The World Science Fiction Society

Minutes of the Business Meeting at ConJosé
Friday 30th August to Sunday 1st September 2002

 

 

Index

 

 

Introduction………………………………………………………………….……

3

Preliminary Business Meeting, Friday……………………………………………

4

Main Business Meeting, Saturday………………………………………………..

8

Main Business Meeting, Sunday………………………………………………….

11

Preliminary Business Meeting Agenda, Friday…………………………………..

14

Main Business Meeting Agenda, Saturday…………………………………........

18

Main Business Meeting Agenda, Sunday………………………….......................

21

Committee Report: Mark Protection Committee ………………………………...

23

Committee Report: Nitpicking and Flyspecking ………………………………...

26

Committee report: HEROW Committee………………………………………….

27

WSFS Constitution, with amendments ratified at ConJos酅…...…………….

28

Standing Rules …………………………………………………………………..

37

Business Passed On to Torcon III………………………………………………..

41

Proposed Agenda for Torcon III…….……………………………………………

42

Site Selection Report……………………………………………………………..

45

Attendance List ………………………………………………………………….

46

Interaction PR0…………………………………………………………………..

49

Financial Report, ConAdian (1994)………………………………………………

50

Financial Report, L.A.con III (1996)……………………………………………..

51

Financial Report, BucConeer (1998)……………………………………………...

53

Financial Report, Aussiecon Three (1999)……………………………………….

54

Financial Report, Chicon 2000…………………………………………………...

55

Financial Report, The Millennium Philcon (2001)……………………………….

56

Financial Report, ConJosé (2002)………………………………………………...

57

Financial Report, TorCon III (2003)……………………………………………...

62

Financial Report, Noreascon 4 (2004)……………………………………………

65

Resolutions and Rulings of Continuing Effect…………………………………...

67

Mark Protection Committee Members…………………………………………...

76

 

Introduction

All three meetings were held in room B3 / B4 of the San José McEnery Convention Centre. The head table officers were:

Presiding Officer: Kevin Standlee

Deputy Presiding Officer: Kent Bloom

Secretary: Pat McMurray (Standing in for Cheryl Morgan)

Timekeeper: Seth Breidbart

Tech Support: Paul Kraus, Tim Szczesuil, William J Keaton

[Secretary: The debates in these minutes are not word for word accurate, but every attempt has been made to represent the sense of the arguments made. UK spelling is mostly used, because that's the way I spell. Names are deliberately chosen to be the informal versions. These minutes are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and recollection and are based on contemporary notes. Any other comments or notes I have will be marked in this fashion. Comments thus are purely informative and do not form part of the official text of these minutes. I apologise for the delay in completion of these minutes, which was largely due to the challenges of the labour market.]

Minutes completed: 27th January 2003

Pat McMurray

Business Meeting Secretary

 

WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Preliminary Business Meeting, Friday, August 30, 2002

The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:10. Attendance as recorded on the sign up sheets was 88. Kevin Standlee, in his twin roles as ConJosé Co-Chair and Business Meeting Chair apologized to Cheryl Morgan for the scheduling conflicts that prevented her acting as Secretary of the Business Meeting.

1. Committee Reports

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

MPC Report will be available tomorrow.

Rick Katze nominated Gary Feldbaum (Eastern).

Johnny Carruthers nominated incumbent members -Gary Feldbaum (Eastern), Sue Francis (Central), Stephen Boucher (Rest of World).

Doug Friauf nominated Lynn Anderson.

In order to be on the printed ballot, acceptance deadline is one hour after close of meeting. The agenda had said 6PM that day, but the Chair ruled that the Standing Rules overrode the Agenda. [SR6.1 authorizes the Secretary to set the deadline for submitting a nomination acceptance.]

1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

Report is attached: there was no submitted business. The Chair reappointed the Committee as previously constituted: Donald Eastlake III, Tim Illingworth and Kevin Standlee.

Alexis Layton asked what to do about any apparent conflicts in Continuing Resolutions. Chair advised emailing the Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee at nitpick@wsfs.org

1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

Sharon Sbarsky provided a verbal report.

    1. Apologies from Saul Jaffe for this absence.
    2. The 1998 / 1999 edition of the WRG has been reedited and htmlised and can be found at http://www.sflovers.org/wcrg/
    3. Ben Yalow will be encouraging volunteers to provide reports and updates to crg@sflovers.org
    4. Ben and Sharon want to stay on the committee, Saul wishes to resign.

Without objection, Chair appointed Sharon Sbarsky as Chair and authorised her to supplement membership at her authority.

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

Ben Yalow presented the attached report.

1.4.1. Short Title: Throw a Blanket Over It

Andrew Adams: Has the committee had considered how the splitting of the BDP would affect HEROW?

Ben: No.

Winton Matthews: This is the second year in a row, could something be set up to do this automatically?

Chair: That would require a constitutional amendment.

Mark Olson: Business Meeting wants some more time to consider this matter.

Perianne Lurie: How does 3.1 Perpetual Motions impact on this – we could make publications eligible.

Chair: 3.1 doesn’t take effect until end of this meeting.

Alex von Thorn: Suggest we refer this back to committee.

John Lorentz: Point of Information: 3 books on Hugo list this year – how do we define "generally available"?

George Flynn: "Generally available" is not defined in constitution.

Chair: It is the Chair’s opinion we could refer this back to HEROW.

[The secretary notes that in 1987, under CH-1982-7, the Chair ruled that "generally available" means you can get it if you want it, not that there have to be copies for everyone who might want it. Tim Illingworth notes that this ruling related to convention publications, not commercial publications available in the real world. ]

Throw a Blanket Over It was passed without objection.

1.4.2. Short Title: We Need Another HEROW

Ben Yalow doesn’t wish to continue as Chair of HEROW, but does want HEROW to continue.

The resolution to continue the committee was passed without objection.

The Chair will announce his decision on the committee later in the meeting.

1.5. Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) Committee

1.5.1. Extended Folly

Mark Olson: FOLLE had been chaired by Bruce Pelz, who is very much missed. Because of his death we don’t know who was on the committee.

The resolution to continue the committee was passed without objection.

Mark Olson was appointed as Chair of FOLLE, with George Flynn, Vince Docherty, Kevin Standlee, and Joe Siclari as members. The committee Chair was authorised to add members at his discretion.

2. Worldcon Reports

2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)

Linda-Ross Mansfield: Written report follows.

2.1.2. L.A.con III (1996)

Richard Russell: Pointed out Y2K problem on report.

2.1.3. LoneStarCon 2 (1997)

No report.

Kent Bloom: Chair of next year’s Business Meeting should contact them.

Chair (in capacity as Chair of 2003 Business Meeting): OK.

[At SmofDiego in December the Chair and Secretary discussed this with Bill Parker, a representative of LSC2’s parent organization, ALAMO. Apparently they had not been aware they had not fully discharged their responsibilities, and will do so, now that this has been brought to their attention.]

2.1.4. BucConeer (1998)

2.1.5. Conucopia (1999 NASFiC)

Conucopia are not obliged to report, and will not be asked to again.

2.1.6. Aussiecon Three (1999)

Report to follow.

2.1.7. Chicon 2000

Report to follow.

2.1.8. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

Report to follow.

2.2. Seated Worldcons

2.2.1. ConJosé (2002)

Report to follow.

2.2.3. TorCon III (2003)

Attached.

Ben Schilling: What is the currency on TorCon II report?

Kent Bloom: Canadian dollars.

2.2.3. Noreascon 4 (2004)

Attached.

3. Business Passed On from The Millennium Philcon

3.1. Short Title: Perpetual Motions

Chair set ten minute debate time.

3.2. Short Title: The Long and Short of It

Chair set 30 minute debate time.

Genny Dazzo: When is panel scheduled?
[A panel discussion separate from the Business Meeting was scheduled on this item.]

Chair: 1PM in this room

Richard Russell: Are amendments in order at this point?

Ben Yalow: Under rule 1.2, no.

Richard Russell: Foreshadow motion to amend 90 minutes to 80.

Johnny Carruthers: Is this a lesser change?

Chair: Will decide tomorrow, but seems likely will be a greater change.

Alex von Thorn: Can we change time limit tomorrow?
Chair: Yes, by 2/3rds majority.

Ben Yalow: Is it in order, at this time, to introduce a motion that it is the sense of this meeting that any change is a greater change?

Chair: Yes, that is a resolution, not an amendment and could be passed here.

Ben Yalow: Move the adoption of a resolution, "Resolved, That it is the sense of the meeting that any change in the motion The Long and the Short of It is a greater change."

Kent Bloom: The Chair’s ruling is incorrect, this is a subsidiary motion and doesn’t make sense without the main motion.

Kent Bloom Appealed the Chair’s ruling.

[The Chair momentarily withheld action on the appeal to answer parliamentary inquiries.]

Mark Olson: Would a resolution stating that it is the sense of the meeting that any change to the main motion is a greater change be binding on the chair?

Chair: No, not legally, but maybe morally.

Ken Katz: Is it binding on the main meeting?

Chair: No.

Motion: Should the Chair’s ruling that Mr Yalow’s motion is in order be sustained?

Kent Bloom (A): No life without main motion.

Seth Breidbart (F): It is in order for this session to pass any motion about what we believe.

Glenn Glazer (A): Future communication between business sessions.

Ben Yalow (F): Not phrased so as to be binding on future, just information.

Motion passed many to few, chair’s ruling sustained. Mr Yalow’s motion is therefore in order and was considered.

Resolution: Resolved, That it is the sense of the meeting that any change in the motion The Long and the Short of It is a greater change would not be a lesser change.

Ben Yalow (F): Core changes such as time boundaries, other category-affecting matters will be a greater change. Only a really tiny technical change could be a lesser change.

Winton Matthews: Explain greater / lesser changes.

Leslie Turek: Could new amendments be passed after main motion passes, with new amendments ratified next year?

Chair: Yes, there is precedent: Chair is likely to allow such subsequent new motions.

Gary Feldbaum: Change is immediate, effect can be delayed. [Secretary: This means that a ratified constitutional amendment becomes part of the constitution the moment it is ratified, though it does not take effect until later.]

Seth Breidbart: Amend motion to "not a lesser change".

Alex von Thorn: Parliamentary inquiry: Would it be in order to re-empanel BDP committee?

Chair: Yes.

Alex von Thorn: On Sunday?

Chair: Yes.

Richard Russell: Precognition of merits of debate.

Resolution as amended passed.

Mark Olson: Program Book page 117 shows incorrect Business Passed On.

[Secretary: In the version of Perpetual Motions printed in the Program Book, it appeared as if the whole of Section 3.2.2 was to be deleted, rather than just the final sentence. The version printed in these minutes is correct.]

4. New Business

5. Site Selection Business

6. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 11:30.

 

 

WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Main Business Meeting, Saturday, August 31, 2002

The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:16. Attendance as recorded on the sign up sheets was 121.

1. Committee Reports

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

Ballots were distributed and voted on. Lynn Anderson (Central), Stephen Boucher (RotW) and Sue Francis (Central) were elected. Without objection, the ballots were ordered destroyed.

Voting was as follows:

Candidate

Zone

First Count

Second Count

Third Count

Fourth Count

Note

Lynn Anderson

Central

8

-

12

45

Elected on Fourth Count

Stephen Boucher

RotW

40

46

-

-

Elected on Second Count

Gary Feldbaum

Eastern

14

14

23

44

 

Sue Francis

Central

25

27

50

-

Elected on Third Count

Invalid

 

4

-

4

1

 

Total Valid

 

87

87

87

   

The chair commended the tellers for their work.

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

Chair will announce committee tomorrow.

3. Business Passed On from The Millennium Philcon

3.1. Short Title: Perpetual Motions

Linda Deneroff: Specific works or blanket holdover?

Chair: General intent is blanket, but we cannot bind hands of future.

Bob Daverin: Calendar year or convention year?

Chair ruling: Calendar year.

Ben Yalow: Clarifies fact that what we do is unquestionably constitutional.

John Lorentz: Why change constitution if we can do it anyway?

Perianne Lurie: Additional benefit – works are eligible in year of US publication, rather than just year following publication overseas.

Andrew Adams: Avoids unnecessary debate during Business Meeting.

Michael Nelson: Does this apply to BDP?

Chair: Yes.

Struan Judd: Allows English publications twice.

David Ratti: Is a lesser amendment in order?

Chair: You could foreshadow it.

David Ratti: In 3.2.Y reword as "it received sufficient nominations to appear appeared on final ballot"

Chair: Later [Secretary: Amendment was never actually submitted.]

Linda Deneroff: Is a foreign language work also eligible when first published in English?

Chair: Yes.

Glenn Glazer: Japanese language, English Subtitles?

[Secretary: While this query was never formally answered the Secretary is of the opinion that the Business Meeting felt that English subtitles didn’t make a work less foreign.]

Motion passed many to few on a vote by show of hands, and becomes part of the Constitution, taking effect at the end of ConJosé.

3.2. Short Title: The Long and Short of It

Neil Rest: Point of Order: Chair should expedite not star in meeting.

Chair: Chair is chastised and apologises.

[Chair: This was in reaction to Chair’s theatrics in introducing the motion.]

Seth Breidbart: Is a motion to limit length of individual speeches in order?

Chair: Yes.

John Lorentz (F): Committee feels that:

    1. Dividing is good, there are sufficient items of worth.
    2. Should stick to individual episodes.
    3. Chose 100 minutes, changed to 80 minutes.
    4. There were several examples this year of TV and film. 94% of voters expressed a preference in BDP, 16 different series were nominated.

Struan Judd: Move to limit speeches to two minutes.

Richard Russell: Move to amend limits to three minutes.

John Barclay: 90 seconds.

Ben Yalow: Move the previous question, using blanks.

Passed – 90 seconds filled the blank.

[Secretary: Meeting then attempted to proceed as if the motion to limit individual speeches had itself been passed, rather than just a decision taken on the length of the time limit.]

Ben Yalow: Point of order: Didn’t pass the motion.

Chair: Point well taken.

Motion to limit debate passed – debate time limited to 90 seconds per speech.

Ben Yalow (A): Counter argument: Are there really enough good items for 2 x BDPs?

Craig Miller (F): Yes.

Andrew Adams (A): Clarify, Ben.

Shaun Lyon: What about pilot episodes?

Chair: Judgement is based on running time and administrators have authority to decide.

Michael Nelson (A): Have to print the ballots in a smaller font size.

Alex von Thorn (F): 500 episodes, 60 movies.

Erik Olson (A): Sturgeon’s law.

Lew Walkoff (F): Only one TV episode on ballot, there were many others that were good.

Chris Edwards (A): Voters answered that.

Chris Barclay (F): Not just TV and movies, BDP includes many other forms.

Rick Kovalcik: Call the question.

After taking a show of hands of those people who still wanted to speak, the motion to close debate passed.

Motion passed 96 to 26 and becomes part of the constitution, taking effect at the end of ConJosé.

Andrew Adams: Point of Inquiry: Could motion be reconsidered if people left the meeting?

Chair: Yes, those who voted in favour of ratification could do that.

Ben Miller: Move to reconsider the previous ballot.

[Chair: What Mr Miller is doing here is known as ‘spiking’ the motion to Reconsider by moving it quickly and disposing of it. Once the motion to Reconsider has been ‘spiked’, the original matter – in this case The Long and Short of It motion – cannot be legally touched again.]

John Lorentz: Call the question. [On the reconsideration.]

Chair: A motion to Close Debate is out of order; nobody has yet spoken to the question.

Seth Breidbart: Point of Order: Motion to Reconsider was dilatory, not intended to pass, by someone who does not favour it.

Chair: Not dilatory: that’s a matter of opinion

Carol Alves (F): There was an error in counting the affirmative votes on the vote just taken.

Mark Olson (A): The Business Meeting has deliberately refrained from using this type of motion, this kind of parliamentary crap.

Todd Dashoff: Call the question

This passed: debate on the motion to Reconsider was closed.

Seth Breidbart: Point of Inquiry: If reconsideration motion passes, what would be the debate time limits on the main motion? [The Long and the Short of It]

Chair: Excellent question. Setting a precedent – chair’s opinion is that we refresh the question and revisit the time limits.

[Chair: Upon further review, the Chair finds that this ruling is wrong. Per the WSFS Parliamentary Authority, when a motion is Reconsidered on the same day as it originally was considered, the debate picks up where it left off, and exhausted debate remains exhausted. It is only if the motion is reconsidered on the subsequent day that its debate time is refreshed, but that is because any motion that comes up for a second day of debate gets its debate time refreshed.]

Motion to reconsider failed unanimously.

Struan Judd: Move to commend the Business Meeting for behaving itself.

Motion passed without objection.

Richard Russell: Is it in order to propose amendments to motions before the end of the meeting?

Chair: Chair’s ruling is that amendments to the Constitution become part of the Constitution at the moment of ratification and that they are therefore subject to amendment as any other part of the Constitution.

Richard Russell: Foreshadow – elimination of 20 minutes as irrelevant, and reduce 90 minutes to 80 minutes at tomorrow’s meeting.

Chair: Remember, new amendments need 200 copies.

Skip Morris: Was there a report on the effect of the BDP split in last year’s Hugos?

Cheryl Morgan: No such request was made.

Seth Breidbart: Would this year’s Business Meeting be eligible for long form BDP, or the amendment debate by itself for short form BDP.

At this point, Torcon 3 Hugo Administrator Michael Nelson left the room.

Kent Bloom: Up to nominators.

5. Site Selection Business

Business Meeting commends ConJosé and Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee for legible badges.

Chair (In capacity of ConJosé Co-Chair): That was largely thanks to Elaine Brennan.

Alex von Thorn: Will there be presentation time for future NASFiCs?

Chair: If required and if time allows.

Patrick Lasswell: Will there be visual representation of voting?

Chair: Maybe, but not very likely.

6. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 11:38

WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Main Business Meeting, Sunday, September 1st, 2002

The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:10. Attendance as recorded on the sign up sheets was 94.

The Secretary thanked the newsletter for their help with preparing the Business Meeting documents.

5.1. Report of the 2005 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

James Briggs made his report - Glasgow won with 917 out of 1,034 votes cast.

Chair commended the Site Selection Committee for its work.

Motion to destroy site selection ballots passed.

Vincent Docherty: Thanks to Jim Briggs for his work. Thanks to ConJosé committee and staff, site selection committee, head-table staff, members of the bid committee, Friends, helpers and agents. Also like to thank Glasgow Tourist Board and SECC, and Blars and our I5 in 05 opponents.
Kim Campbell sends her regards, she was too ill to travel.
We had 336 Friends, 1310 pre-supporters.
The name of the convention will be Interaction. It will be held between 4th and 8th August 2005.
Guests are Greg Pickersgill, Chris Priest, Robert Sheckley, Lars-Olov Strandberg and Jane Yolen.
Membership will be $0 for Friends who voted, $70 for voters, $50 for pre-supporters who voted.
Interaction hold Worldcon.org.uk with WSFS permission and their URL is http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk
Pat McMurray will be their Mark Protection Committee representative.

1. Committee Reports

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

Time and location of next committee meeting was announced.

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

Committee was announced as Jim Mann (chair), Vince Docherty, Sharon Sbarsky, George Flynn, Mark Olson, Alex von Thorn, Gayle Surette, Paul Haggerty, Ben Yalow, Pam Fremon, Perianne Lurie. The committee Chair was authorised to add members to the committee at his discretion.

2. Worldcon Reports

2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

2.1.6. Aussiecon Three (1999)

A4 Worldcon bid in 07 was unsuccessful.

Ben Yalow: New income items should not be listed, only the reportable balance.

By unanimous consent, it was agreed that it was the sense of the meeting that future Worldcon reports should only contain reportable balances, not new income.

 

2.1.8. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

Todd Dashoff: Apologies for lack of written report, will forward it to Secretary.

[Secretary regrets to report that that this report was never received.]

 

2.2. Seated Worldcons

2.2.1. ConJosé (2002)

ConJosé thanks SCIFI for grant; Aussiecon Three, Chicon 2000 and The Millennium Philcon for pass along funds; and an anonymous donor for a donation of $2,000.

4. New Business

Winton Matthews: What happened to foreshadowed motion 3.2.1?

Dave Ratti: Decided not to proceed with it.

Chair: Will presume an objection to consideration on these new items.

4.3.1 Lesser Minutes

Object to Consideration fails – ten minutes allowed for debate.

Richard Russell (F): 20 minutes is never less than 18 minutes.

Alex von Thorn: It took years to agree this time, Move to refer to committee to report next year.

Kent Bloom (A): Doesn’t need a committee.

Seth Breidbart (A): How many Smofs does it take to determine whether 20 is less than 18?

Motion to refer to committee fails.

Kent Bloom (A): Parallel to other parts of the Constitution, we do change boundaries, so we should leave it as it is.

Todd Dashoff: Call the question.

Craig Miller: Move to Lay the Motion on the Table.

Motion to Lay on the Table passes (carrying the adhering motion to Close Debate with it.)

4.3.2 The Shorter of It

Object to consideration sustained by 2/3rds majority.

4.3.1 Lesser Minutes was taken from the table and the motion to close the debate was put.

Debate closed by 2/3rds majority.

The vote on the main motion was 42 in favour, 37 against.

The amendment is approved and will go forward to next year’s Business Meeting for ratification.

5. Site Selection Business

5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons

5.2.1. TorCon III (2003)

Peter Jarvis, Chair of Torcon 3: Fairmont Royal York is main hotel.

David Ratti: Are there coffee machines in room – Yes.

Robert Klein: Elevator situation – 10 + 2 elevators, huge lobby, will get elevators serviced.

Richard Lynch: Which hotel is connected to Convention Centre – Crowne Plaza.

Richard Russel: US / Canadian border – Schenkers, international customs broker.

Sharon Sbarsky: Hotel reservations – Jan 1st through Toronto housing organisation.

Winton Matthews: Sightseeing tours – Probably, if we get volunteers.

Johnny Carruthers: Will Bluejays be playing ? – Probably, schedule not printed yet.

 

 

5.2.2. Noreascon 4 (2004)

Deb Geisler, Chair of Noreascon 4.

There were no questions.

5.3. Presentation by future Worldcon bids

5.3.1. Presentation by bidders for 2006

Craig Miller, Chair LA06 bid.

Margene Bahm, KC06 bid.

Craig Miller: Anaheim Hilton, Marriott, Convention Centre, lots of experienced people, 60th anniversary of Pacificon.

Margene Bahm: 30th anniversary of KC’s Worldcon, brand new convention centre, seven main hotels, contingent contracts, Sheraton will probably be main hotel.

Patrick Molloy: Dates?

Craig Miller: Prior to Labour Day.

Margene Bahm: Labour Day.

Business Meeting Attendees: Chant of "Both, Both, Both."

5.3.2. Presentation by bidders for years after 2006

Shouichi Hachiya – Nippon 07: Apologies for Chair’s absence, he just arrived that day. They have created a legal entity. Site will be Yokohama City, Pacifica, with the connected Intercontinental hotel. There are four other hotels, they will add Ryokun if requested. [Secretary: Ryokun are Japanese style hotels.]

Marah Searle Kovacevic: Hotel rates?

Shouichi Hachiya: Quoted a price in Yen which after discussion and calculation by the head-table staff and attendees was agreed to be on the order of $140-$150, roughly the same as the current rates at ConJosé.

Ben Miller: Smoking?

Shouichi Hachiya: Convention centre is non-smoking, but there are smoking areas in restaurants.

6. Adjournment

6.1. Adjournment Sine Die

The meeting adjourned sine die in memory of Bruce Pelz.

 

 

 

AGENDA FOR WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Preliminary Business Meeting, Friday, August 30, 2002

1. Committee Reports

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

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

The Mark Protection Committee will be meeting at 7:00pm on Thursday, August 29 in Convention Center Room H. A formal report is unlikely to be available until the Saturday Business Meeting at the earliest.

Nominations for the WSFS Mark Protection Committee are in order at the Preliminary Business Meeting. Nominees must accept nomination and indicate their current residence zone by 6:00pm. The Secretary has forms available for accepting nomination.

The members whose terms of office expire at this Worldcon are: Stephen Boucher (Rest of World), Gary Feldbaum (East), Sue Francis (Central). Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most 1 people from the Western zone, 2 person from the Central zone, 1 person from the Eastern zone, and 3 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.)

1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

See attached report and separate Resolutions of Continuing Effect document.

1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

No report received as of going to press.

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

See attached report. The following resolutions are arising from the committee’s report:

1.4.1. Short Title: Throw a Blanket Over It

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" 2002 Hugo Award (sections 3.3.1 through 3.3.6 inclusive);

2: Did not receive sufficient nominations to appear on the Final Ballot for the 2002 Hugo Awards;

3: Have not been published in the USA as of 31 January 2002; and

4: Have not previously had their eligibility extended by resolution of WSFS.

This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a 3/4 vote.

1.4.2. Short Title: We Need Another HEROW

(To be moved only if Throw a Blanket Over It is passed.)

Moved, To continue the Hugo Eligibility for the Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee as previously charged, with a new Chair and members appointed by the Chair of the Business Meeting, and with the Chair of the HEROW Committee authorized to add additional members to the committee.

Note that the current Chair of the HEROW Committee will not accept reappointment as Chair of the committee, although he will continue to work with the committee if it is renewed, because he has too many other things that tie up too much time.

1.5. Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) Committee

There will be no report from the FOLLE committee due to the unfortunate death of its chairman, Bruce Pelz. The Business Meeting podium staff have submitted the following motion:

1.5.1. Extended Folly

Moved, To continue the Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) Committee as previously charged, with a new Chair and members appointed by the Chair of the Business Meeting, and with the Chair of the FOLLE Committee authorized to add additional members to the committee.

2. Worldcon Reports

2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)

No report received as of going to press.

2.1.2. L.A.con III (1996)

See attached report.

2.1.3. LoneStarCon 2 (1997)

No report received as of going to press.

LoneStarCon 2 has not made a report for several years, despite some $45,000 being technically unaccounted for. (LSC2 reported that it transferred the money to another organization, but the WSFS Constitution then requires that that organization make reports on the use of the money.) At The Millennium Philcon the Business Meeting resolved to inquire into the use of the money. It appears that no such inquiry has yet been made.

2.1.4. BucConeer (1998)

No report received as of going to press.

2.1.5. Conucopia (1999 NASFiC)

No report received as of going to press.

Note that Conucopia is not obliged to file a report under WSFS rules (it took place before the Constitutional Amendment requiring NASFiCs to make financial reports was passed), but space has been made available in the agenda should it wish to do so.

2.1.6. Aussiecon Three (1999)

No report received as of going to press.

2.1.7. Chicon 2000

No report received as of going to press.

 

2.1.8. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

No report received as of going to press.

2.2. Seated Worldcons

2.2.1. ConJosé (2002)

No report received as of going to press.

2.2.3. TorCon III (2003)

See attached report.

2.2.3. Noreascon 4 (2004)

See attached report.

3. Business Passed On from The Millennium Philcon

The following Constitutional Amendments were approved at The Millennium Philcon and are passed on to ConJosé for ratification. If ratified, they will become part of the Constitution at the conclusion of ConJosé.

3.1. Short Title: Perpetual Motions

Moved, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to regularize the current practice of extending an extra year of eligibility for the Hugo Award to works first published outside the USA, and to administer this change, as follows:

Delete the final sentence of section 3.2.2:

3.2.2: A work originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible for the year in which it is first issued in English translation. A work, once it has appeared in English, may thus be eligible only once.

Insert the following after existing subsection 3.2.2:

3.2.x: The Business Meeting may by a 3/4 vote provide that works originally published outside the United States of America and first published in the United States of America in the current year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards given in the following year.

3.2.y: A work shall not be eligible if in a prior year it received sufficient nominations to appear on the final Award ballot.

3.2. Short Title: 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 90 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 90 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. Running times of dramatic presentations shall be based on their first general release.

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.

4. New Business

4.1. Resolutions

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

4.2. 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 2002 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.

4.3. Constitutional Amendments

Items under this heading have not yet received first passage, and will become part of the constitution only if passed at ConJosé and ratified at Torcon III. 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.

5. Site Selection Business

5.1. Report of the 2005 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 1.

5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 1.

5.2.1. TorCon III (2003)

5.2.2. Noreascon 4 (2004)

5.3. Presentation by future Worldcon bids

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 1.

5.3.1. Presentation by bidders for 2006

 

5.3.2. Presentation by bidders for years after 2006

If time permits.

6. Adjournment

6.1. Adjournment Sine Die

To be moved by the Business Meeting podium staff at the Sunday Business Meeting (or Monday if a Monday meeting is necessary):

Moved, That this meeting adjourn sine die in memory of Bruce Pelz.

 

AGENDA FOR WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Main Business Meeting, Saturday, August 31, 2002

1. Committee Reports

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

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

The nominees for the vacant MPC positions are: Lynn Anderson (Central), Stephen Boucher (Rest of World), Gary Feldbaum (East), Sue Francis (Central).

The election will be held today. Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most 1 people from the Western zone, 2 person from the Central zone, 1 person from the Eastern zone, and 3 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.)

1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

This business was completed at the Preliminary Business Meeting, with the existing committee being reappointed.

1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

This business was completed at the Preliminary Business Meeting, with Sharon Sbarsky appointed as new committee Chair.

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

1.4.1. Short Title: Throw a Blanket Over It

This resolution was passed at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

1.4.2. Short Title: We Need Another HEROW

This resolution was passed at the Preliminary Business Meeting.

The Presiding Officer will announce the Chair and member of this committee.

1.5. Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) Committee

This business was concluded at the Preliminary Business Meeting, with Mark Olson appointed as Chair to replace the late (and much missed) Bruce Pelz.

2. Worldcon Reports

2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

2.1.3. LoneStarCon 2 (1997)

No report received as of going to press.

Presiding Officer of next year’s Business Meeting was asked to pursue this.

 

2.1.5. Conucopia (1999 NASFiC)

No report received as of going to press.

As Conucopia was not required to present a report, no further requests will be made.

2.1.7. Chicon 2000

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

2.1.8. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

2.2. Seated Worldcons

2.2.1. ConJosé (2002)

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

3. Business Passed On from The Millennium Philcon

The following Constitutional Amendments were approved at The Millennium Philcon and are passed on to ConJosé for ratification. If ratified, they will become part of the Constitution at the conclusion of ConJosé.

3.1. Short Title: Perpetual Motions

Moved, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to regularize the current practice of extending an extra year of eligibility for the Hugo Award to works first published outside the USA, and to administer this change, as follows:

Delete the final sentence of section 3.2.2:

3.2.2: A work originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible for the year in which it is first issued in English translation. A work, once it has appeared in English, may thus be eligible only once.

Insert the following after existing subsection 3.2.2:

3.2.x: The Business Meeting may by a 3/4 vote provide that works originally published outside the United States of America and first published in the United States of America in the current year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards given in the following year.

3.2.y: A work shall not be eligible if in a prior year it received sufficient nominations to appear on the final Award ballot.

3.2. Short Title: 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 90 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 90 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. Running times of dramatic presentations shall be based on their first general release.

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.

4. New Business

4.1. Resolutions

No business has been presented under this category.

4.2. Standing Rules Amendments

No business has been presented under this category.

4.3. Constitutional Amendments

No business has been presented under this category.

5. Site Selection Business

5.1. Report of the 2005 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 1.

5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 1.

5.2.1. TorCon III (2003)

5.2.2. Noreascon 4 (2004)

5.3. Presentation by future Worldcon bids

This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 1.

5.3.1. Presentation by bidders for 2006

5.3.2. Presentation by bidders for years after 2006

If time permits.

 

 

 

 

6. Adjournment

6.1. Adjournment Sine Die

To be moved by the Business Meeting podium staff at the Sunday Business Meeting (or Monday if a Monday meeting is necessary):

Moved, That this meeting adjourn sine die in memory of Bruce Pelz.

AGENDA FOR WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

Main Business Meeting, Sunday, September 1st, 2002

1. Committee Reports

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

The Mark Protection Committee report is attached.

1.4.2. Short Title: We Need Another HEROW

The Presiding Officer will announce the Chair and member of this committee.

2. Worldcon Reports

2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

2.1.3. LoneStarCon 2 (1997)

No report received as of going to press.

Presiding Officer of next year’s Business Meeting was asked to pursue this.

2.1.8. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

2.2. Seated Worldcons

2.2.1. ConJosé (2002)

Written report should follow before close of meeting.

3. Business Passed On from The Millennium Philcon

4. New Business

4.3. Constitutional Amendments

4.3.1 Lesser Minutes

Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution at Subsection 3.2.6A (ratified yesterday) by striking and inserting text as follows:

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 boundary.

Rationale: 20 minutes will never be less than 18 minutes (20% of the 90-minute category boundary), and thus the wording proposed for deletion is mere surplusage and possibly confusing. Removing it will have no substantive effect.

 

 

4.3.2 The Shorter of It

Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution at Subsections 3.3.6A: Best Dramatic presentation, Long From and 3.3.6B: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (both ratified yesterday) by changing "90 minutes" to "80 minutes" wherever it occurs.

Rationale: As you can see from the supplemental green sheet, "Runtimes of Recent SF / F Films", the current 90-minute boundary means that 39 of 128 (30%) of those movies would fall into the "Short Form" category and thus would have to be treated as exceptions to put them into the "Long Form" category where they could compete against other movies. The boundary should be realistic and not admit of too many exceptions. While the Hugo administrators could undoubtedly handle the penumbra (fudge zone) issues, having to be conscious of the runtime boundary imposes a needles extraneous concern on the Hugo nominators.

5. Site Selection Business

5.1. Report of the 2005 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons

5.2.1. TorCon III (2003)

5.2.2. Noreascon 4 (2004)

5.3. Presentation by future Worldcon bids

5.3.1. Presentation by bidders for 2006

5.3.2. Presentation by bidders for years after 2006

If time permits.

6. Adjournment

6.1. Adjournment Sine Die

To be moved by the Business Meeting podium staff at the Sunday Business Meeting (or Monday if a Monday meeting is necessary):

Moved, That this meeting adjourn sine die in memory of Bruce Pelz.

Committee Report: Mark Protection Committee

Minutes of the meeting of the Mark Protection Committee

The Millenium Philcon - September 2nd 2001

Meeting held in Room 103B of the Pennsylvania Convention Centre

[Minutes taken by Cheryl Morgan]

Called to order

In the absence of a chairman (Randall Shepherd’s term on the committee having expired), the meeting was called to order by Kevin Standlee.

Minutes of last meeting

Gary Feldbaum apologised for not having minutes from the previous meeting at Chicon 2000.

Elections

Don Eastlake offered to serve as chairman. There being no other candidates he was elected and he immediately took over chair of the meeting from Mr Standlee.

Ben Yalow proposed that all other officers be re-elected. There being no objection, they were so elected.

Treasurer’s report

Scott Dennis was unable to attend due to Dealers’ Room commitments. He was asked to produce a report and send it to Mr Feldbaum.

New business

‘Zanne Labonville pointed out that there was no acknowledgement of WSFS service marks in the Millennium Philcon program book. Mr Feldbaum, on behalf of The Millennium Philcon, said that the convention management had tried to get the appropriate acknowledgements in place and apologised for it not happening.

Ms Labonville also asked about the SciFi Channel’s practice of running a straw poll in advance of the Hugo Awards without acknowledging our ownership of the mark. Mr Yalow pointed out that they were advertising our service mark and were correctly associating it with our award, which was good for establishing the mark. Mr Eastlake suggested that we write a letter to them politely requesting that they include a service mark acknowledgement. He volunteered to produce the letter.

Mr Eastlake says the committee needs to make progress with things that it had intended to do last year. These included investigating the current state of our marks’ protection in the USA, looking into hiring a new trademark letter, and investigating the use of Internet domains that may infringe upon our marks. Randall Shepherd had been looking into all of these, but it was unclear what progress he had made. Mr Eastlake volunteered to talk to Mr Shepherd and to carry the matter forward.

Ken Smookler reported that he had applied for registration of all six WSFS marks in Canada and that he very much hoped that would be completed before Torcon 3, snail-paced bureaucracy permitting. He anticipated the cost being between CDN2K and CDN4K. Mr Smookler also volunteered to register the necessary Internet domain names in Canada.

Mr Boucher said there was nothing new to report from Australia, but that moves were afoot to extend state-based mark protection to a federal basis, and that our registrations in the State of Victoria might therefore soon become nationwide.

 

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on the Thursday of ConJosé, probably in the Fairmont hotel. Mr Standlee volunteered to ensure the meeting was well publicized.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 11:25.

 

 

Minutes of the meeting of the Mark Protection Committee

ConJosé – August 29 2002

McEnery Convention Centre, San José

Present: Scott Dennis, Treasurer, Gary Keith Feldbaum, Secretary, Ken Smookler, Kevin Standlee, Stephen Boucher, Cheryl Morgan, George Flynn, Ruth Sachter, Sue Francs, Ben Yalow

Also, noted to be present: John Lorentz, Lynn Anderson. Other people were present but were not identified.

In the absence of Chairman Don Eastlake, the meeting was called to order at 7:02PM by Kevin Standlee. Unanimous consent was given for Mr Standlee to preside over this meeting.

It was noted that the terms of elected representatives Stephen Boucher, Gary Keith Feldbaumand Sue Francis would expire at the end of this meeting, as well as appointed representative ‘Zanne Labonneville.

The Secretary expressed his appreciation to Cheryl Morgan for taking the minutes of the second meeting at the Millennium Philcon. The minutes taken by Cheryl Morgan were read and approved as read.

Mr Standlee gave notice that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at the conclusion of the Sunday meeting of the main Business Meeting of WSFS, in the same room as that meeting, time permitting. If not feasible an alternate time and place of this Committee would be announced at that meeting.

The Treasurer made the verbal report that there was a balance of approximately USD3,800.00, in the accounts, and that the computer on which the historical reports resided had been stolen. Mr Dennis asked for assistance in locating copies of any financial report issued at Chicon. It was noted that there were several Worldcon committees which had not yet been asked to provide funds, including Chicon, the Millennium Philcon and Aussiecon. It was also noted that it was traditional for Worldcon committees located outside of the US to hold funds in lieu of transmitting them to the Mark Protection Committee and to use those funds in support of the efforts of this committee.

Ken Smookler reported that efforts are continuing with respect to registration of the marks in Canada. He estimates that approximately CDN2,000 to 2,500 will be expended, funded by ConAdian, in support of these efforts.

The subject of registering domains in Canada was discussed. It was decided unanimously to register worldcon.ca at this time.

There was a discussion concerning the use of the term ‘worldcon’ as it related to Worldcom. Stephen Boucher moved to take all reasonable steps to prevent infringing uses of the marks at science fiction conventions. Sue Francis seconded the motion, which was adopted unanimously after discussion.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:31PM.

Respectfully submitted

Gary Keith Feldbaum

Report of the WSFS Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee

The committee reports below the compilation of items from the 2001 Worldcon, together with the collected items from earlier Worldcons. The committee continues to use a definition of "likely to continue to have effect for more than a year" as "continuing". Items appearing with a "BM" in them were motions passed by the Business Meeting while items with a "CH" in them are rulings or opinions of the Chair.

The committee intends to make this full cumulative report available through its web page.

At San Antonio, the committee was charged with codifying the "customs and usages of WSFS" in light of the recent constitutional amendment which refers to such matters.

As a first step in this research, Tim Illingworth & Pat McMurray have OCRed and corrected the WSFS Business Meeting minutes for 1974, and 1979-1992. 1993-date are available elsewhere (through Saul Jaffe). Minutes for all Business Meetings from 1979 to date are now available to any interested party.

These minutes are currently held in Word 6 format, and should be available from Tim’s web site (www.smof.demon.co.uk) Real Soon Now. The 1979 minutes are a report constructed from Ben Yalow's copy of the agenda of the Main Meeting with contemporaneous annotations.

As an extract from these documents, a list has been prepared of all amendments to the WSFS Constitution and Standing Rules proposed since 1979, together with their amendment and disposal. The abbreviation ‘OTC’ has been used to keep the document length within almost reasonable bounds. Only the text of Louis Epstein’s "Commonwealth Zones" motion, proposed and OTCed in 1989, is missing; if anyone has a copy, the committee would like to hear from them.

An update of the Annotated Standing Rules (originally prepared by the Standing Rules Working Group in 1996) has also been prepared.

Pursuant to BM-1994-1, www.wsfs.org has been updated, and copies of documents have been supplied to Saul Jaffe for the SF-Lovers archive.

Pursuant to BM-2001-1, the committee has reminded ConJosé of the requirement for legibility of badges, and hopes that ConJosé has noticed.

The committee is willing to serve for another year.

Don Eastlake

Tim Illingworth

Kevin Standlee

The NP&FSC has no new motions for the Business Meeting.

 

 

 

Report of the Hugo Eligibility Rest of World Committee

The HEROW committee reports the following two motions:

Short Title: Throw a Blanket Over It

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" 2002 Hugo Award (sections 3.3.1 through 3.3.6 inclusive);

2: Did not receive sufficient nominations to appear on the Final Ballot for the 2002 Hugo Awards;

3: Have not been published in the USA as of 31 January 2002; and

4: Have not previously had their eligibility extended by resolution of WSFS;

This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a 3/4 vote.

This motion is the same as was passed last year, and extends the eligibility for non-US-published works, on the basis of limited distribution.

If the above motion passes, the committee moves the adoption of the following motion:

Short Title: We Need Another HEROW

Moved, To continue the Hugo Eligibility for the Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee as previously charged, with a new Chair and members appointed by the Chair of the Business Meeting, and with the Chair of the HEROW Committee authorized to add additional members to the committee.

Note that the current Chair of the HEROW Committee will not accept reappointment as Chair of the committee, although he will continue to work with the committee if it is renewed, because he has too many other things that tie up too much time.

Ben Yalow
HEROW Chairman

 

CONSTITUTION

of the World Science Fiction Society,
September 2002

[Secretary: The version of this document published in Torcon 3 PR4 and on the 2003 Hugo Nominating Ballot has the subsections of 3.2 in the wrong order. This makes no substantive difference and has been corrected for this publication.]

Article 1 - Name, Objectives, Membership, and Organization

Section 1.1: Name. The name of this organization shall be the World Science Fiction Society, hereinafter referred to as WSFS or the Society.

Section 1.2: Objectives. WSFS is an unincorporated literary society whose functions are:

(1) To choose the recipients of the annual Hugo Awards (Science Fiction Achievement Awards).

(2) To choose the locations and Committees for the annual World Science Fiction Conventions (hereinafter referred to as Worldcons).

(3) To attend those Worldcons.

(4) To choose the locations and Committees for the occasional North American Science Fiction Conventions (hereinafter referred to as NASFiCs).

(5) To perform such other activities as may be necessary or incidental to the above purposes.

Section 1.3: Restrictions. No part of the Society’s net earnings shall be paid to its members, officers, or other private persons except in furtherance of the Society’s purposes. The Society shall not attempt to influence legislation or any political campaign for public office. Should the Society dissolve, its assets shall be distributed by the current Worldcon Committee or the appropriate court having jurisdiction, exclusively for charitable purposes. In this section, references to the Society include the Mark Protection Committee and all other agencies of the Society but not convention bidding or operating committees.

Section 1.4: Membership. The Membership of WSFS shall consist of all people who have paid membership dues to the Committee of the current Worldcon.

Section 1.5: Memberships.

1.5.1: Each Worldcon shall offer supporting and attending memberships.

1.5.2: The rights of supporting members of a Worldcon include the right to receive all of its generally distributed publications.

1.5.3: The rights of attending members of a Worldcon include the rights of supporting members plus the right of general attendance at said Worldcon and at the WSFS Business Meeting held thereat.

1.5.4: Members of WSFS who cast a site-selection ballot with the required fee shall be supporting members of the selected Worldcon.

1.5.5: Voters have the right to convert to attending membership in the selected Worldcon within ninety (90) days of its selection, for an additional fee set by its committee. This fee must not exceed two (2) times the site-selection fee and must not exceed the difference between the site-selection fee and the fee for new attending members.

1.5.6: The Worldcon Committee shall make provision for persons to become supporting members for no more than one hundred and twenty-five percent (125%) of the site-selection fee, or such higher amount as has been approved by the Business Meeting, until a cutoff date no earlier than ninety (90) days before their Worldcon.

1.5.7: Other memberships and fees shall be at the discretion of the Worldcon Committee.

Section 1.6: Authority. Authority and responsibility for all matters concerning the Worldcon, except those reserved herein to WSFS, shall rest with the Worldcon Committee, which shall act in its own name and not in that of WSFS.

Section 1.7: The Mark Protection Committee.

1.7.1: There shall be a Mark Protection Committee of WSFS, which shall be responsible for registration and protection of the marks used by or under the authority of WSFS.

1.7.2: The Mark Protection Committee shall submit to the Business Meeting at each Worldcon a report of its activities since the previous Worldcon, including a statement of income and expense.

1.7.3: The Mark Protection Committee shall hold a meeting at each Worldcon after the end of the Business Meeting, at a time and place announced at the Business Meeting.

1.7.4: The Mark Protection Committee shall determine and elect its own officers.

Section 1.8: Membership of the Mark Protection Committee.

1.8.1: The Mark Protection Committee shall consist of:

(1) One (1) member appointed to serve at the pleasure of each future selected Worldcon Committee and each of the two (2) immediately preceding Worldcon Committees

(2) One (1) member appointed to serve at the pleasure of each future selected NASFiC Committee and for each Committee of a NASFIC held in the previous two years, and

(3) Nine (9) members elected three (3) each year to staggered three-year terms by the Business Meeting.

1.8.2: No more than three elected members may represent any single North American region, as defined in Section 1.8.5. Each elected member shall represent the region (if any) in which the member resided at the time they were elected.

1.8.3: Newly elected members take their seats, and the term of office ends for elected and appointed members whose terms expire that year, at the end of the Business Meeting.

1.8.4: If vacancies occur in elected memberships in the Committee, the remainder of the position's term may be filled by the Business Meeting, and until then temporarily filled by the Committee.

1.8.5: To ensure equitable distribution of representation, North America is divided into three (3) regions as follows:

(1) Western: Baja California, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Saskatchewan, and all states, provinces, and territories westward including Hawaii, Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.

(2) Central: Central America, the islands of the Caribbean, Mexico (except as above), and all states, provinces, and territories between the Western and Eastern regions.

(3) Eastern: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Quebec, and all states, provinces, and territories eastward including the District of Columbia, St. Pierre et Miquelon, Bermuda, and the Bahamas.

Article 2 - Powers and Duties of Worldcon Committees

Section 2.1: Duties. Each Worldcon Committee shall, in accordance with this Constitution, provide for

(1) administering the Hugo Awards,

(2) administering any future Worldcon or NASFIC site selection required, and

(3) holding a WSFS Business Meeting.

Section 2.2: Marks. Every Worldcon and NASFIC Committee shall include the following notice in each of its publications:

"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.

Section 2.3: Official Representative. Each future selected Worldcon Committee shall designate an official representative to the Business Meeting to answer questions about their Worldcon.

Section 2.4: Distribution of Rules. The current Worldcon Committee shall print copies of the WSFS Constitution, together with an explanation of proposed changes approved but not yet ratified, and copies of the Standing Rules. The Committee shall distribute these documents to all WSFS members at a point between nine and three months prior to the Worldcon, and shall also distribute them to all WSFS members in attendance at the Worldcon upon registration.

Section 2.5: Bid Presentations. Each Worldcon Committee shall provide a reasonable opportunity for bona fide bidding committees for the Worldcon to be selected the following year to make presentations.

Section 2.6: Incapacity of Committees. With sites being selected three (3) years in advance, there are at least three selected current or future Worldcon Committees at all times. If one of these should be unable to perform its duties, the other selected current or future Worldcon Committee whose site is closer to the site of the one unable to perform its duties shall determine what action to take, by consulting the Business Meeting or by mail poll of WSFS if there is sufficient time, or by decision of the Committee if there is not sufficient time.

Section 2.7: Membership Pass-along. Within ninety (90) days after a Worldcon, the administering Committee shall, except where prohibited by local law, forward its best information as to the names and postal addresses of all of its Worldcon members to the Committee of the next Worldcon.

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, 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 convention.

2.9.3: Each Worldcon or NASFiC Committee should dispose of surplus funds remaining after accounts are settled for its convention 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.

Article 3 - Hugo Awards

Section 3.1: Introduction. Selection of the Hugo Awards shall be made as provided in this Article.

Section 3.2: General.

3.2.1: Unless otherwise specified, Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year.

3.2.2: A work originally appearing in a language other than English shall also be eligible for the year in which it is first issued in English translation. A work, once it has appeared in English, may thus be eligible only once.

3.2.3: The Business Meeting may by a 3/4 vote provide that works originally published outside the United States of America and first published in the United States of America in the current year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards given in the following year.

3.2.4: A work shall not be eligible if in a prior year it received sufficient nominations to appear on the final award ballot.

3.2.5: Publication date, or cover date in the case of a dated periodical, takes precedence over copyright date.

3.2.6: 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.

3.2.7: In the written fiction categories, an author may withdraw a version of a work from consideration if the author feels that the version is not representative of what that author wrote.

3.2.8: The Worldcon Committee shall not consider previews, promotional trailers, commercials, public service announcements, or other extraneous material when determining the length of a work. Running times of dramatic presentations shall be based on their first general release.

3.2.9: 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.

3.2.10: 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.

3.2.11: The Worldcon Committee is responsible for all matters concerning the Awards.

Section 3.3: Categories.

3.3.1: Best Novel. A science fiction or fantasy story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more.

3.3.2: Best Novella. A science fiction or fantasy story of between seventeen thousand five hundred (17,500) and forty thousand (40,000) words.

3.3.3: Best Novelette. A science fiction or fantasy story of between seven thousand five hundred (7,500) and seventeen thousand five hundred (1 7,500) words.

3.3.4: Best Short Story. A science fiction or fantasy story of less than seven thousand five hundred (7,500) words.

3.3.5: Best Related Book. Any work whose subject is related to the field of science fiction, fantasy, or fandom, appearing for the first time in book form during the previous calendar year, and which is either non-fiction or, if fictional, is noteworthy primarily for aspects other than the fictional text.

3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which 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 90 minutes.

3.3.7: 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 90 minutes or less.

3.3.8: Best Professional Editor. The editor of any professional publication devoted primarily to science fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year. A professional publication is one which had an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.

3.3.9: Best Professional Artist. An illustrator whose work has appeared in a professional publication in the field of science fiction or fantasy during the previous calendar year.

3.3.10: Best Semiprozine. Any generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction or fantasy which by the close of the previous calendar year has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, and which in the previous calendar year met at least two (2) of the following criteria:

(1) had an average press run of at least one thousand (1000) copies per issue,

(2) paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication,

(3) provided at least half the income of any one person,

(4) had at least fifteen percent (15%) of its total space occupied by advertising,

(5) announced itself to be a semiprozine.

3.3.11: Best Fanzine. Any generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects which by the close of the previous calendar year has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, and which does not qualify as a semiprozine.

3.3.12: Best Fan Writer. Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines or fanzines or in generally available electronic media during the previous calendar year.

3.3.13: Best Fan Artist. An artist or cartoonist whose work has appeared through publication in semiprozines or fanzines or through other public display during the previous calendar year. Any person whose name appears on the final Hugo Awards ballot for a given year under the Professional Artist category shall not be eligible in the Fan Artist category for that year.

3.3.14: Additional Category. Not more than one special category may be created by the current Worldcon Committee with nomination and voting to be the same as for the permanent categories. The Worldcon Committee is not required to create any such category; such action by a Worldcon Committee should be under exceptional circumstances only; and the special category created by one Worldcon Committee shall not be binding on following Committees. Awards created under this paragraph shall be considered to be Hugo Awards.

Section 3.4: Extended Eligibility. In the event that a potential Hugo Award nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an additional year by a three fourths (3/4) vote of the intervening Business Meeting of WSFS.

Section 3.5: Name and Design. The Hugo Award shall continue to be standardized on the rocket ship design of Jack McKnight and Ben Jason. Each Worldcon Committee may select its own choice of base design. The name (Hugo Award) and the design shall not be extended to any other award.

Section 3.6: "No Award". At the discretion of an individual Worldcon Committee, if the lack of nominations or final votes in a specific category shows a marked lack of interest in that category on the part of the voters, the Award in that category shall be canceled for that year.

Section 3.7: Nominations.

3.7.1: The Worldcon Committee shall conduct a poll to select the nominees for the final Award voting. Each member of either the administering or the immediately preceding Worldcon as of January 31 of the current calendar year shall be allowed to make up to five (5) equally weighted nominations in every category.

3.7.2: The Committee shall include with each nomination ballot a copy of Article 3 of the WSFS Constitution.

3.7.3: Nominations shall be solicited only for the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Section 3.8: Tallying of Nominations.

3.8.1: Except as provided below, the final Award ballots shall list in each category the five eligible nominees receiving the most nominations. If there is a tie including fifth place, all the tied eligible nominees shall be listed.

3.8.2: The Worldcon Committee shall determine the eligibility of nominees and assignment to the proper category of nominees nominated in more than one category.

3.8.3: Any nominations for "No Award" shall be disregarded.

3.8.4: If a nominee appears on a nomination ballot more than once in any one category, only one nomination shall be counted in that category.

3.8.5: No nominee shall appear on the final Award ballot if it received fewer nominations than five percent (5%) of the number of ballots listing one or more nominations in that category, except that the first three eligible nominees, including any ties, shall always be listed.

Section 3.9: Notification and Acceptance. Worldcon Committees shall use reasonable efforts to notify the nominees, or in the case of deceased or incapacitated persons, their heirs, assigns, or legal guardians, in each category prior to the release of such information. Each nominee shall be asked at that time to either accept or decline the nomination. If the nominee declines nomination, that nominee shall not appear on the final ballot.

Section 3.10: Voting.

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

3.10.2: Final Award ballots shall list only the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

3.10.3: "No Award" shall be listed in each category of Hugo Award on the final ballot.

3.10.4: The Committee shall, on or with the final ballot, designate, for each nominee in the printed fiction categories, one or more books, anthologies, or magazines in which the nominee appeared (including the book publisher or magazine issue date(s)).

3.10.5: Voters shall indicate the order of their preference for the nominees in each category.

Section 3.11: Tallying of Votes.

3.11.1: In each category, votes shall first be tallied by the voter's first choices. If no majority is then obtained, the nominee who places last in the initial tallying shall be eliminated and the ballots listing it as first choice shall be redistributed on the basis of those ballots' second choices. This process shall be repeated until a majority-vote winner is obtained.

3.11.2: 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 received.

3.11.3: 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 preferring "No Award" to the tentative winner is greater than the number of ballots preferring the tentative winner to "No Award", then "No Award" shall be declared the winner of the election.

3.11.4: The complete numerical vote totals, including all preliminary tallies for first, second, ... places, shall be made public by the Worldcon Committee within ninety (90) days after the Worldcon. During the same period the nomination voting totals shall also be published, including in each category the vote counts for at least the fifteen highest vote-getters and any other candidate receiving a number of votes equal to at least five percent (5%) of the nomination ballots cast in that category.

Section 3.12: Exclusions. No member of the current Worldcon Committee or any publications closely connected with a member of the Committee shall be eligible for an Award. However, should the Committee delegate all authority under this Article to a Subcommittee whose decisions are irrevocable by the Worldcon Committee, then this exclusion shall apply to members of the Subcommittee only.

Section 3.13: Retrospective Hugos. A Worldcon held 50, 75, or 100 years after a Worldcon at which no Hugos were presented may conduct nominations and elections for Hugos which would have been presented at that previous Worldcon. Procedures shall be as for the current Hugos. Categories receiving insufficient numbers of nominations may be dropped. Once retrospective Hugos have been awarded for a Worldcon, no other Worldcon shall present retrospective Hugos for that Worldcon.

Article 4 - Future Worldcon Selection

Section 4.1: Voting.

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

4.1.2: Voting shall be by written ballot cast either by mail or at the current Worldcon with tallying as described in Section 3.11.

4.1.3: The current Worldcon Committee shall administer the voting, collect the advance membership fees, and turn over those funds to the winning Committee before the end of the current Worldcon.

4.1.4: The site-selection voting totals shall be announced at the Business Meeting and published in the first or second Progress Report of the winning Committee, with the by-mail and at-convention votes distinguished.

Section 4.2: Voter Eligibility.

4.2.1: Voting shall be limited to WSFS members who have purchased at least a supporting membership in the Worldcon whose site is being selected.

4.2.2: The supporting membership rate shall be set by unanimous agreement of the current Worldcon Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline. If agreement is not reached, the default fee shall be the median (middle value) of the US dollar fees used in the previous three (3) Worldcon site selections.

Section 4.3: Non-Natural Persons. Corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities may cast ballots, but only for "No Preference". "Guest of" memberships may only cast "No Preference" ballots. Memberships transferred to individual natural persons may cast preferential ballots, provided that the transfer is accepted by the administering convention.

Section 4.4: Ballots. Site-selection ballots shall include name, signature, address, and membership-number spaces to be filled in by the voter. Each site-selection ballot shall list the options "None of the Above" and "No Preference" and provide for write-in votes, after the bidders and with equal prominence. The supporting membership rate shall be listed on all site-selection ballots.

Section 4.5: Tallying.

4.5.1: The name and address information shall be separated from the ballots and the ballots counted only at the Worldcon. Each bidding committee should provide at least two (2) tellers. Each bidding committee may make a record of the name and address of every voter.

4.5.2: A ballot voted with first or only choice for "No Preference" shall be ignored for site selection. A ballot voted with lower than first choice for "No Preference" shall be ignored if all higher choices on the ballot have been eliminated in preferential tallying.

4.5.3: "None of the Above" shall be treated as a bid for tallying, and shall be the equivalent of "No Award" with respect to Section 3.11.

4.5.4: All ballots shall be initially tallied by their first preferences, even if cast for a bid that the administering Committee has ruled ineligible. If no eligible bid achieves a majority on the first round of tallying, then on the second round all ballots for ineligible bids shall be redistributed to their first eligible choices, and tallying shall proceed according to normal preferential-ballot procedures.

4.5.5: If "None of the Above" wins, the duty of site selection shall devolve on the Business Meeting of the current Worldcon. If the Business Meeting is unable to decide by the end of the Worldcon, the Committee for the following Worldcon shall make the selection without undue delay.

4.5.6: Where a site and Committee are chosen by a Business Meeting or Worldcon Committee, they are not restricted by exclusion zone or other qualifications.

Section 4.6: Bid Eligibility.

4.6.1: To be eligible for site selection, a bidding committee must file the following documents with the Committee that will administer the voting:

(1) an announcement of intent to bid;

(2) adequate evidence of an agreement with its proposed site's facilities, such as a conditional contract or a letter of agreement;

(3) the rules under which the Worldcon Committee will operate, including a specification of the term of office of their chief executive officer or officers and the conditions and procedures for the selection and replacement of such officer or officers.

4.6.2: The bidding committee must supply written copies of these documents to any member of WSFS on request.

4.6.3: For a bid to be allowed on the printed ballot, the bidding committee must file the documents specified above no later than 180 days prior to the official opening of the administering convention.

4.6.4: To be eligible as a write-in, the bidding committee must file the documents specified above by the close of the voting.

4.6.5: If no bids meet these qualifications, the selection shall proceed as though "None of the Above" had won.

Section 4.7: Site Eligibility. A site shall be ineligible if it is within five hundred (500) miles or eight hundred (800) kilometres of the site at which selection occurs.

Section 4.8: NASFiC

If the selected Worldcon site is not in North America, there shall be a NASFiC in North America that year. Selection of the NASFiC shall be by the identical procedure to the Worldcon selection except as provided below or elsewhere in this Constitution:

4.8.1: Voting shall be by written ballot administered by the following year’s Worldcon, if there is no NASFiC in that year, or by the following year’s NASFiC, if there is one, with ballots cast at the administering convention or by mail, and with only members of the administering convention allowed to vote.

4.8.2: NASFiC Committees shall make all reasonable efforts to avoid conflicts with Worldcon dates.

4.8.3: The proposed NASFiC supporting membership rate can be set by unanimous agreement of the administering Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline.

4.8.4: If "None of the Above" wins, or if no eligible bid files by the deadline, then no NASFiC shall be held and any supporting membership payments collected for the NASFiC site selection shall be refunded by the administering convention without undue delay.

Article 5 - Powers of the Business Meeting

Section 5.1: WSFS Business Meetings.

5.1.1: Business Meetings of WSFS shall be held at advertised times at each Worldcon.

5.1.2: The current Worldcon Committee shall provide the Presiding Officer and Staff for each Meeting.

5.1.3: Standing Rules for the Governance of the Business Meeting and related activities may be adopted or amended by a majority vote at any Business Meeting. Amendments to Standing Rules shall take effect at the close of the Worldcon where they are adopted; this rule may be suspended by a two-thirds (2/3) vote.

5.1.4: Meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of (in descending order of precedence) the WSFS Constitution; the Standing Rules; such other rules as may be published in advance by the current Committee (which rules may be suspended by the Business Meeting by the same procedure as a Standing Rule); the customs and usages of WSFS (including the resolutions and rulings of continuing effect); and the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised.

5.1.5: The quorum for the Business Meeting shall be twelve members of the Society physically present.

Section 5.2: Continuation of Committees. Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, any committee or other position created by a Business Meeting shall lapse at the end of the next following Business Meeting that does not vote to continue it.

Section 5.3: Constitutional Pass-along. Within two (2) months after the end of each Worldcon, the Business Meeting staff shall send a copy of all changes to the Constitution and Standing Rules, and all items awaiting ratification, to the next Worldcon Committee

Article 6 - Constitution

Section 6.1: Conduct. The conduct of the affairs of WSFS shall be determined by this Constitution together with all ratified amendments hereto and such Standing Rules as the Business Meeting shall adopt for its own governance.

Section 6.2: Natural Persons. 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.

Section 6.3: Amendment. The WSFS Constitution may be amended by a motion passed by a simple majority at any Business Meeting but only to the extent that such motion is ratified by a simple majority at the Business Meeting of the subsequent Worldcon.

Section 6.4: Commencement. Any change to the Constitution of WSFS shall take effect at the end of the Worldcon at which such change is ratified, except that no change imposing additional costs or financial obligations upon Worldcon Committees shall be binding upon any Committee already selected at the time when it takes effect.

The above copy of the World Science Fiction Society’s Constitution is hereby Certified to be True, Correct, and Complete:

 

 

Kevin Standlee, Chairman

Pat McMurray, Secretary

2002 Business Meeting

 

Standing Rules for the Governance of the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting

Group 1 - Meetings

Group 2 - New Business

Group 3 - Debate Time Limits

Group 4 - Official Papers

Group 5 - Variations of Rules

Group 6 - Mark Protection Committee Elections

Group 7 - Miscellaneous

Group 1: Meetings

Rule 1.1: Meeting and Session. The Annual Meeting of the World Science Fiction Society shall consist of one or more Preliminary Business Meetings and one or more Main Business Meetings. The first meeting shall be designated as a Preliminary Business Meeting. All meetings at a Worldcon (preliminary, main, or otherwise) shall be considered a single "session" as defined in the Parliamentary Authority (see section 5.1 of the WSFS Constitution), regardless of whether such gatherings are called "meetings" or "sessions."

Rule 1.2: 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.

Rule 1.3: Main Business Meeting(s). The Main Business Meeting may reject, pass, or ratify amendments to the Constitution. One Main Meeting shall be also be designated as the Site-Selection Meeting, where Site-Selection business shall be the special order of business.

Rule 1.4: 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 13:00 local time.

Rule 1.5: Smoking. If smoking is allowed in the place where the Business Meeting is held, the Presiding Officer shall divide the room into smoking and non-smoking sections at the beginning of each meeting.

Group 2: New Business

Rule 2.1: Deadline for Submission of New Business. The deadline for submission of non-privileged new business to the Business Meeting shall be two (2) hours after the official opening of the Worldcon or eighteen (18) hours before the first Preliminary Meeting, whichever is later. The Presiding Officer may accept otherwise qualified motions submitted after the deadline, but all such motions shall be placed at the end of the agenda.

Rule 2.2: Requirements for Submission of New Business. Two hundred (200) identical, legible copies of all proposals for non-privileged new business shall be submitted to the Presiding Officer before the deadline in Rule 2.1 unless such proposals are distributed to the attendees at the Worldcon by the Worldcon Committee. All proposals must be legibly signed by a maker and at least one seconder.

Rule 2.3: Interpretation of Motions. The Presiding Officer shall reject as out of order any proposal or motion that is obviously illegal or hopelessly incoherent. In the absence of the maker of a motion or instructions to the contrary, the Presiding Officer shall be free to interpret the meaning of any motion.

Rule 2.4: Short Title. Any item of new business considered by the Business Meeting shall contain a short title.

Group 3: Debate Time Limits

Rule 3.1: Main Motions. The Presiding Officer shall designate the default debate time for main motions. The Business Meeting may, by majority vote, set the initial debate time limit for any motion to any positive whole number of minutes.

Rule 3.2: Allotment of Time. If a question is divided, the time limits applicable to the question before it was divided shall apply to each portion of the divided question. Debate time shall be allotted equally to each side of a question. Time spent on points of order or other neutral matters arising from a motion shall be divided equally and charged to each side.

Rule 3.3: Amendments. Debate on all amendments to main motions shall be limited to five (5) minutes, allotted equally to each side. Time spent on debate of an amendment shall be charged against the time for the main motion.

Rule 3.4: Motions Allowed After Expiration. Motions that adhere to the main motion shall not be out of order because of the expiration of debate time, but shall be undebatable.

Rule 3.5: Minimum Substantive Debate. If the debate time expires before either or both sides of the question have had an opportunity for substantive debate, any side that has not had such an opportunity shall have two (2) minutes to be used solely for the purpose of substantive debate.

Group 4: Official Papers

Rule 4.1: Indicating Revisions. The Business Meeting staff shall clearly indicate all changes (including deletions) from the previous year’s version when they provide the Constitution and Standing Rules for publication prior to the following Worldcon. However, the failure to indicate such changes shall not affect the validity of the documents.

Rule 4.2: Corrections. Any correction of fact to the Minutes or to the Constitution or Standing Rules as published should be brought to the attention of the Secretary of the Business Meeting in question and of the next available Business Meeting as soon as they are discovered.

Rule 4.3: Numbers, Titles, References, and Technical Corrections. Numbers and titles of the various parts of the Constitution and Standing Rules are for the sake of easy reference only. They do not form a substantive part of these documents nor of any motion to amend these documents. The Business Meeting Secretary shall incorporate into these documents appropriate changes as required by newly adopted amendments. When making any such adjustments required by this section, the Business Meeting Secretary shall change article and section numbers, titles, and internal cross-references as necessary to maintain a consistent, parallel structure, which shall not be altered unless the Business Meeting explicitly so directs. The Business Meeting Secretary may change punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and other wording in the Constitution and Standing Rules only insofar as such changes clarify meaning and enhance consistency, and only insofar as such changes do not modify the substantive meaning of the documents.

Group 5: Variations of Rules

Rule 5.1: Nonstandard Parliamentary Authority. If a Worldcon Committee adopts for the governance of the Business Meeting a parliamentary authority other than that specified in the Constitution, the Committee must in timely fashion publish information about how to obtain copies of the authority in question.

Rule 5.2: Constitutional and Standing Rule Amendments. Motions to Amend the Constitution, to Ratify a Constitutional Amendment, and to Amend the Standing Rules shall be considered ordinary main motions, except as otherwise provided in the Standing Rules or Constitution. An object to consideration shall not be in order against ratification of a constitutional amendment.

Rule 5.3: Postpone Indefinitely. The motion to Postpone Indefinitely shall not be allowed.

Rule 5.4: Amend; Secondary Amendments. Secondary amendments (amendments to amendments) are not allowed except when the primary amendment is to substitute.

Rule 5.5: Previous Question. A person speaking to a motion may not immediately offer a motion to close debate. The motion for the Previous Question (also known as the motion "close debate," "call the question," and "vote now") shall not be in order when there is less than one minute of debate time remaining, nor when either or both sides of the debate have yet to speak to a question. Before voting on the motion for the Previous Question, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, ask for a show of hands of those persons who still wish to speak to the matter under consideration.

Rule 5.6: Lay on the Table. The motion to Lay on the Table shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote for adoption.

Rule 5.7: Adjournment. The incidental main motion to adjourn sine die shall not be in order until all Special and General Orders have been discharged.

Rule 5.8: Suspension of Rules. Rules protecting the rights of absentees, including this rule, may not be suspended.

Group 6: Mark Protection Committee Elections

Rule 6.1: Nominations. Nominations for election to the Mark Protection Committee shall be allowed from the floor at each Preliminary Business Meeting. To be listed on the ballot, each nominee must submit to the Secretary of the Business Meeting the nominee’s consent to nomination and the nominee’s current region of residence. A nominee shall be ineligible if the nominee could not be elected due to the regional residence restrictions. The deadline for submitting such consent to nomination shall be set by the Secretary.

Rule 6.2: Elections. Elections to the Mark Protection Committee shall be a special order of business at a designated Main Business Meeting. Voting shall be by written preferential ballot with write-in votes allowed. Votes for write-in candidates who do not submit written consent to nomination and region of residence to the Presiding Officer before the close of balloting shall be ignored. The ballot shall list each nominee’s name and region of residence. The first seat filled shall be by normal preferential ballot procedures. After a seat is filled, votes for the elected member and for any nominee who is now ineligible due to regional residence restrictions shall be eliminated before conducting the next ballot. This procedure shall continue until all seats are filled. Should there be any partial-term vacancies on the committee, the partial-term seat(s) shall be filled after the full-term seats have been filled.

Group 7: Miscellaneous

Rule 7.1: Question Time. During the Site-Selection Meeting, fifteen (15) minutes of program time shall be allocated to each future seated Worldcon committee. During the first five (5) minutes, each committee may make such presentations as they wish. The remaining time shall be allocated for questions to be asked about that committee’s Worldcon. Questions may be submitted in writing at any previous meeting. Questions submitted in writing shall have priority over other questions if the person who submitted the question is present and still wishes to ask the question. No person may ask a second question as long as any person wishes to ask a first question. Questions are limited to fifteen (15) seconds and responses to two (2) minutes. If time permits at the Site-Selection Meeting, committees bidding for the right to host any Worldcon whose selection will take place in the next calendar year shall be allocated five (5) minutes of program time to make such presentations as they wish. The time limits in this rule may be modified by majority vote.

Rule 7.2: Dilatory Actions; Misuse of Inquiries. The sole purpose of a "point of information" or "parliamentary inquiry" is to ask the Presiding Officer for an opinion of the effect of a motion or for guidance as to the correct procedure to follow. The Presiding Officer shall treat as dilatory any attempts to circumvent the rules of debate under the guise of points of information, parliamentary inquiries, or other queries and requests.

Rule 7.3: Counted Vote. The Presiding Officer shall take a counted vote upon the request of ten percent (10%) of those members attending the meeting.

Rule 7.4: Carrying Business Forward. Motions other than Constitutional amendments awaiting ratification may be carried forward from one year to the next only by being postponed definitely or by being referred to a committee.

Rule 7.5: Continuing Resolutions. Resolutions of continuing effect ("continuing resolutions") may be repealed or amended by majority vote of subsequent Business Meetings without notice, and shall be automatically repealed or amended by applicable amendments to the Constitution or Standing Rules or by conflicting resolutions passed by subsequent Business Meetings.

Rule 7.6: Committees. All committees are authorized to organize themselves in any lawful manner and to adopt rules for the conduct of their business, which may include conducting balloting by mail and limiting debate, subject to any contrary provisions of the Constitution, the Standing Rules, or instructions given to the committee by the Business Meeting.

Rule 7.7: Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee. The Business Meeting shall appoint a Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee. The Committee shall:

(1) Maintain the list of Rulings and Resolutions of Continuing Effect

(2) Codify the Customs and Usages of WSFS and of the Business Meeting.

Rule 7.8: Worldcon Runners’ Guide Editorial Committee. The Business Meeting shall appoint a Worldcon Runners’ Guide Editorial Committee. The Committee shall maintain the Worldcon Runners’ Guide, which shall contain a compilation of the best practices in use among those who run Worldcons.

The above copy of the Standing Rules for the Governance of the WSFS Business Meeting is hereby Certified to be True, Correct, and Complete:

 

 

Kevin Standlee, Chairman
Pat McMurray, Secretary
2002 WSFS Business Meeting

 

Business Passed on to Torcon 3

The following Constitutional Amendment was passed at ConJosé and is passed on to Torcon 3 for ratification.

3.1 Short Title: Lesser Minutes

Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution at Subsection 3.2.8 by striking and inserting text as follows:

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 boundary.

Rationale: 20 minutes will never be less than 18 minutes (20% of the 90-minute category boundary), and thus the wording proposed for deletion is mere surplusage and possibly confusing. Removing it will have no substantive effect.

 

PROPOSED AGENDA FOR TORCON3

1. Committee Reports

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

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

The Mark Protection Committee will meet at a time to be announced, probably on Thursday evening of the convention. A formal report is unlikely to be available until the Saturday Business Meeting at the earliest.

Nominations for the WSFS Mark Protection Committee are in order at the Preliminary Business Meeting. Nominees must accept nomination and indicate their current residence zone within one hour of the end of the Preliminary Business Meeting.

The members whose terms of office expire at this Worldcon are: Scott Dennis (West), Donald Eastlake III (Central), Ruth Sachter (West). Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most two people from the Western zone, one person from the Central zone, two people from the Eastern zone, and 3 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.)

1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

1.5. Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) Committee

2. Worldcon Reports

2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs

2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)

2.1.2. L.A.con III (1996)

2.1.3. LoneStarCon 2 (1997)

2.1.4. BucConeer (1998)

2.1.5. Aussiecon Three (1999)

2.1.6. Chicon 2000

2.1.7. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

2.1.8. ConJosé (2002)

2.2. Seated Worldcons

2.2.1. TorCon III (2003)

2.2.2. Noreascon 4 (2004)

2.2.3. Interaction (2005)

3. Business Passed On from ConJosé

The following Constitutional Amendment was approved at ConJosé and passed on to Torcon 3 for ratification. If ratified, it will become part of the Constitution at the conclusion of Torcon 3.

3.1 Short Title: Lesser Minutes

Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution at Subsection 3.2.8 by striking and inserting text as follows:

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 boundary.

Rationale: 20 minutes will never be less than 18 minutes (20% of the 90-minute category boundary), and thus the wording proposed for deletion is mere surplusage and possibly confusing. Removing it will have no substantive effect.

4. New Business

4.1. Resolutions

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

4.2. 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 2003 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.

4.3. Constitutional Amendments

Items under this heading have not yet received first passage, and will become part of the constitution only if passed at Torcon 3 and ratified at Noreascon 4. 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

5. Site Selection Business

5.1. Report of the 2006 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons

5.2.1. Noreascon 4 (2004)

5.2.2. Interaction (2005)

5.3. Presentation by future Worldcon bids

5.3.1. Presentation by bidders for 2007

5.3.2. Presentation by bidders for years after 2007

6. Adjournment

6.1. Adjournment Sine Die

THE 2002 WORLDCON SITE SELECTION RESULTS

Voted on at ConJosé
August 31, 2002 in San José, Calfornia , USA

Preliminary Results Pending Business Meeting Ratification

Jim Briggs, site selection administrator for ConJosé, presents the following results. 1034 ballots were cast. The time of the count was 44 minutes. The results were as follows:

 

Mail in

Thurs

Fri

Sat

Total

Invalid

4

       

Glasgow

152

211

266

288

917

No Preference

7

2

16

28

53

None of the Above

1

4

5

8

18

Minneapolis in '73

1

1

3

3

8

I5 in '05

   

2

3

5

Rottnest Island

 

1

 

1

2

Winterfell

     

2

2

Seattle in '05

 

2

   

2

Spuzzum, BC

 

1

 

1

2

New Glasgow, NS

   

2

 

2

Monkey's Eybrow, KY

1

     

1

Monkey's Eyebrow, KY

   

1

 

1

Honolulu, HI

1

     

1

Sunnydale, CA

 

1

   

1

Both

 

1

   

1

M5 in 05

 

1

   

1

No Dams

 

1

   

1

Amber

 

1

   

1

Altair 6

 

1

   

1

Little Cayman

 

1

   

1

Vorbarr Sultana

 

1

   

1

Sacramento

   

1

 

1

Antartica

   

1

 

1

Area 51

   

1

 

1

Komono

     

1

1

Discworld Ankh-Morpork, Seamstresses Guild

     

1

1

Lothlorien

     

1

1

Blank

     

1

1

Takoma Park, MD

     

1

1

Total

167

230

298

339

1034

Total with Preference

160

228

282

311

981

Total needed to win: 491. Glasgow wins on the first ballot.

 

 

Attendance List

First name

Surname

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Brad

Ackerman

X

Andrew A

Adams

X

X

Sue Ellen

Adkins

X

X

Adina

Adler

X

X

X

Gary

Agin

X

X

X

Felicia

Alvarez

X

X

Lynn

Anderson

X

X

X

Margene

Bahm

X

X

X

Chris

Ballowe

X

Chris

Barley

X

X

X

Judith

Bemis

X

X

Mark

Blackman

X

X

X

Robert

Blair

X

X

Kent

Bloom

X

X

X

Stephen

Boucher

X

X

X

Seth

Breidbart

X

X

X

James M

Briggs

X

X

Gordon

Carleton

X

X

X

Johnny

Carruthers

X

X

X

Lori

Chapek-Carleton

X

John

Cornett

X

Joni Brill

Dashoff

X

X

Todd

Dashoff

X

James Stanley

Daugherty

X

X

X

Bob

Daverin

X

Brenda

Daverin

X

John

Day

X

Genny

Dazzo

X

X

X

Linda

Deneroff

X

X

X

Gay Ellen

Dennett

X

X

X

Jane

Dennis

X

Scott

Dennis

X

Steven

desJardins

X

Vincent

Docherty

X

X

X

Paul G

Dolenac

X

X

X

Paul

Dormer

X

X

X

Bobbie

DuFault

X

Andrew

Dyer

X

Martin

Easterbrook

X

Chris Legan

Edwards

X

X

X

Graig

Eiglar

X

Adrienne

Ertman

X

Gary Keith

Feldbaum

X

X

George

Flynn

X

X

X

Sean P

Fodera

X

Crickett

Fox

X

Steve

Francis

X

Sue

Francis

X

X

Pam

Fremon

X

X

X

Doug

Friauf

X

X

X

Beth

Friedman

X

X

X

Janice

Gelb

X

X

Glenn

Glazer

X

X

Marc

Gordon

X

X

X

Shouichi

Hachiya

X

X

X

Paul

Haggerty

X

X

X

James

Hay

X

Shigeru

Hayashida

X

X

X

Kevin B

Hewett

X

Martin

Hoare

X

X

Hiroaki

Inoue

X

Peter

Jarvis

X

Ryan K

Johnson

X

Struan

Judd

X

Rick

Katze

X

X

William

Keaton

X

William

Keaton

X

X

X

Mike

Kingsley

X

X

X

Robert

Klein

X

X

Lincoln W

Kliman

X

X

X

Rick

Kovalcik

X

X

Paul

Kraus

X

Patrick S

Lasswll

X

X

Alexis

Layton

X

X

X

Danny

Lieberman

X

Paula

Lieberman

X

X

X

Mark

Linneman

X

John

Lorentz

X

X

X

Perianne

Lurie

X

X

X

Bob

MacIntosh

X

X

X

Jim

Mann

X

X

X

Michael

Mason

X

X

Winton

Matthers

X

X

X

Rich

McAllister

X

X

Dennis

McCunney

X

X

Tim

McDaniel

X

Pat

McMurray

X

X

X

Kathleen

Meyer

X

Ben

Miller

X

X

Craig

Miller

X

X

X

Charles

Mohapel

X

Patrick

Molloy

X

Cheryl

Morgan

X

X

Skip

Morris

X

X

Beth

Moursund

X

X

X

Michael

Nelson

X

X

Stephen

Nicholson

X

X

Frank

Olbris

X

Erik

Olson

X

X

X

Mark

Olson

X

X

X

Tony

Parker

X

X

Sara

Paul

X

X

X

Michael

Pins

X

X

Gary L

Plumlee

X

John

Pomeranz

X

X

X

Pat

Porter

X

X

Dave

Ratti

X

X

X

Neil

Rest

X

Mark E

Richards

X

X

X

Clifford

Ritchie

X

X

X

Linda

Ross-Mansfield

X

X

X

Richard S

Russell

X

X

X

Ruth

Sachter

X

X

X

Sharon

Sbarsky

X

X

X

Michael

Schetter

X

X

Ben

Schilling

X

X

X

Darice

Schirber

X

Marah

Searle Kovacevic

X

X

X

David

Shallcross

X

X

X

Vicki

Smith

X

X

Victoria A

Smith

X

X

X

Ken

Smookler

X

Leo

Soroschenko

X

Jack

Speer

X

X

Kevin

Standlee

X

X

X

Keith

Stokes

X

Erwin S

Strauss

X

Jeanne E

Sullivan

X

Gayle

Surette

X

X

X

Geoff

Surette

X

X

Tim

Szczesuil

X

X

X

Don A

Timm

X

X

X

Samuel J

Tomaine

X

Paul

Treadaway

X

Galen A

Tripp

X

X

X

Leslie

Turek

X

X

X

Alexis

von Thorn

X

X

X

Kate

Waterous

X

X

Geoffrey A

Watkins

X

Lew

Wolkoff

X

X

X

Kent

Wong

X

Ben

Yalow

X

X

X

 

Interaction PR0

This document can be found at http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/prs.htm

 

 

Financial Report, ConAdian (1994)

Financial Report at 2002 Worldcon Business Meeting

Year Ending July 31, 2002

Reported in Canadian Dollars

Prepared by Bruce Farr, CPA (unaudited)

REVENUE

   

Interest Income

 

0.57

TOTAL INCOME

 

0.57

     

EXPENDITURES

 

1.00

Bank Charges

   

Board Expenses and Activities Supported

   

1994 APA copies for Torcon 3

90.17

 

Board Dinners

105.45

 

WINSFA Registration

20.00

 

Torcon Board Meetings (2/26, 6/13)

1,121.54

 

ConAdian Registration

35.00

 

Westercon Bid Support (travel)

1,758.67

 

PO Box Rental

77.04

 

Total Board Expenses

 

3,207.87

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

 

3,208.87

     

NET RESULTS FOR YEAR ENDING 7/31/02 (LOSS)

 

(3,208.30)

     

FUND BALANCES JULY 31, 2002

   

Broker Account

 

36,738.33

Chequing Account

 

6,087.28

TOTAL FUND BALANCES

 

42,835.61

 

 

L.A.con III Financial report

Please note that reports have been re-formatted following submission in order to make a more coherent and readable overall document. Any errors or omissions as a result of this reformatting are the responsibility of the WSFS Secretary and not of the submitting organization.

Date

Account

Description

Amount

9/1/1997

Opening

From LACON

64445.86

10/23/1997

Projects

SFOHA SUPPORT:5 YEAR

-100.00

1/6/1998

Projects

TAFF DONATION - BULMER REPORT

-500.00

1/26/1998

Projects

S. GOLDBERG MEMORIAL: HAR MUDD COLLEGE

-500.00

1/26/1998

Projects

1964 LEIBER SPEECH TRANS

-25.00

1/26/1998

Projects

1964 BAYCON TAPES TRANSFER

-113.00

2/17/1998

Projects

FAN GALLERY

-452.19

5/3/1998

Projects

TAFF - TUDOR REPORT

-500.00

6/22/1998

Projects

DONATION TO ASIMOV LECTURESHIP FUND

-1000.00

10/18/1998

Projects

ROTSLER AWARD

-300.00

10/20/1998

Equipment

RADIOS

-3326.78

10/20/1998

Projects

X PRIZE DONATION

-500.00

11/18/1998

Projects

ROTSLER AWARD

-229.50

11/18/1998

Projects

ROTSLER AWARD

-49.85

11/24/1998

Projects

EATON CONFERENCE

-3000.00

1/8/1900

Projects

ROTSLER AWARD

-300.00

1/8/1900

Projects

TAPE TRANSCRIPTION

-25.00

2/16/1900

Projects

COPY LASFS HISTORY PIX

-64.95

2/16/1900

Projects

GARY BOOKS TO NESFA

-38.01

4/26/1900

Projects

GARY BOOKS TO BALTIMORE

-14.41

4/29/1999

Projects

FFANZ REPORT - 2 LOONIES

-500.00

5/26/1900

Projects

GARY BOOKS TO NESFA

-210.52

5/29/1999

Projects

CUFF REPORT - SPENSER

-500.00

5/29/1999

Equipment

NEW MC/VISA MACHINE

-1483.03

9/18/1999

Projects

FAN GALLERY

-298.19

10/17/1999

Projects

FAN GALLERY

-30.23

12/3/1999

Projects

TAFF REPORT - ROBERTS

-500.00

12/24/1999

Projects

GUFF REPORTS:FOYSTER, GUNN, HARVEY, HAUS

-2000.00

5/31/1900

Projects

CUFF report

-500.00

9/23/1900

Projects

Gary Books and labels

-130.07

9/23/1900

Projects

Fan Gallery

-28.10

10/12/1900

Projects

DUFF - Janice Gelb

-500.00

10/16/1900

Projects

Fan Gallery

-37.28

11/15/1900

Projects

Gary Books

-51.45

11/15/1900

Projects

Rotsler Book

-466.65

2/19/2001

Projects

Gary Books

-25.28

5/11/2001

Projects

Nebula Banquet

-115.67

1/19/2001

Projects

CUFF Report

-500.00

5/11/2001

Projects

Nebula Banquet

-378.00

6/19/2001

Projects

Friends of Griffith Park Observatory

-500.00

7/17/2001

Projects

Gary Books

-13.50

7/17/2001

Projects

Retro Hugo packing

-30.00

9/28/2001

Projects

Rotsler Award 2000

-300.00

11/1/2001

Projects

Cases for Fan Gallery

-792.00

12/17/2001

Projects

Gary Books

-14.43

12/17/2001

Projects

History Exhibit cases

-652.89

1/13/2002

Projects

Fan Gallery

-95.67

2/18/2002

Projects

Rotsler Award 2001

-300.00

3/23/2002

Projects

GUFF report

-500.00

4/27/2002

Projects

Fan Gallery, CDs

-618.21

6/18/2002

Projects

Gary Books shipping

-59.68

6/18/2002

Projects

Worldcon History shipping

-92.37

7/19/2002

Projects

BEP pix shipping

-76.26

8/20/2002

Projects

Gary Books shipping

-125.00

Total left:

40982.69

Elayne Pelz

Financial Report, BucConeer (1998)

BucConeer, the 56th World Science Fiction Convention

Report to the 60th World Science Fiction Convention Business Meeting

Covering the Period Aug. 10, 2001 to Aug.19, 2002

Opening Balance:

$22,393.33

   

Additions:

 

Interest Income

$184.89

Donations

$107.50

Members Contribution

$400.00

   

Deletions:

 

Banking Expenses

$237.49

Student Contests

$11,341.16

St. Con. Reception

$1,068.03

   

Remaining Balance

$10,439.04

 

 

Financial Report, Aussiecon Three (1999)

Victorian Science Fiction Conventions Inc

Reg No: A0034011X

T/A Aussiecon Three, 57th World Science Fiction Convention Inc

STATEMENT OF AFFAIRS as at 30 June 2002

Presented to the Business Meeting of the 60th Worldcon

San José, CA, USA, September 2002

Balance Sheet

AUD

USD

Assets

Cheque Account

2,438.41

1,267.97

 

Interest Bearing Deposit

34,480.37

17,929.79

 

Debtors

0.00

0.00

Total Assets

 

36,918.78

19,197.77

       

Liabilities

Aussie 07 Worldcon bid

225.00

117.00

 

Mark Protection Committee

4,667.00

2,426.84

Total Liabilities

 

4,892.00

2,543.84

       

Equity

 

32,026.78

16,653.93

       

Surplus & Loss

 

Income

Membership Fees

14.00

7.28

 

Merchandise Sales

102.27

53.18

 

Miscellaneous

0.00

0.00

 

Interest

2,205.50

1,146.86

Total Income

 

2,321.77

1,207.32

       

Expenses

Administrative costs

129.09

67.13

 

Bank fees

293.97

152.86

 

Legal fees

30.00

15.60

 

Postage

167.14

86.91

 

Committee expenses

0.00

0.00

 

Misc projects

0.00

0.00

 

Tax paid

566.54

294.60

Total Expenses

 

1,186.74

617.10

       

Net Surplus (Loss)

 

1,135.03

590.22

       

Dispersment of Surplus

 

Surplus at 1 July 2002

 

25,477.00

13,248.04

Funds dispersed in 2001-2002

 

0.00

0.00

       

Balance to VSFC Fund

 

25,477.00

13,248.04

 

Financial Report, Chicon 2000

Summary Financial Report for the Year Ended December 31, 2001

I. Accrual Basis

   
     

Income

   
     

Cash contributions

802.00

 

Other income (collections in excess of prior accrual)

2,336.01

 

Total income

 

3,138.01

     

Expenses

   
     

Convention expenses (payments in excess of prior accrual)

38,157.57

 

Accounting fee

4,043.50

 

Postage and shipping

4,849.36

 

Storage locker rental

661.21

 

Miscellaneous expenses

385.26

 

Contribution to Laubach Literacy, Inc

615.25

 

Total expenses

 

48,712.15

     

II. Cash Basis

   
     

Income

   
     

Cash Contributions

802.00

 

Program Book advertising

8,846.11

 

Memberships

16,044.90

 

Total Income

 

48,712.15

     

Expenses

   
     

Membership reimbursements

93,514.60

 

Hotel room reimbursements

24,278.16

 

Facilities expenses

14,128.16

 

Accounting fee

4,043.50

 

Postage and shipping

4,849.36

 

Storage locker rental

661.21

 

Miscellaneous expenses

1,422.99

 

Contribution to Laubach Literacy, Inc

615.25

 

Total expenses

 

143,513.18

     

III. Year-End Balance

   
     

Cash on hand

84,118.47

 

Reserve for accrued expenses

56,022.18

 

Unrestricted funds

 

28,096.29

Financial Report, The Millennium Philcon (2001)

This report was not received.

 

Financial Report, ConJosé (2002)

 

Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2002

ASSETS

         
 

Current Assets

     
   

Checking Savings

     
     

USA Checking

 

30,856.51

 
     

Money Market Account

 

230,606.28

 
     

Canadian Account

 

3,506.13

Equivalent to 5,323.00 CAD

     

Euro Account

 

734.15

Equivalent to 740.00 EUR

     

UK Account

 

4,636.69

Equivalent to 3,024.98 GBP

   

Total Checking Savings

 

270,339.76

 
             
   

Other Current Assets

     
     

Bulk Mail Accounts

 

581.31

 
     

Undeposited Funds

 

10,363.17

Outstanding charges from SFSFC main fund

   

Total Other Current Assets

 

10,944.48

 
             
 

Total Current Assets

 

281,284.24

 
             
 

Fixed Assets

     
   

Computer Equipment

 

550.00

 
   

Mail Box Key Deposit

 

2.00

 
   

Office Equipment

 

240.00

 
 

Total Fixed Assets

 

792.00

 
             
 

Other Assets

     
   

Convention Centre Deposit

 

111,000.00

 
   

Office Security Deposit

 

800.00

 
 

Total Other Assets

 

111,800.00

 
             

TOTAL ASSETS

 

393,876.24

 
             

LIABILITIES & EQUITY

     
 

Liabilities

     
   

Current Liabilities

     
     

Other Current Liabilities

Sales Tax Payable

 

9.90

 
   

Total Other Current Liabilities

 

9.90

 
 

Total Liabilities

 

9.90

 
             
 

Equity

     
   

Retained Earnings

 

161,497.63

 
   

Net Income

 

232,368.71

 
 

Total Equity

 

393,866.34

 
             

TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY

 

393,876.24

 

 

 

Profit & Loss, July 2001 through June 2002

Ordinary Income/Expense

   
 

Income

   
   

Art Show Income

   
     

Art Show Panels/Tables

 

7,775.00

     

Art Show Mail in Fees

 

770.00

     

Artist Alley Income

 

490.00

     

Print Shop Income

 

500.00

   

Total Art Show Income

 

9,535.00

               
   

Sales to Members

 

120.00

   

Donations

 

2,263.00

   

Writers Workshops

 

250.00

   

Advertising

 

1,400.00

   

Dealers’ Table Fees

 

51,750.00

   

Memberships

 

227,768.14

 

Total Income

 

293,086.14

               
 

Expense

   
   

Chairman’s Discretionary Fund

 

110.00

     

ASCAP/BMI

 

1,027.91

     

Tom’s Cell Phone

 

454.00

     

Chairman’s Discretionary Fund – Other

 

1,591.91

   

Total Chairman’s Discretionary Fund

   
               
   

Exhibits Expense

   
     

Art Show Mailing

 

1,035.34

     

Exhibit Transportation

 

1,497.68

     

Storage

 

2,639.33

     

Signs

 

450.00

   

Total Exhibits Expenses

 

5,622.35

               
   

Facilities Expenses

   
     

Meeting Space Rental

 

1,288.17

   

Total Facilities Expenses

 

1,288.17

               
   

Fairy Godfather Expenses

   
     

WSFS Expenses

   
       

Hugo Ballot Postage

 

70.56

       

Hugo PO Box rental

 

22.50

       

Hugo Nomination Ballots

   
         

Hugo PINs to MilPhil members

 

945.88

         

Hugo Nomination Ballots – Other

 

64.80

       

Total Hugo Nomination Ballots

 

1,010.68

               
       

WSFS Gavel Engraving

 

43.52

     

Total WSFS Expenses

 

1,147.26

   

Total Fairy Godfather Expenses

 

1,147.26

               
   

Hospitality Expenses

   
     

Consuite

 

250.00

     

Hugo Nominee Party

 

5,095.89

   

Total Hospitality Expenses

 

5,345.89

               
   

Member Service Expenses

   
     

Badge Wallets

 

3,800.00

     

PRs to new members

 

758.45

     

Refunds

 

50.00

     

Registration Forms

 

398.0

     

Registrations Supplies

 

37.17

     

Returned Items

 

428.00

   

Total Membership Services Expenses

 

5,471.62

               
   

Programming Expenses

   
     

Writers Workshop Expenses

 

233.89

   

Total Programming Expenses

 

233.89

               
   

Publications Expenses

   
     

Advertising

 

350.00

     

Equipment

 

166.00

     

Flyers

 

816.87

     

Mailing Supplies

 

201.36

     

PR4 Mailing

 

865.82

     

PR4 Printing

 

5,288.01

     

PR4 Supplies

 

218.67

     

Offline 3 Printing

 

1,629.16

     

Offline 3 supplies

 

302.21

     

Offline 3 domestic mailing

 

316.92

     

Offline 3 international postage

 

746.0

     

PR3 International

 

209.75

     

PR3 Printing

 

4,746.60

     

PR3 mailing

 

650.93

     

Offline 2 printing

 

1,474.20

     

Offline 2 mailing supplies

 

189.77

     

Offline 2 domestic mailing

 

298.54

     

Offline 2 / PR 2 international

 

694.00

     

Publications Expenses - Other

 

324.74

   

Total Publications Expenses

 

19,395.55

               
   

Support Services Expenses

   
     

Bank Charges

 

92.48

     

Bulk Mail Permit

 

125.00

     

Conolulu Charges

 

874.00

     

IT Expenses

   
       

Domain Registration

 

123.00

       

Web Site Fees

 

359.40

     

Total IT Expenses

 

482.40

               
     

Licenses and Fees

 

51.0

     

Office Supplies

 

167.22

               
     

Promotional Parties

   
       

Westercon 21 Party

 

303.49

       

MilPhil Party

 

560.00

       

LosCon 2001 Party

 

64.16

       

Minicon

 

200.00

       

Baycon 2002 Party

 

165.18

     

Total Promotional parties

 

1,292.83

               
     

Postage

 

304.80

     

Rent

 

7,150.00

     

Telephone

 

1,672.72

   

Total Support Services Expenses

 

12,212.45

               
 

Total Expense

 

52,309.09

               

Net Ordinary Income

 

240,777.05

               

Other Income / Expense

   
 

Other Income

   
   

Interest Earned

 

2,433.87

 

Total Other Income

 

2,433.87

               
 

Other Expense

   
   

Currency Exchange Differences

 

10,842.21

 

Total Other Expense

 

10,842.21

               
 

Net Other Income

 

-8,406.34

               

Net Income

 

232,36871

Report of Torcon 3

Please note that reports have been re-formatted following submission in order to make a more coherent and readable overall document. Any errors or omissions as a result of this reformatting are the responsibility of the WSFS Secretary and not of the submitting organization.

Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003

Financial Statements with Notice to Reader

December 31, 2001

Notice to Reader

I have compiled the balance sheet of Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003 as at December 31, 2001 and the statements of deferred revenue and expenditures for the General Fund and the Bid Fund for the year then ended from information I have assembled in my capacity as Treasurer of the Corporation.

Readers are cautioned that these statements may not be appropriate for their purposes.

Toronto, Ontario D. Larry Hancock

February 23, 2002 Chartered Accountant

Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003

Balance Sheet

December 31, 2001

Assets

2001

2000

Current

Bank

$ 305,561

$ 186,118

Advances receivable

1,780

3,648

307,341

189,766

Deferred expenses

77,792

66,433

Facilities deposit

2,000

2,000

$ 387,133

$ 258,200

Liabilities

Current

$ -

$ -

Deferred revenue

387,133

258,200

387,133

258,200

Members' equity

Members' equity

-

-

$ 387,133

$ 258,200

Unaudited -- See Notice to Reader

Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003

Statement of Deferred Revenue and Expenditures - General Fund

December 31, 2001

Deferred Revenue

Cumulative

2001

2000

12 months

12 months

Memberships

$ 289,415

$ 114,918

$ 174,497

Foreign exchange

11,183

5,598

5,585

Interest

6,998

5,913

1,084

Advertising

832

832

-

Tshirts

677

610

67

Other

331

257

74

Total deferred revenue

309,436

128,128

181,307

Deferred Expenses

Communications

7,689

4,731

2,958

Credit card charges

4,229

1,610

2,619

Merchandise

1,307

-

1,307

Office

1,292

672

620

Conventions

3,374

3,314

60

Administrative

687

386

301

Advertising

468

125

343

Printing

243

230

12

Guest of honour expenses

139

-

139

Total deferred expenses

19,428

11,068

8,359

Excess of deferred revenue over deferred expenses

290,008

117,060

172,948

Cumulative excess at beginning of the year

-

172,948

-

Cumulative excess at end of the year

$ 290,008

$ 290,008

$ 172,948

Unaudited -- See Notice to Reader

Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003

Statement of Deferred Revenue and Expenditures - Bid Fund

December 31, 2001

Deferred Revenue

Cumulative

2001

2000

12 months

12 months

Presupports

$ 65,520

$ (24)

$ 19,499

Tshirts

8,727

-

2,783

Other

2,608

247

1,118

Foreign exchange

842

582

(8)

Total deferred revenue

77,697

805

23,393

Deferred Expenses

Conventions

31,475

-

6,029

Merchandise

7,873

-

(90)

Communications

5,578

-

971

Advertising

5,342

-

1,747

Administrative

3,953

-

3,201

Office

2,767

219

875

Flyer expenses

1,375

71

260

Total deferred expenses

58,364

290

12,993

Excess of deferred revenue over deferred expenses

19,333

515

10,400

Cumulative excess at beginning of the year

-

18,818

8,418

Cumulative excess at end of the year

$ 19,333

$ 19,333

$ 18,818

Unaudited -- See Notice to Reader

Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003

Notes to the Financial Statements

December 31, 2001

1.

Incorporation

Toronto World Science Fiction Convention in 2003 was incorporated without share capital by Letters

Patent in the Province of Ontario on July 29, 1997.

2.

Significant accounting policy

The purpose of the organization is to host, organize and manage the World Science Fiction Convention which will be held in Toronto in 2003. All funds raised and expended are for purposes of that event. Therefore all revenue and expenditures are deferred and will be recognized at the time the convention takes place.

3.

Bid fund

The Board of Directors of the Corporation has established a restricted fund, named the Bid Fund. Revenue received and expenditures incurred during the bidding process to obtain the right to host the convention have been placed into the Bid Fund.

Future amounts will be expended from the Bid Fund only with the prior approval of the Board of Directors.

Unaudited -- See Notice to Reader

 

Noreascon 4

Please note that reports have been re-formatted following submission in order to make a more coherent and readable overall document. Any errors or omissions as a result of this reformatting are the responsibility of the WSFS Secretary and not of the submitting organization.

08/19/02 Income Report

September 1, 2001 through August 1, 2002

Income

1-N4 Interest 930

i-N4 memberships

i-N4 attending @ 50 27,550

i-N4 attending @ 60 35,630

i-N4 attending @ 90 7,380

i-N4 Attending @100 35,000

i-N4 attending upgrade @65 1,490

i-N4 Attending@$120 12,360

i-N4 Child @ $85 850

i-N4 Children 3,345

i-N4 conversion @ $85 1,785

i-N4 Friend NV 250

i-N4 Supporting 1,435

i-N4 Supporting voters 72,825

Total i-N4 memberships 199,900

i-N4 other

i-N4 t-shirts 70

i-N4 other - Other 39

Total i-N4 other 109

I-N4 Pr ads 300

i-Noreascon 4 - Other 360

Total Income 201,599

Expense

e-N4 Bank Fees 2,434

e-N4 general supplies

e-N4 Stationary 1,516

Total e-N4 general supplies 1,516

e-N4 marketing

e-N4 Ads 804

e-n4 Flyer mailing 67

e-N4 flyers 114

e-N4 parties

e-N4 Parties food 391

e-N4 parties Misc 8

Total e-N4 parties 399

e-n4 Sales to Members 200

e-N4 table expenses 23

e-N4 marketing - Other 150

Total e-N4 marketing 1,758

e-N4 Publications

e-N4 progress reports

e-N4 PR0 postage 539

e-N4 PR0 printing 442

e-N4 PR1 mailing supplies 49

e-N4 PR1 postage 698

e-N4 PR1 printing 2,952

Total e-N4 progress reports 4,680

Total e-N4 Publications 4,680

e-N4 software 354

e-N4 treasury

e-N4 discount 20

e-N4 Treasury documents 6

e-N4 treasury postage 7

e-N4 treasury supplies 1

Total e-N4 treasury 34

e-N4 Web fees 12

Total Expense 10,787

Net Income 190,812

 

World Science Fiction Society

Resolutions and Rulings of Continuing Effect

2002 Business Meeting, San José, California

Kevin Standlee, Presiding Officer

Kent Bloom, Deputy Presiding Officer

Pat McMurray (Standing in for Cheryl Morgan), Secretary

Seth Breidbart, Timekeeper

Paul Kraus, Tim Szczesuil, William J Keaton, Tech Support

BM-2002-1 Future Worldcon financial reports submitted after that Worldcon is over should only contain reportable balances, not income unattributable to that Worldcon such as interest or other activities.

CH-2002-1 The meeting can pass a resolution expressing an opinion as to the future legality of a foreshadowed motion that can not be legally introduced at the Preliminary Business Meeting. (Appealed and sustained.) The Chair further ruled that such a resolution would not be legally binding upon the Chair.

CH-2002-2 Blanket eligibility extension applies to dramatic presentations as well as written works. The word "published" as used in the Hugo Awards definitions should be interpreted in its technical sense under copyright law.

CH-2002-3 If a motion is Reconsidered, its debate time is refreshed. [Upon further review, this ruling was shown to be inconsistent with the Parliamentary Authority; a motion that is reconsidered _on the same day_ as originally considered picks up where it previously left off, any exhausted debate time remains exhausted. If the motion is reconsidered on the next day, its debate time is refreshed.]

CH-2002-4 Amendments to the Constitution become part of the Constitution at the moment of ratification, although they generally do not take effect until later; therefore, they are subject to amendment as any other part of the Constitution.

2001 Business Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Donald E. Eastlake III, Chairman
Kevin Standlee, Parliamentarian & Deputy Presiding Officer
Bridget Boyle, Timekeeper
Zanne Labonville, Emergency Holographic Timekeeper
Cheryl Morgan, Secretary

BM-2001-1 Resolved, The NP&FS is directed to remind each future Worldcon, early and often, that the WSFS Business Meeting believes that membership badges be readable, with members’ names printed in no less than 24 point type.

BM-2001-2 Resolved, to establish a committee to study the history of Worldcons and to produce a standard list of Worldcon and Hugo Award historical information, with Bruce Pelz as chair, and the chair authorized to appoint additional members.

CH-2001-1 The Chair ruled that the Business Meeting could create standing committees of the Business Meeting by standing rule, but could create standing committees of WSFS only by constitutional amendment

CH-2001-2 The Chair ruled that it is right and proper for the Business Meeting to ask to know how excess funds remaining after a Worldcon are disbursed. It is not sufficient for the Worldcon to simply report that the funds have been transferred to another body for disbursement.

CH-2001-3 The Chairman ruled that the Standing Rules can only cover the conduct of the Business Meeting and may not be used to impose requirements upon Worldcons.

 

 

2000 Business Meeting, Chicago, Illinois

Donald E. Eastlake III, Chairman
Kevin Standlee, Parliamentarian & Deputy Presiding Officer
’Zanne Labonville, Timekeeper
Robert Sacks (standing in for Pat McMurray), Secretary
Cheryl Morgan, Emergency Holographic Secretary

BM-2000-1 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: 1, 2, 3, 4, ….
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.

BM-2000-2 Resolved, to encourage Worldcons who tape their sessions to make copies available to the Worldcon history exhibit.

CH-2000-1 The Chairman ruled that the definition of a "signature" (as per the Hugo voting rules) was a matter for individual Hugo Award committees.

1999 Business Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

Jack Herman, Chairman
’Zanne Labonville, Timekeeper
Pat McMurray, Secretary

No Resolutions or Rulings of Continuing Effect were made at Aussiecon III.

1998 Business Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland.

Tim Illingworth, Chairman
Don Eastlake, Deputy Presiding Officer
Kevin Standlee (standing in for Kathy Westhead), Timekeeper
Pat McMurray, Secretary
Robbie Bourget, Master-at-Arms

CH-1998-1 The Chairman ruled that it was in order to nominate sitting [appointed] members of the Mark Protection Committee for election to the Mark Protection Committee.

1997 Business Meeting, San Antonio, Texas.

Donald E. Eastlake III, Presiding Officer
Kevin Standlee, Secretary
’Zanne Labonville, Timekeeper

CH-1997-1 The Chair ruled that the Business Meeting could create "recognized publications" (as contemplated in the motion being debated) by resolution.

1996 Business Meeting, Anaheim, California.

Donald E. Eastlake III, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Kevin Standlee, Parliamentarian and Deputy Presiding Officer
’Zanne Labonville, Timekeeper.

No Resolutions or Rulings of Continuing Effect were made at L.A.Con III.

1995 Business Meeting, Glasgow, Scotland.

Kevin Standlee, Presiding Officer
Tim Illingworth, Deputy Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Gary Feldbaum, Timekeeper

BM-1995-1 It is the sense of WSFS that it is inappropriate for a Worldcon Committee to gather additional demographic data on the site-selection and/or the Hugo Award ballots beyond that which is required by the WSFS Constitution, or useful for the efficient administration of the balloting.

CH-1995-1 Balloting is necessary, unless the rules are suspended, even if the number of Mark Protection Committee nominees is the same as the number of seats to fill, since write-ins are allowed.

CH-1995-2 It is out of order, unless the rules are suspended, to change an existing working group to a committee.

CH-1995-3 It is out of order to amend a motion so as to simply undo an amendment previous[ly] adopted at the same session; however, the motion to Reconsider may be available.

CH-1995-4 In response to an inquiry as to the meaning of "published in advance" in rules related to the Business Meeting published in advance by the Worldcon Committee, the Chair ruled that such rules would have to be printed with the official documents, and not included by reference, although a reference could be made to an existing parliamentary manual.

CH-1995-5 The Chair ruled that the Standing Rules do bind the Worldcon Committee.

CH-1995-6 Persons casting site-selection ballots by mail may change their vote as long as practical until the tallying begins. [It was pointed out at the 1996 Business Meeting that CH-1995-6 meant it was appropriate to allow a change, not that it was required.]

1994 Business Meeting, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Kevin Standlee, Parliamentarian
Rick Katze, Timekeeper

BM-1994-1 WSFS Electronic Archives
RESOLVED, the Committee on Motions of Continuing Effect is hereby requested to maintain a list of sites that volunteer to keep public electronic archives of WSFS-related material. Worldcons are requested to transmit to such sites a copy of the current WSFS Constitution, Standing Rules, Business Passed On, and Business Meeting Minutes whenever new versions are available for distribution. The Committee on Motions of Continuing Effect is also requested to transmit to those same sites a copy of its report on such motions and any other reports deemed appropriate for general distribution. Materials made available electronically are not to contain personal information such as mail address or phone number without the express consent of the individual whose information is to be contained therein.

BM-1994-2 RESOLVED, that WSFS strongly encourages prospective Hugo categories to be tested before being submitted to the WSFS Business Meeting.

1993 Business Meeting, San Francisco, California

John Lorentz, Presiding Officer
David Levine, Secretary
Kevin Standlee, Parliamentarian
Rick Katze / Jeff Canfield, Timekeepers

CH-1993-1 [Incorporated in Standing Rule 4.3].

CH-1993-2 A motion to take the vote on an Objection to Consideration by written ballot was ruled to be in order.

CH-1993-3 A motion which referred to the place of residence of a named individual was ruled to be in order.

CH-1993-4 A suggestion of 50 years as the debate limit for a motion was ruled to be dilatory.

CH-1993-5 The Chair ruled that a Constitutional provision beginning with the word "Provided" and affecting only one year would automatically disappear from the Constitution after that year.

1992 Business Meeting, Orlando, Florida

Bruce Pelz, Presiding Officer
Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian
George Flynn, Secretary
Kevin Standlee, Timekeeper

BM-1992-1 The Mark Protection Committee is directed to investigate the possibility of protecting the Hugo rocket symbol and, if in its judgement the protection is worthwhile, to begin the process of protecting it.

BM-1992-2 The Mark Protection Committee is directed to use its judgement in selecting which marks to protect in which countries to achieve maximum protection with available resources.

BM-1992-3 The Mark Protection Committee is authorized to negotiate royalties for commercial use of WSFS marks.

BM-1992-4 It was the sense of the meeting that all (unofficial) site-selection results should be posted as soon as they are known. It was noted that future Worldcons could not be bound in this respect.

CH-1992-1 Ruled that if "None of the Above" wins the NASFiC balloting and the decision goes to the Business Meeting, the Business Meeting can not choose "None of the Above".

CH-1992-2 Ruled in connection with use of the WSFS marks that
(1) use by Worldcon and bidding committees is not commercial use,
(2) a blurb of "Hugo Winner" on a book's cover would not count as commercial use but a book like The Hugo Award Winners would be, and
(3) T-shirts produced for a Worldcon by an outside vendor would be commercial use.

1991 Business Meeting, Chicago, Illinois.

Ross Pavlac, Presiding Officer
Bruce Pelz, Assistant Presiding Officer
Yale F. Edeiken, Parliamentarian
Theresa Renner, Staff Sergeant-at-Arms
Richard S. Russell, Secretary
Kevin Standlee, Timekeeper

BM-1991-1 (right after the Vote Count from Hell) Resolved, That the Business Meeting recommends that all future Worldcons adopt the practice of validating site-selection ballots as they are received, rather than after site-selection balloting closes.

CH-1991-1 Ruled that an Objection to Consideration is still in order, after debate on the time set for a motion, if debate has not touched on the substance of the motion.

CH-1991-2 After a tie vote which did not include the podium staff, an attempt was made to add the podium staff votes. A point of order was raised that all who wish to vote must do so at the same time (except that the chair should generally refrain from voting but may then add their single vote if it affects the outcome). This point of order was found to be well taken.

CH-1991-3 An objection was raised that the chair should not try to influence the vote while voting is taking place. The chair agreed.

 

 

 

 

1990 Business Meeting, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Bruce Pelz, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian
Rick Katze, Timekeeper

CH-1990-1 A point of order was raised against a motion because the seconder was eleven years old. The chair ruled that the point of order was not well taken as there are no age limits on membership in the society.

1989 Business Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts.

Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer
Bruce Pelz, Deputy Presiding Officer
Kent Bloom, Secretary
Rick Katze, Timekeeper
Theresa Renner, Sergeant-at-Arms

CH-1989-1 The chair ruled that any amendment to the Constitution imposing additional financial reporting requirements would not apply to a Worldcon held before the requirement went into effect.

1988 Business Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bruce E. Pelz, Presiding Officer
Elayne F. Pelz, Secretary
Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian

BM-1988-1 Every Worldcon Committee is requested to include the following additional notice in each of its publications: The World Science Fiction Society and the World Science Fiction Convention are not related to "World SF, The International Association of Science Fiction Professionals."

BM-1988-2 The Business Meeting endorses the proposal that a Worldcon Procedures Guide be created, as discussed in The Mad 3 Party.

1987 Business Meeting, Brighton, England.

Tim Stannard, Presiding Officer
Tim Illingworth, Secretary
Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian

CH-1987-1 The chair ruled that a quorum need not be present to hear reports.

1986 Business Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.

Bruce E. Pelz, Presiding Officer
Elayne F. Pelz, Secretary
Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian

BM-1986-1 [Superseded by BM-1988-1].

BM-1986-2 All Worldcon and NASFiC Committees are encouraged to financially support the Mark Registration and Protection Committee.

1985 Business Meeting, Melbourne, Victoria.

Jack Herman, Presiding Officer
Kent Bloom, Secretary
Donald Eastlake, Parliamentarian

BM-1985-1 It is the sense of the Business Meeting that the name of "World SF, The International Association of Science Fiction Professionals", does not infringe on any proper trademark of WSFS.

BM-1985-2 A Committee (to be convened by George Flynn) is requested to (i) compile and maintain a list of resolutions adopted by the Business Meeting which are still in effect, (ii) send copies of this list to each Worldcon, and (iii) make copies available to members of the Society on request.
NOTE: As originally proposed, the Standing Committee was to perform this task. Mr Flynn had not agreed to do this, and the task was taken on by Mr Eastlake.

CH-1985-1 The chair directed that the Mark Registration and Protection Committee should respond to requests for lists of Hugo winners provided that the use of service marks is noted.

1984 Business Meeting, Anaheim, California.

Ross Pavlac, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
George Scithers, Parliamentarian
Bob Hillis, Timekeeper

BM-1984-1 The Mark Registration and Protection Committee should be directed concerning pursuit of registration for particular marks only by resolution of the Business Meeting.

BM-1984-2 (a) The current Worldcon Committee should be neutral between committees bidding for future Worldcons. It should not request or accept money or supplies from any one bidding committee without making equivalent opportunity available to any competing committee(s).
(b) This resolution shall not preclude any individual member of a Worldcon Committee from offering his or her services, funds, or supplies to a bidding committee.
(c) This resolution shall not preclude the current Worldcon Committee from accepting the services of a bidding committee or its members, nor shall it preclude a bidding committee from offering services or merchandise to members of a Worldcon.

CH-1984-1 [Action performed].

CH-1984-2 [Action performed].

CH-1984-3 A motion to refer a site-selection rotation zone plan to the United Nations was ruled out of order.

CH-1984-4 [Incorporated in the Constitution, Section 4.6].

 

1983 Business Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland.

Kent Bloom, Presiding Officer
Mary Morman, Secretary

CH-1983-1 A Constitutional amendment was up for ratification which divided a Hugo category into two new categories. A motion was made to delete one of the new categories. The chair ruled that this was permissible at the ratification stage and that further ratification the following year would not be needed if the change were adopted. The ruling of the chair was appealed and the assembly overruled the chair, deciding that such a deletion was out of order at the ratification stage in this case.

CH-1983-2 A Constitutional amendment up for ratification was reworded with more neutral language but with no change in meaning. A point of order was raised that this would require it to be ratified again in changed form the following year. The chair ruled this point of order was not well taken

1982 Business Meeting, Chicago, Illinois.

Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Rick Katze, Counsel
Leslie Turek, Timekeeper
Paula Lieberman, Sergeant-at-Arms

BM-1982-1 Whereas recent Worldcons have had, and future Worldcons can expect to have, significant excess funds following the close of the convention;
And whereas there has been considerable debate and discussion in the past about the appropriate uses for these funds;
And whereas there are many organizations that would be worthy recipients of such funds;
And whereas it is difficult to choose which of the many worthy organizations should receive said funds;
Be it resolved that the following organizations are considered by the World Science Fiction Society to be among those worthy to receive donations:
a. recognized fan charities, such as TAFF, DUFF, GUFF, TOFF and the FAAn Awards;
b. established national fan organizations, such as the NFFF and the Fantasy Artists Network;
c. PBS, NPR, and their local affiliates, for the production and/or sponsorship of science fiction programming; and
d. future Worldcon committees.

NOTE: The above motion as originally proposed also listed "Small, established regional conventions;", "Established local fan organizations, especially IRS code 501(c)3-recognized not-for-profit organizations;", and "Local public libraries, for improvements to their science fiction collections;". These were specifically deleted from the list of acceptable recipients by vote of the Business Meeting.

CH-1982-1 [Incorporated in the Constitution, Section 6.3].

CH-1982-2 The chair ruled that when the procedure of filling a blank is used to determine debate time limits at a Business Meeting, voting should start with the longest time period and proceed to shorter time periods until one obtains a majority.

CH-1982-3 The chair ruled that the opinions of the Business Meeting chair as to the meaning of Hugo category definitions are not binding on future Worldcons.

CH-1982-4 A motion was introduced that would direct future Worldcons supervising site selection to disqualify any bid that used hotels from a particular chain as the main convention hotel until certain conditions were met. The chair ruled the motion out of order on the grounds that requirements for bidding are specified in the WSFS Constitution and additional criteria cannot be imposed without amending the Constitution.

CH-1982-5 A motion to amend the Standing Rules to impose additional criteria for NASFIC bidders to appear on the ballot was ruled out of order by the chair on the grounds that bidding criteria are specified by the Constitution and any additional criteria can only be imposed by Constitutional amendment. (The ruling of the chair was appealed and the chair was sustained by vote of the assembly.)

CH-1982-6 The chair ruled that actual personal signatures are not required on motions submitted in writing as long as the makers of the motion are identified.

CH-1982-7 The chair ruled that "generally available" means you can get it if you want it, not that there have to be copies for everyone who might want it.

1981 Business Meeting, Denver, Colorado.

Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Rick Katze, Sergeant-at-Arms
Bob Hillis, Timekeeper

CH-1981-1 The chair ruled that the term "publications" includes everything sent to all members, and also flyers, etc.

1980 Business Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts.

Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer
George Flynn, Secretary
Mike Lalor, Sergeant-at-Arms
Bob Hillis, Timekeeper

CH-1980-1 [Incorporated in Standing Rule 1.1].

CH-1980-2 The chair ruled that in the case of the adoption of an entire new Constitution for WSFS, general amendments would be in order at the time of ratification.

CH-1980-3 [Incorporated in the Constitution, Section 3.8].

CH-1980-4 A motion was introduced to authorize a named individual to select and publish a series of "retrospective Hugos" for the years 1926 through 1951. A point of order was raised that, in light of the WSFS Constitution provisions prohibiting extending the name to any award other than that awarded by the mechanism provided in the Constitution, this would require a Constitutional amendment. The chair ruled that this point of order was well taken.

CH-1980-5 The chair ruled that allegations of misconduct involving a non-Hugo award administered by a Worldcon are not WSFS Business. (The ruling of the chair was appealed and the chair was sustained by a vote of 20-1.)

NOTE: 1980 was the first Business Meeting at which a special committee to register and protect the WSFS marks was created. This committee was continued from year to year until a constitutional amendment was adopted in 1982 and ratified in 1983 giving these duties to the Standing Committee. The composition of the Standing Committee was identical to that of the Board of Directors in a new Constitution being considered in those years (see note after BM-1978-01). A further constitutional amendment passed in 1985 and ratified in 1986 changed the name of the committee to the Mark Registration and Protection Committee. A further amendment passed in 1990 and ratified in 1991 simplified the name to the Mark Protection Committee.

1979 Business Meeting, Brighton, England.

Donald Eastlake, Presiding Officer
Rick Katze, Secretary

NOTE: The written notes of the Secretary and a tape recording of the Business Meeting were both destroyed in an apartment fire before they could be transcribed or distributed. Thus no minutes exist for this Business Meeting. A note of actions has however been prepared based on Ben Yalow’s surviving copy of the Agenda for the Main Meeting, together with his notes.

 

1978 Business Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona.

Bob Hillis, Presiding Officer
Donald Eastlake, Secretary
Jack Speer, Parliamentarian
Mike Lalor, Timekeeper

BM-1978-1 A permanent body, the World Science Fiction Society, Incorporated (WSFS, Inc.) should be established, independent of any Worldcon Committee, whose members will be the members of the current and upcoming Worldcons. The Board of Directors of WSFS, Inc. should be selected by the members of the Society and by current and recent Worldcon Committees.

WSFS, Inc. should be responsible for the administering of voting for selection of the Hugos and the sites of future Worldcons. No change should be made in either Hugos or site selection as a result of the establishment of WSFS, Inc. except as necessary to administer the voting.

In cases of a Worldcon Committee becoming unable to properly manage its designated Convention, either because of internal collapse or misconduct, then, after investigations and due process, the Board of Directors should have the right to remove the name "World Science Fiction Convention" and the awarding of the Hugos, site selection and the holding of the Society's Business Meeting from the control of the guilty Committee and to award them to another responsible group.

NOTE: As initially passed, this resolution also continued a WSFS Constitution Drafting Committee that had been set up even earlier. This committee existed for a number of years, being chaired by various fans at various times. Ultimately it came up with a full Draft Constitution, a large part of which were debated and perfected at a WSFS Business Meeting. Finally, at the 1983 (??1982) WSFS Business Meeting, a report of the committee was received and the committee dismissed with thanks but no further steps were taken to perfect or adopt the new Constitution. While no steps are being taken to put the above resolution into effect, nothing has ever been done to repeal or contradict it either.

NOTE: At the 1988 Business Meeting a motion to repeal resolution BM-1978-1 was introduced and defeated.

NOTE: The 1978 Business Meeting was the one at which the first set of permanent Standing Rules for the Governance of the WSFS Business Meeting, as provided in the Constitution, were adopted.

1977 Business Meeting, Miami Beach, Florida.

Bob Hillis, Presiding Officer
Larry Smith, Secretary

CH-1977-1 The Convention Chairman asserted a right to co-preside at the Business Meeting without replacing the Presiding Officer.

CH-1977-2 The chair ruled that an Objection to Consideration could not be made unless good reasons for the objection were given. The ruling of the chair was appealed and the chair was overruled.

NOTE: Minutes are not available for the 1977 Business Meeting. The above is based on notes made by Bob Hillis after consultation with Larry Smith

1976 Business Meeting, Kansas City, Missouri.

Bob Hillis, Presiding Officer
Larry Smith, Secretary
George Scithers, Parliamentarian

CH-1976-1 Immediately after calling the meeting to order, the Presiding Officer asked for and received a unanimous vote to the effect that the Constitution printed in program book was invalid and that a document distributed to the Business Meeting was the valid current Constitution with a set of pending amendments as passed in 1975 at Aussiecon. (A minor correction was later made, after researching the original language passed in 1972 at LACon I, in the wording of the separate eligibility of the English language translation of a work originally published in a language other than English.)

NOTE: Previous practice was to incorporate all changes in the text with the understanding that the change was not binding on the next Worldcon unless it wished to observe this. Considerable confusion resulted. In addition there had been attempts to adopt major changes at DisCon II in 1974 and Aussiecon in 1975 while bypassing the one year delay. Bill Brown had ruled that changes made at DisCon II needed to be ratified but changes at Aussiecon went into effect immediately.

CH-1976-2 The chair ruled that amendments could be offered to constitutional amendments pending ratification provided that the proposed change would constitute a lesser change from the existing Constitution than the original language passed the previous year.

NOTE: This Business Meeting adopted a set of Standing Rules, asserting its authority over its own procedures, but these were not yet provided for in the Constitution.

NOTE: Minutes are not available for the 1976 Business Meeting. The above is based on notes made by Bob Hillis after consultation with Larry Smith.

 

Mark Protection Committee Members, 2002-2003

Elected Members

No more than three elected members can represent any single North American region.

Elected 2000, term ending in 2003

Scott Dennis (Central), Donald Eastlake III (East), Ruth Sachter (West)

Elected 2001, term ending in 2004

Ben Yalow (East), Kevin Standlee (West), Tim Illingworth (RotW)

Elected 2002, term ending in 2005

Lynn Anderson (Central), Stephen Boucher (RotW), Sue Francis (Central)

Worldcon Representatives

Appointed until end of Business Meeting in Final Year stated.

 

Worldcon

Year

Representative

Final Year

The Millennium Philcon

2001

Todd Dashoff

2003

ConJosé

2002

Cheryl Morgan

2004

Torcon 3

2003

Ken Smookler

2005

Noreascon 4

2004

George Flynn

2006

Interaction

2005

Pat McMurray

2007