D*R*A*F*T
MINUTES
of the 2010 Annual Meeting
of the World Science Fiction Society
The Preliminary Business Meeting was called to order by the Presiding Officer, Mr. Kent Bloom at 1000 hours, 3 September 2010. Other officers present were Mr. Don A. Timm, Secretary, and Mr. Robert MacIntosh, Timekeeper. A quorum consisting of more than 12 members was present.
A list of persons attending the various sessions is found at Attachment 1 of these Minutes. Agendas for the various sessions are found as Tabs at Attachment 2 of these Minutes.
1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC): The Mark Protection Committee report was deferred to 4 September. Nominations were declared in order for members of the Committee whose terms expired at this Worldcon. Due to zone residency restrictions, at most one person could be elected from the Western zone, two from the Central zone, one person from the Eastern zone, and three people from the Rest of the World, but not more than three people overall.
Mr. Mark Olson asked what would happen if the Business Meeting was unable because of zone residency restrictions to elect a member for an open seat. The Presiding Officer ruled that in such case the seat would remain open and would be filled by election the following year, as there is no authority to appoint members to fill vacancies in seats that are to be filled by election.
Nominees and the zones in which they were resident were as follows (in alphabetical order):
Mr. Kent D. Bloom (West)
Ms Marah Searle-Kovacevic (Central)
Mr. Kevin Standlee (West)
Mr. Tim Illingworth (Central)
Mr. Ben Yalow (East)
Provision was also made for write-in votes.
The election would be an order of business at the Main Business Meeting.
Short Title: Run-Off References
Moved, to amend portions of the WSFS Constitution by inserting text to clarify the relationship of “No Award” and “None of the Above” to the “Run-Off Candidate” rule, as follows:
1. Amend Section 3.11.3:
3.11.3: “No Award" shall be the run-off candidate for the purposes of Section 6.4.
2. Amend Section 4.5.3:
4.5.3: "None of the Above" shall be treated as a bid for tallying, and shall be the run-off candidate for the purposes of Section 6.4.
The Presiding Officer stated that this Amendment would be added to the agenda of the Main Business Meeting, and 5 minutes would be allocated for debate.
Short Title: This Year's Model
Moved, To extend eligibility for all works that are allowed by a resolution under the following sections of the WSFS Constitution:
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. This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a 3/4 vote.
Short Title: Another Year, Another HEROW
Moved, To continue the Hugo Eligibility for the Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee as previously charged, with a 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.
Each motion was adopted without objection.
The motion was adopted without objection.
Following discussion, the motion was adopted without objection.
4.3.1. Short Title: Deleting the membership rate limitations
Moved:
(a) To amend Section 1.5.5 by deleting the following words in the last sentence:
"must not exceed two (2) times the site-selection fee and"
(b) To delete Section 1.5.6
The default debate time allocation of 20 minutes was accepted without change.
Moved: to amend Article 6 of the WSFS Constitution for the purpose of clarifying the status of electronic voting on the Hugo Awards and Site Selection, by adding a new section after existing Section 6.2 as follows:
Section 6.x: Electronic Voting. Nothing in this constitution shall be interpreted to prohibit conducting Hugo Awards nominating and voting and Site Selection voting by electronic means. This section shall not be interpreted to require that such elections be conducted electronically, nor shall it be interpreted to allow remote participation or proxy voting at the Business Meeting. Paper ballots delivered by any means shall always be acceptable.
The default time of 5 minutes was changed to 20 minutes.
A number of stylistic changes were made: The last sentence was moved in front of the second sentence (thereby becoming the second sentence) and the word “valid” was added before “paper ballots”.
Mr. Howard Rosenblatt asked why the term “by any means” was included and what it was intended to mean. Mr. Standlee explained that this was intended to accommodate delivery of paper ballots by postal mail or entrusted to another to hand deliver at the Convention itself.
4.3.3. Short Title: Allow Electronic Distribution of Rules
Moved, to amend Section 2.4 of the WSFS Constitution by striking out and adding words as shown, with the intention of requiring Worldcon committees to publish copies of the WSFS rules without requiring that such publication be in the form of printed documents:
Section
2.4: Distribution of Rules. The current Worldcon Committee shall
print copies of publish
the WSFS Constitution and Standing Rules,
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.
Discussion indicated that the language should be studied for improvement, and that electronic distribution should be “opt-in” rather than a default. The Presiding Officer designated a drafting committee, chaired by Mr. Rene Walling, to study the matter and report any proposed new wording the next day.
The default time of 5 minutes was changed to 20 minutes.
4.3.4. Short Title: Expand Hugo Nominations Eligibility
Moved, to amend section 3.7.1 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:
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 Worldcon,
or
the immediately preceding Worldcon,
or the immediately following 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.
During discussion of this motion it was noted that if passed this would result in three Worldcons whose members were eligible to make nominations. One member requested a clarification on whether, if the motion were passed, a member of two or more of these Worldcons could make nominations in more than one capacity (i.e., as a member of more than one Worldcon). The Presiding Officer ruled that a member of more than one of the three eligible Worldcons could make separate nominations in his or her capacity as a member of different eligible Worldcons, but could make no more than a total of five nominations in each category even if making multiple nominations as a member of different eligible Worldcons.
* * * * *
The Saturday Session of the Main Business Meeting was called to order by the Presiding Officer, Mr. Kent Bloom at 1000 hours, 4 September 2010. Other officers present were Mr. Don A. Timm, Secretary, and Mr. Robert MacIntosh, Timekeeper. A quorum consisting of more than 12 members was present.
1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC): The first order of business was electing members to the Mark Protection Committee. The following individuals were elected as members of the Mark Protection Committee, to take office at the end of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the World Science Fiction Society:
Mr. Kevin Standlee (West)
Mr. Tim Illingsworth (Central)
Mr. Ben Yalow (East)
The Mark Protection Committee Report was provided in writing and is attached to these Minutes as Tab A to Attachment 3. The Report included a proposed Constitutional amendment which was added to the Agenda as item 4.3.6 and was allocated 5 minutes of debate time.
There being no further reports, the Business Meeting proceeded to take up the proposed Constitutional amendments:
4.3.1 Short Title: Deleting the membership rate limitations
Moved:
1. To amend Section 1.5.5 by deleting the words "must not exceed two (2) times the site-selection fee and" in the last sentence as follows:
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.
2. To delete Section 1.5.6
Discussion:
The following members spoke in favor of the motion: Mr. Dave McCarty, Mr. Kevin Standlee, Mr. Alex von Thorn, Mr. Ben Yalow, Mr. Vincent Docherty, and Mr. Mark Linneman. In general, those speakers emphasized a need for flexibility in setting the voting fee low enough to encourage participation without putting too great a constraint on the administering Committee’s ability to set the fee for attending members. Their concern was that the provisions as they currently are have the potential to result in either too high a voting fee (which could discourage voting and thus diminish the “starter” funds the newly-seated Committee had available to begin implementation), or too low an initial attending fee (which could result in a similar diminution of available funding if many prospective members converted at a rate too low to cover the cost to the Committee of supporting such membership).
Speaking against the motion were Mr. Nicholas Faller, Ms Priscilla Olson, Mr. Rick Kovalcik, Mr. Mark Olson, and Ms Perrianne Lurie. In general, some of those speakers felt that a comparatively high voting fee helped encourage thoughtful voting and some were concerned that removing the limiting multiplier left too much discretion in the hands of the administering Committee.
Mr. Olson moved to amend the motion by leaving the current text as it was in the Constitution, but changing the multiplier from 2 to 3. (Motion was in the nature of a Motion to Substitute.)
Mr. Standlee moved to create a blank for the multiplier. The motion to create a blank passed many to few. Suggested numbers for the blank were 6, 5, 4, and 3; 6 failed few to many as did five, but 4 was selected with 25 in favor to 17 opposed.
Thus, the amendment (by Mr. Olson) was recast as substituting “four (4) times the site-selection fee” for “two (2) times the site selection fee” where it appears in the current text of the Constitution. Mr. Kurt Baty and Mr. Faller spoke in favor of the amendment; Mr. McCarty and Ms Cheryl Morgan spoke against it. The amendment carried 24 in favor to 19 opposed.
Now the motion as amended was discussed. Mr. Standlee and Mr. Yalow spoke in favor of the motion as amended; Mr. Kovalcik and Mr. Howard Rosenblatt spoke against it. The motion as amended was passed, many to few.
[Secretary’s Note: The resulting proposed Constitutional Amendment as passed along to Renovation for consideration in 2011 reads as follows: “Moved: to modify Section 1.5.5 of the WSFS Constitution to replace “two (2) times the site-selection fee” with “four (4) times the site-selection fee”.]
Moved: to amend Article 6 of the WSFS Constitution for the purpose of clarifying the status of electronic voting on the Hugo Awards and Site Selection, by adding a new section after existing Section 6.2 as follows:
Section 6.x: Electronic Voting. Nothing in this constitution shall be interpreted to prohibit conducting Hugo Awards nominating and voting and Site Selection voting by electronic means. Valid paper ballots delivered by any means shall always be acceptable. This section shall not be interpreted to require that such elections be conducted electronically, nor shall it be interpreted to allow remote participation or proxy voting at the Business Meeting.
Discussion:
Mr. Standlee spoke in favor of the motion.
Mr. Olson moved to amend the motion by deleting “and Site Selection voting”.
Mr. Olson, Mr. Michael Pins, Mr. Yalow, Ms Olson, Mr. Kovalcik, and Mr. James Stanley Daugherty spoke in favor of the amendment and Mr. von Thorn, Mr. Standlee, Ms Morgan, Mr. Joe Rhett, and Ms Lurie spoke against it. Discussion generally centered around the possibility of hacking or fraud in the site selection process if electronic voting were permitted. The amendment failed 19 in favor to 24 opposed.
Discussion returned to the main motion. Mr. Standlee moved to amend the motion by adding to the end of first sentence the words, “, except that conducting Site Selection by electronic means shall require the unanimous agreement of the current Worldcon committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline”. The amendment was adopted without objection.
The motion as amended passed many to few.
[Secretary’s Note: The resulting proposed Constitutional Amendment as passed along to Renovation for consideration in 2011 reads as follows: “Moved: to amend Article 6 of the WSFS Constitution for the purpose of clarifying the status of electronic voting on the Hugo Awards and Site Selection, by adding a new section after existing Section 6.2 as follows:
6.3: Electronic Voting. Nothing in this Constitution shall be interpreted to prohibit conducting Hugo Awards nominating and voting and Site Selection voting by electronic means, except that conducting Site Selection by electronic means shall require the unanimous agreement of the current Worldcon committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline. Valid paper ballots delivered by any means shall always be acceptable. This section shall not be interpreted to require that such elections be conducted electronically, nor shall it be interpreted to allow remote participation or proxy voting at the Business Meeting.”]
4.3.3. Short Title: Allow Electronic Distribution of Rules
[Secretary’s Note: the below text was reported by the drafting committee chaired by Mr. Rene Walling as a substitute for the language initially proposed to the Preliminary Business Meeting.]
Moved, to amend Section 2.4 and Article 1 of the WSFS Constitution by striking out and adding words as shown, with the intention of requiring Worldcon committees to publish copies of the WSFS rules without requiring that such publication be in the form of printed documents, except for distribution “at con”:
1. Amend Section 2.4 as follows:
Section
2.4: Distribution of Rules. The current Worldcon Committee shall
print copies of publish
the WSFS Constitution and Standing Rules,
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 on paper to all WSFS
members in attendance at the Worldcon upon registration.
2. Amend Article 1 by adding a new section after existing Section 1.5.2 as follows:
1.5.3: Electronic distribution of publications, if offered, shall be opt-in.
Discussion: Mr. Walling spoke in favor of the motion. The motion passed many to one.
Commentary: During the discussion, two questions were asked.
Mr. Von Thorn inquired whether putting the paper documents in a pile on a table at registration would suffice to meet the requirement of “distribution” upon registration. The reply was that it would seem to satisfy the requirement, but we’re looking for reasonable availability.
Ms Susan De Guardiola asked whether publication in the souvenir book that is given to members upon registration would satisfy the requirement. The reply was that it would.
4.3.4. Short Title: Expand Hugo Nominations Eligibility
Moved, to amend section 3.7.1 of the WSFS Constitution as follows:
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 Worldcon,
or
the immediately preceding Worldcon,
or the immediately following 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.
Discussion: Mr. Michael Nelson, Mr. Kovalcik, Mr. Vincent Docherty, Mr. Yalow, Mr. Von Thorn, and Ms De Guardiola spoke to the motion. The motion passed, many to few.
4.3.5. Short Title: Run-Off References
Moved, to amend portions of the WSFS Constitution by inserting text to clarify the relationship of “No Award” and “None of the Above” to the “Run-Off Candidate” rule, as follows:
1. Amend Section 3.11.3:
3.11.3: “No Award" shall be the run-off candidate for the purposes of Section 6.4.
2. Amend Section 4.5.3:
4.5.3: "None of the Above" shall be treated as a bid for tallying, and shall be the run-off candidate for the purposes of Section 6.4.
Discussion: Mr. Standlee spoke in favor of the motion. The motion was adopted without objection.
4.3.6. Short Title: Mark Notice Revision
Moved
to amend the standard service mark notice in Section 2.2 of the WSFS
Constitution by striking out
and inserting
words as shown:
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”, the Hugo
Award Logo, and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Trophy
Rocket are service marks of the World
Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
Discussion: Mr. Standlee spoke in favor of the motion. The motion was adopted without objection.
1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Addendum) Mr. Docherty provided an oral addendum to the Mark Protection Committee report, paragraph 4 of “Items that were never finally acted upon (according to the Secretary’s notes)”, stating that the worldcon.com domain was subsequently purchased at a significant discount and is held on behalf of WSFS by Mr. Docherty until it can be transferred to the WSFS web team. Thanks to seated Worldcon Committees and announced bids (Aussiecon 4, Renovation, Chicago in 2012, Texas in 2013, and London in 2014) for the funds to purchase the domain.
* * * * *
The Site Selection Session of the Main Business Meeting was called to order by the Presiding Officer, Mr. Kent Bloom at 1000 hours, Sunday 5 September 2010. Other officers present were Mr. Don A. Timm, Secretary, and Mr. Robert MacIntosh, Timekeeper. A quorum consisting of more than 12 members was present.
Mr. Mark Linneman, Site Selection Administrator, announced the results of the Site Selection ballot. Chicago was selected to host the 2012 Worldcon. There were 526 votes cast, 506 expressing a preference. With 254 votes needed for a majority, Chicago received 447. A detailed report is attached to these Minutes as Attachment 5.
Mr. Dave McCarty moved to destroy all ballots; there being no objection the Presiding Officer so ordered.
Mr. McCarty will chair the Chicago convention, to be known as Chicon 7, which will be held August 30 – September 3, 2012. Honorees include:
Author Guest of Honor: Mr. Mike Resnick
Artist Guest of Honor: Ms Rowena Morrill
Astronaut Guest of Honor: Mr. Story Musgrave
Fan Guest of Honor: Ms Peggy Rae Sapienza
Agent Guest of Honor: Ms Jane Frank
Toastmaster: Mr. John Scalzi
Mr. McCarty and other officers of the Committee provided additional information and answered questions from the floor.
London in 2014: Mr. Mike Scott
Seattle in 2015: Mr. Alex von Thorn announced formation of an exploratory committee.
Kansas City in 2016: Mr. Rene Walling
Japan in 2017 (or 2018 or 2019): Mr. Andrew Adams announced that Japan was looking at bidding for 2017, 2018, or 1019.
New Zealand in 2020: Mr. Norman Cates
1.6. (added) Report of the Worldcon Website Working Group
The Report of the Worldcon Website Working Group is attached to these Minutes as Tab C to Attachment 3.
1.7. (added) Announcement of Committee Appointments
As a last item of business, the Presiding Officer announced a number of Committee appointments as follows:
HEROW:
Ms Perrianne Lurie
Mr. Robert MacIntosh
Ms Cheryl Morgan
Mr. Howard Rosenblatt
Mr. Kevin Standlee
Mr. Ben Yalow
SEMIPROZINE COMMITTEE:
Ms Perrianne Lurie
Ms Cheryl Morgan
Mr. Ben Yalow
WORLDCON RUNNERS
Mr. John Hertz
Ms Sharon Sbarsky
Ms Marah Searle-Kovacevic
Mr. Bill Taylor
Mr. Alex von Thorn
Mr. Mike Willmoth
Kent Bloom, Presiding Officer
Don A. Timm, Secretary
2010 WSFS Business Meeting
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