destroy the ballots. This passed by unanimous consent.

Minutes and a financial report from the Mark protection Committee were made available to members. It was noted that the Committee had passed a resolution honoring the late Robert Sacks.

2. Worldcon reports

1. The Millennium Philcon

Mr. Dashoff noted that the copies of the financial report promised on Saturday were now available.

4. New Business

1. Dramatic Presentation Committee

Richard Russell made an appeal for help with backup storage for committee email list.

2. New motion

Mr. Smookler presented a motion regarding Constitutional wording associated with the voting fee. The Chair requested and received unanimous consent to refer the motion to the Nit Picking & Fly Specking Committee. Mr. Smookler had not formulated precise wording for the motion and therefore none is recorded here. The matter is expected to be raised in the NP&FS Committee Report at The Millennium Philcon.

3. Other Presentations

It is not normal for bids beyond the coming year's race to make presentations at the Sunday Business Meeting. However, some wished to do so and as time remained the Chair asked them to proceed.

1. UK 2005

Vince Docherty and KIM Campbell made a presentation on behalf of the bid for the UK in 2005. The bid will be for Glasgow. New facilities have been added since 1995 - the so-called "Armadillo". There will be proper meeting rooms, with walls and ceilings. The theatre seats 3000. A new Glasgow Science Centre and IMAX cinema have been built close to site. There is an additional hotel on site and the train service is now working again. John Lorentz & Mark Olson have been added to the list of US agents. Progress Report #-3 is now available. Current pre-support prices are $8 but these will go up to $20 at the end of September. Baby haggis were given out to members.

Mr. Russell asked if university housing would once again be available. He was told that it would.

Alex von Thorn asked how many hotel rooms would be available. The main hotel has 600 beds and the new hotel 520 beds. Prices would be approximately $60 per person per night. A global corkage agreement will be negotiated.

Dates for the convention have not yet been fixed. The UK has a Bank Holiday the weekend before Labor Day. However, the convention could go earlier. The Edinburgh festival runs through all of August.

2. LA in 2006

Mr. Yalow (wearing his SCIFI hat) gave notice of a bid for Los Angeles in 2006. A formal announcement is due to be made at LosCon in November.

Mr. Yalow was asked why the bid was not for a Year of Rat? He said that the date had been chosen based on the pattern of future Worldcons. On facilities he said that the bid was looking at Anaheim once again. The dates would probably be Labor Day weekend.

5. Acknowledgements

The Parliamentarian gave thanks to the Chicon newsletter for help given in printing Business Meeting materials.

The Secretary thanked the Chicon web site for help in publishing agendas. She announced that Business meeting minutes would be available on WSFS web site sometime after the convention.

6. Adjournment

1. Attendance list
2. Report of the Nit Picking & Fly Specking Committee
3. Report of the Worldcon Runners Guide Editorial Committee
4. Report of the Rest of the World Hugo Committee
5. Agenda for the Preliminary Business Meeting
6. Agenda for the Saturday Business Meeting
7. Agenda for the Sunday Business Meeting
8. WSFS Constitution with amendments ratified at Chicon 2000
9. WSFS Standing Rules with amendments ratified at Chicon 2000
10. WSFS Resolutions of Continuing Effect with additions made at Chicon 2000
11. Business passed on to The Millennium Philcon
12. Aussiecon Three financial report

E-Mail: crg@sflovers.rutgers.edu

At last year’s Business Meeting, we said we wanted to make the guide available on the web. We’ve converted it from Word format, into HTML and there’s a working copy currently available on the Internet at http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/wcrg.

There have been no contributions to the guide in the last year, and only one request for a copy of the guide. Questions, contributions, and requests can be sent to the committee’s email address: crg@sflovers.rutgers.edu.

1. Committee Reports

Committee reports may include motions. Motions made by committees consisting of more than one person need not be seconded.

1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

See the World Science Fiction Society Constitution, Sections 1.7 and 1.8, and Standing Rules 11 and 12. Zone residency of elected members is shown as follows: ^WWest; ^CCentral; ^EEast; ^RRest of World.

Officers: Randall Shepherd (Chairman), Tim Illingworth (Vice Chairman), Scott Dennis (Treasurer), Gary Keith Feldbaum (Secretary).

Membership: elected until Chicon 2000: Scott Dennis^C, Donald Eastlake III^E, Ruth Sachter^W; elected until the Millennium Philcon: Tim Illingworth^R, Kevin Standlee^W, Ben Yalow^E; elected until ConJosé: Stephen Boucher^R, Gary Keith Feldbaum^E, Sue Francis^C. Worldcon appointees: Covert Beach (Bucconeer), Randall Shepherd (Aussiecon Three), 'Zanne Labonville (Chicon 2000), Todd Dashoff (Millennium Philcon), Cheryl Morgan (ConJosé). NASFiC appointee: Vacant (Conucopia). Other (non-voting) officers appointed by the Committee: Mark Olson, George Flynn (Postal Officers), Kenneth Smookler (Canadian Mark Registration)

Postal address: P.O. Box 426159, Kendall Square Station, Cambridge MA 02142 USA.

E-mail: mpc@wsfs.org

The committee is to report and the positions currently occupied by Scott Dennis, Donald Eastlake, and Ruth Sachter are up for nomination. The election, if necessary, will be held at the Main Business Meeting on September 2. Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most two people from the Western zone, two people from the Central zone, one person from the Eastern zone, and three people from the Rest of the World.

2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

The 1986 WSFS Business Meeting voted to create a special committee to research and codify all resolutions of the WSFS Business Meeting that are still in force. This committee has submitted reports to Business Meetings since 1987, and has each year been continued to report to the next Business Meeting. Written report attached.

Membership: Donald E. Eastlake, III (Chairman), Tim Illingworth, Kevin Standlee.

Postal address: 140 Forest Ave., Hudson MA 01749

E-mail: dee3@torque.pothole.com

3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

This committee was established by the 1989 WSFS Business Meeting, and has been continued ever since.

Membership: Saul Jaffe (Chair), Sharon Sbarsky, and Ben Yalow

E-Mail: crg@sflovers.rutgers.edu

I regret to say that the committee has not done much over the last year. I won’t make excuses. All I will say is that is my personal opinion that fandom has had too much of illness and death this past year.

At last year’s Business Meeting, we said we wanted to make the guide available on the web. We’ve converted it from Word format, into HTML and there’s a working copy currently available on the Internet at http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/wcrg.

This copy will be updated, and expanded and, hopefully by next year’s meeting, if this committee is continued, be ready for publication as a full website.

There have been no contributions to the guide in the last year, and only one request for a copy of the guide. Questions, contributions, and requests can be sent to the committee’s email address: crg@sflovers.rutgers.edu.

The WRGE Committee moves the adoption of the following motion:

Short Title: Continue WRGEC

Moved, To continue the Worldcon Runners Guide Editorial Committee as previously constituted, and to instruct the committee to report to the 2001 WSFS Business Meeting.

4. Rest of the World Hugo Eligibility Committee

At the 1999 WSFS Business Meeting, a constitutional amendment intended to extend the eligibility of works first published outside of the USA was referred to a committee consisting of Vincent Docherty and such other persons as he may choose to appoint to the committee. (Report attached.)

2. Worldcon Reports

1. Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

1. ConAdian (1994)
2. L.A.con III (1996)
3. Bucconeer (1998)
4. Conucopia (1999 NASFiC)
5. Aussiecon Three (2000)

2. Seated Worldcons

1. Chicon 2000 (2000)
2. The Millennium Philcon (2001)
3. ConJosé (2002)

3. Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three

There is no Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three.

4. New Business

1. Resolutions

Items under this heading may be voted upon and final action taken by the Preliminary Business Meeting.

1. Hugo Eligibility Extension: The Sky Road

Moved, To extend the eligibility of The Sky Road, a novel by Ken MacLeod, for a year, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.

Discussion: The novel appeared in 1999, but only as a UK hardcover. The UK paperback, and the US publication, all took place (or will take place) in 2000. Since UK hardcover print runs are often so limited, as compared to US print runs, or UK paperback print runs, this book meets the criteria set out for extending eligibility.

Moved by Ben Yalow and Jim Mann.

This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a ¾ vote.

2. Hugo Eligibility Extension: STET 9

Moved, To extend the eligibility of issue 9 of the dated periodical STET, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.

Moved by Mark Olson and Ben Yalow.

This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a ¾ vote.

2. Standing Rules Amendments

Items under this heading may be voted upon and final action taken by the Preliminary Business Meeting. Standing rules amendments take effect at the conclusion of the 2000 Business Meeting unless given earlier effect by specific provision and a two-thirds vote. In all amendments, new text is shown in underline type and stricken text is shown in strikethru type.

1. Breakfasters’ Rights Amendment

Moved, to amend Standing Rule 4 as follows:

Rule 4: Scheduling of Meetings. The first Main Meeting shall be scheduled no less than eighteen (18) hours after the conclusion of the last Preliminary Meeting. No meeting shall be scheduled to begin before 10:00 or after 15:00 local time.

Moved by Kevin Standlee and Tim Illingworth.

2. Amending Amendments

Moved, to amend Standing Rule 2 as follows:

Rule 2: Preliminary Business Meeting(s). The Preliminary Business Meeting may not directly reject, pass, or ratify amendments to the Constitution; however, all motions adhering to a Constitutional amendment are in order if otherwise allowed. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not refer a Constitutional amendment to a committee unless the committee’s instructions are to report to the Main Business Meeting. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not postpone consideration of a Constitutional amendment beyond the last Preliminary Business Meeting. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not amend a Constitutional amendment pending ratification. The Preliminary Business Meeting may consider any business not expressly forbidden to it by the Standing Rules or expressly reserved to the Main Business Meeting.

Moved by Tim Illingworth and Kevin Standlee.

Discussion: This would prevent a Preliminary Business Meeting changing an amendment that has already been passed by the previous year's Main Business Meeting. This preserves the Main Business Meeting as a superior house over the Preliminary Business Meeting, and will also help people know which meetings they need to attend.

3. Constitutional Amendments

Items under this heading have not yet received first passage, and will become part of the constitution only if passed at Chicon 2000 and ratified at The Millennium Philcon. The Preliminary Business Meeting may amend items under this heading, set debate time limits, refer them to committee, and take other action as permitted under the Standing Rules.

1. Return to 2-Year Bidding

Moved, To Amend Section 4.1.1 of the WSFS Constitution to shorten the lead-time for selection of future Worldcons from three years to two years, as follows:

4.1.1. WSFS shall choose the location and Committee of the Worldcon to be held three (3) two (2) years from the date of the current Worldcon.

Provided that this amendment shall not take effect until the conclusion of the 2004 Worldcon; that there shall be no Worldcon site selection election at the 2005 Worldcon; and that the 2006 Worldcon shall select the site of the 2008 Worldcon.

Moved by Vincent Docherty, Kent Bloom, and Mark Olson.

See below for maker’s argument for this motion.

2. Best Television Series Hugo Award

This item and the next two items all affect the Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award. The Preliminary Business Meeting may take action to choose between these items and only allow one of them to be considered at the Main Business Meeting.

Moved, To Amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to create a new Hugo Award Category "Best Television Series" and related purposes, as follows:

3.2.4: Works appearing in a series are eligible as individual works, but, except in the "Best Television Series" category, the series as a whole is not eligible. However, a work appearing in a number of parts shall be eligible for the year of the final part.

3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year. An individual episode of a television series is eligible in this category but the series as a whole is not.

3.3.X: Best Television Series. A series of programs of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects that have been publicly presented on television for the first time in their present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.

Moved by Richard S. Russell and Hope Kiefer.

Discussion: More people get their regular fix of SF from TV than from any other source. Yet, when it comes to the Hugo Awards, we continue to suffer from literary snobbishness -- 5 separate categories for written SF and only 1 for every other medium combined.

We make fans of televised SF jump through this incredible hoop to get SOMETHING nominated from their favorite series: we force them to try to pick out ONE episode from the previous year that they can rally behind. This presumes that many of them even notice, let alone remember, the title of an episode. It is a testament to the award-worthiness of "Babylon 5" that its fans were actually able to overcome these obstacles on several occasions.

The analog in literary terms would be to have an award for "Best Paragraph" of a short story or "Best Chapter" of a novel -- something so obviously ludicrous that we'd dismiss it out of hand. Yet we seem blind to the same situation confronting TV series.

The Hugo Awards provide us with kind of a historical snapshot of SF. "Best TV Series" is a category that we should have had for the last quarter century. We can't fix the past, but we can start now to build the historical record of the future.

3. The Long and Short of It

Moved, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to have the effect of splitting the existing Best Dramatic Presentation category into two categories, Long Form and Short Form, to regulate the administration of such categories, and for other purposes, as follows.

1. Strike out existing Section 3.3.6, "Best Dramatic Presentation."

3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.

2. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.3.5:

3.3.x: Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year, with a complete running time of more than 100 minutes.

3. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.3.7

3.3.x: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year, with a complete running time of 100 minutes or less.

4. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.5:

3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee shall not consider previews, promotional trailers, commercials, public service announcements, or other extraneous material when determining the length of a work.

5. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.6:

3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary, provided that the length of the work is within the lesser of twenty (20) minutes or twenty percent (20%) of the new category limits.

Moved by Chris Barkley and Lew Wolkoff.

Discussion: This amendment has a three-fold purpose:

A) To split television and motion picture presentations into two length categories, Long Form and Short Form.

B) To give fans a wider choice in their selections for Best Dramatic Presentations; for example, as a result of the category split, fans have the option of choosing radio dramas, books on tape/CD, music albums, musical performances, etc.

C) Attract more media minded or casual reading fans into the Hugo selection process and expand the voting base.

4. The Not So Long and Short of It

Moved, to substitute for the entire text of the motion titled "The Long and Short of It," the following:

Moved, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to have the effect of splitting the existing Best Dramatic Presentation category into two categories, Non-Episodic and Episodic, to regulate the administration of such categories, and for other purposes, as follows.

1. Strike out existing Section 3.3.6, "Best Dramatic Presentation."

3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.

2. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.3.5:

3.3.x Best Dramatic Presentation, Episodic. Any production in any medium of dramatized Science Fiction, Fantasy, or related subjects that formed a single episode from a regularly scheduled ongoing production.

3. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.3.7:

3.3.x: Best Dramatic Presentation, Non-Episodic. Any feature film, short subject, television mini-series, live theater production, or any other production in any medium of dramatized Science Fiction, Fantasy, or related subjects, not eligible for the Episodic Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award.

4. Insert the following sentence at the end of Section 3.2.4:

3.2.4: Works appearing in a series are eligible as individual works, but the series as a whole is not eligible. However, a work appearing in a number of parts shall be eligible for the year of the final part. A multi-part episodic or non-episodic dramatic production shall be eligible for the year in which the final part is first publicly performed.

5. Insert the following sentence at the end of Section 3.2.6:

3.2.6: The Worldcon Committee may relocate a story into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary, provided that the length of the story is within the lesser of five thousand (5,000) words or twenty percent (20%) of the new category limits. The Worldcon Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary.

Moved by Skip Morris and Cris Shuldner.

Discussion: As an individual who as run numerous convention film and video programs over several decades I feel qualified to comment on the main motion and my amendment. While I feel it is a worthwhile goal to expand the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo, splitting the award by length does not best represent the differences in movies vs. television episodes. There are many films I've shown at SF cons whose length is close to an hour. (The shortest one I remember is "La Jette", the basis for the film "12 Monkeys" which ran about 30 minutes, or Hugo winner "The Capture" which was a slide show running about 20 minutes.) Many TV show episodes likewise are multi-parters running 2 or 3 hours. (Several Star Trek and Babylon 5 episodes come to mind.)

The biggest difference in the mediums are that TV episodes are produced under a deadline, typically have a smaller budget, a story has to be developed to fit a setting and cast of characters, and there is typically a "writers bible" which limits what a story creator is allowed to do.

Films, TV Mini Series, and other such productions are different. The story, setting & characters can be developed together. There is more freedom for the writer to make changes to the universe being developed. Deadlines are not as important; a movie production can easily slip a few weeks or months. TV episode schedules are much less flexible. I can draw a comparison to the effect of deadlines on creativity with the American Pulitzer Award, which has different awards for stories published both "under a deadline" and "not under a deadline". This to me reflects the most crucial difference in the medium.

Notes: Section three spells out things like "television mini-series" to make it clear that productions like "From the Earth to the Moon" and "I, Claudius" belong in the non-episodic category. Also, section two originally had the words "of no less then 8 episodes in a single production season" at the very end. In talking to people I've been convinced that it is better to leave such decisions as to what constitutes an "ongoing series" to the judgement Hugo Administrators.

5. Site Selection Business

1. Report of the 2003 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 3.

2. Reports by seated Worldcons

This item may be combined with items in 2.2 above

1. The Millennium Philcon (2001)
2. ConJosé (2002)
3. Presentation by bidders for 2004

6. Adjournment

1. Committee Reports

Committee reports may include motions. Motions made by committees consisting of more than one person need not be seconded.

1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Elections for MPC)

Nominees: Scott Dennis (Central), Donald Eastlake III (East), Martin Hoare (Rest of World), Ruth Sachter (West).

The election will be held today. Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most two people from the Western zone, two people from the Central zone, one person from the Eastern zone, and three people from the Rest of the World. Write-in votes are allowed, but write-in candidates must submit their consent to election by the close of balloting. (See the head table staff for a nomination acceptance form.)

2. Nitpicking & Fly Specking Committee

NP&FSC Items 1 through 4 (See separate handout) passed at the Preliminary Business Meeting

1.2.5 Hugo Voting Clarification

This motion was amended by the Preliminary Business Meeting to read as follows:

Moved, to amend Section 3.10 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:

3.10.1: Final Award voting shall be by mail, with ballots sent only to WSFS members. balloting in advance of the Worldcon. Only WSFS members may vote. Final Award ballots shall include name, signature, address, and membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter.

Debate Time Limit: 2 minutes.

1.2.6 NASFiC Reporting

This motion is in NP&FSC Report.

Debate Time Limit: 10 minutes.

1.2.7 Awaken the Sleeping Dogs

This motion was postponed to the Main Business Meeting. Because this motion consists of a series of unrelated resolutions, any member may request a separate vote on any of the resolutions contained in the list.

Debate Time Limit: 20 minutes.

3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

This committee reported to the Preliminary Business Meeting and was continued for another year.

4. Rest of the World Hugo Eligibility Committee

The eligibility extension resolution reported by this committee was adopted (53-5) at the Preliminary Business Meeting, and the committee was continued. The Business Meeting Chair will announce appointments to this committee. No constitutional amendments were passed on to the Main Business Meeting.

2. Worldcon Reports

1. Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

Those conventions listed in the Preliminary Business Meeting agenda but not listed below gave their reports at the Preliminary Business Meeting. Handouts of their financial reports should still be available.

1. Bucconeer (1998)
2. Conucopia (1999 NASFiC)

NASFiCs are not currently required to submit reports to the WSFS Business Meeting.

3. Aussiecon Three (2000)

2. Seated Worldcons

1. Chicon 2000 (2000)
2. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

3. Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three
   There is no Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three.
4. New Business

1. Resolutions

1. Hugo Eligibility Extension: The Sky Road

This resolution was superceded by the blanket eligibility extension adopted at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

2. Hugo Eligibility Extension: STET 9

This resolution was adopted (46-13) at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

2. Standing Rules Amendments

1. Breakfasters’ Rights Amendment

This motion was amended to restrict the starting time of the Business Meeting to between 10:00 and 13:00 local time and then adopted as amended on a show-of-hands vote at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

2. Amending Amendments

This motion was adopted (37-26) at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

4. Constitutional Amendments

Items under this heading have not yet received first passage, and will become part of the constitution only if passed at Chicon 2000 and ratified at The Millennium Philcon. The Preliminary Business Meeting may have amended items under this heading, set debate time limits, referred them to committee, and taken other action as permitted under the Standing Rules. The Main Business Meeting may take final action on these motions.

1. Return to 2-Year Bidding

Moved, To Amend Section 4.1.1 of the WSFS Constitution to shorten the lead-time for selection of future Worldcons from three years to two years, as follows:

4.1.1. WSFS shall choose the location and Committee of the Worldcon to be held three (3) two (2) years from the date of the current Worldcon.

Provided that this amendment shall not take effect until the conclusion of the 2004 Worldcon; that there shall be no Worldcon site selection election at the 2005 Worldcon; and that the 2006 Worldcon shall select the site of the 2008 Worldcon.

Moved by Vincent Docherty, Kent Bloom, and Mark Olson.

See report on page 11 of the Preliminary Business Meeting agenda for maker’s argument for this motion.

Debate Time Limit: 20 minutes.

2. Best Television Series Hugo Award

This item was killed by Objection to Consideration at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

3. The Long and Short of It

This item was killed by Objection to Consideration at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

4. The Not So Long and Short of It

This item was killed by Objection to Consideration at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

5. Site Selection Business

1. Report of the 2003 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

This item is scheduled for the Second Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 3.

2. Reports by seated Worldcons

This item may be combined with items in 2.2 above

1. The Millennium Philcon (2001)
2. ConJosé (2002)
3. Presentation by bidders for 2004

6. Adjournment

By previous order adopted at the Preliminary Business Meeting, today and tomorrow's meetings will adjourn in memory of Ross Pavlac. The Preliminary Business Meeting adjourned in memory of Robert Sacks.

 

Appendix G: Agenda for the Sunday Business Meeting

AGENDA FOR WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Second Main Business Meeting, Sunday, September 3, 2000

Presiding Officer: Donald Eastlake III

Parliamentarian/Deputy P.O.: Kevin Standlee

Secretary: Robert Sacks (standing in for Pat McMurray)

Emergency Holographic Secretary: Cheryl Morgan

Timekeeper: ’Zanne Labonville

Portions of this agenda may refer to separate handouts or to the Preliminary or First Main Business Meeting Agendas. Copies of these Agendas and handouts should still be available in the handout area near the entrance to the room. The head table staff will not save extra handouts, so if you want copies, take them now.

5. Site Selection Business

Item 5.1 is a special order of business under Standing Rule 3 and must happen at the beginning of this meeting. Other items in this section, if they did not already happen at earlier meetings, will probably be postponed until the end of today’s meeting.

1. Report of the 2003 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners
2. Reports by seated Worldcons (Question Time)

Under Standing Rule 10, each future seated Worldcon Committee is allotted 15 minutes during this meeting. During the first 5 minutes, each committee may make a presentation. The remaining time is allocated for questions and answers. Questions are limited to 15 seconds and answers to 2 minutes.

1. The Millennium Philcon (2001)
2. ConJosé (2002)

3. Presentations by future Worldcon Bids (Question Time)

1. Presentation by bidders for 2004

Under Standing Rule 10, committees bidding for the 2004 Worldcon may make a presentation not to exceed 5 minutes, time permitting.

2. Presentations by bidders for years after 2004

Should there be sufficient time and should the Business Meeting so desire, bidders for future Worldcons may make short presentations as allowed under Standing Rule 10.

1. Committee Reports

Committee reports may include motions. Motions made by committees consisting of more than one person need not be seconded.

1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Elections for MPC)

Elections for the Mark Protection Committee were held at Saturday's Business Meeting. Donald Eastlake III, Scott Dennis, and Ruth Sachter were elected to three-year terms. The results in detail are as follows.

First Seat

Donald Eastlake III	28	34	45
Scott Dennis	26	27	36
Ruth Sachter	14	20	-
Martin Hoare	13	-	-
Invalid	1	-	-
Total With Preference	82	81	81
Needed To Elect (majority)	42	41	41
No (Further) Preference	-	1	1

 

Second Seat

Scott Dennis	36	42
Ruth Sachter	23	38
Martin Hoare	22	-
Invalid	1	-
Total With Preference	82	80
Needed To Elect (majority)	42	41
No (Further) Preference	-	2

 

Third Seat

Ruth Sachter	46
Martin Hoare	34
Invalid	1
Total With Preference	81
Needed To Elect (majority)	41
No (Further) Preference	1

The committee of MPC ballot tellers (Tim Illingworth, Kevin Standlee, Cheryl Morgan) moves that, per our usual practice, the ballots be destroyed.

The Mark Protection Committee is scheduled to meet immediately following today’s Business Meeting, in Hyatt Grand Ballroom B if time allows, or at such other location as may be arranged.

2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

See separate handout and the agenda for the First Main Business Meeting (Saturday) for this report.

NP&FSC Items 1 through 4 passed at the Preliminary Business Meeting. Items 5 and 6 were constitutional amendments, and passed at the First Main Business Meeting. Item 7 was postponed indefinitely and was therefore not directly addressed.

3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

This committee reported to the Preliminary Business Meeting and was continued for another year.

4. Rest of the World Hugo Eligibility Committee

The Preliminary Business Meeting voted to continue this committee for another year. At the First Main Business Meeting, the Chairman appointed the following people to the Committee: Kevin Standlee (Chair) (standlee@lunacity.com), Chris Barkley, Vince Docherty, George Flynn, Tim Illingworth, Saul Jaffe, Rick Katze, Perrianne Lurie, Cheryl Morgan, Mark Olson, Sharon Sbarsky, and Ben Yalow. The committee chair may augment the membership of the committee at his discretion. This committee will do substantially all of its deliberations by electronic mail. To request to be added to this committee's deliberation, write to hugo2-request@sflovers.rutgers.edu after September 10, 2000.

2. Worldcon Reports

1. Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

All past Worldcons and NASFiCs required to submit financial reports did so at the Preliminary or First Main Business Meetings. Copies of these reports should still be available among the many piles of paper at the entrance to the room.

2. Seated Worldcons

1. Chicon 2000 (2000)

A limited number of reports from Chicon 2000 are available. They are rather long. See the head table staff if you want a copy.

2. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

Their financial report is printed on the reverse of page 3 of this meeting's agenda.

3. ConJosé (2002)

ConJosé presented its financial report at the First Main Business Meeting.

3. Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three

There is no Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three.

4. New Business

1. Resolutions

All resolutions appearing in previous meetings' agendas were dealt with at previous meetings.

2. Standing Rules Amendments

All Standing Rule amendments appearing in previous meetings' agendas were dealt with at previous meetings.

3. Constitutional Amendments

1. Return to 2-Year Bidding

This item was defeated (38-51) at the First Main Business Meeting.

2. Best Television Series Hugo Award
3. The Long and Short of It
4. The Not So Long and Short of It

The above three items were killed by Objection to Consideration at the Preliminary Business Meeting, at which time the PBM voted to create a committee to study the issues surrounding the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award. At the First Main Business Meeting, the Chairman appointed the following people to the Committee: John Lorentz (Chair) (jlorentz@spiritone.com), Chris Barkley, Johnny Carruthers, Brenda Daverin, Vince Docherty, Paul Haggerty, Tim Illingworth, Michael Mason, Cheryl Morgan, Mary Morman, Skip Morris, Richard Russell, Tom Schaad, Chris Shuldiner, Kevin Standlee, Geoffrey Surrette, Gayle Surrette, and Lew Wolkoff,

Richard announced e-mail discussion list on this topic open to all persons. Write to RichardRussell@badger.alumni.wisc.edu to be added to this list.

5. Site Selection Business

Any business designated for the site selection meeting not done at the beginning of the meeting will happen at this time.

6. Adjournment sine die