Editing WPLUGBoard/Meeting-20160517

The regular meeting of the WPLUG Board of Directors was held at 7:30pm on May 17th, 2016 at IBM Squirrel Hill.

Program committee:  We were able to reserve meeting space at the Wilkins School for this Sunday from 12:30pm to 7:00pm - we must double-check times with WSCC, because agreement states 2pm to 10:30pm, while our meeting is scheduled to begin at 1pm.  Vance reviewed the rental agreement, there is an issue where the agreement requires a certificate of insurance which we do not have.  Vance will confirm with WSCC if they will absolutely require this.  WSCC offered the room for free, though it was felt that this was not fair to WSCC.  WPLUG offered $50 for the room, WSCC countered with $25.  Vance believes we should still send them $50.  Justin believes this would be fair, but that we should be mindful of the organization's financial position as we rebuild the ranks of membership.  Vance indicates we are doing better because we've basically cut our Linode bill in half, so we have more money available than we were used to having in the past.  Justin wonders if we could pay the $25 rate that WSCC offered, and invest the other $25 in some Linux-related asset that WSCC could use.  Vance reviewed that the reason we were offered the room free originally was due to our help in troubleshooting their WiFi, and the thing they need most is an equipment refresh which would be expensive, which might be more than the treasury could accommodate.  Terry has a couple of Wi-Fi antennas that are much taller - perhaps we could buy some new antennas to improve their reception, though the walls are so thick it might not help.  Vance says that the current access points there only do 802.11b/g so upgrading to access points adhering to the newer standards may improve connectivity, as they may be more directional.  Vance moved to authorize Vance (as chair) to sign the agreement subject to negotiation of the insurance requirement, and also to authorize the treasurer to pay WSCC $50 for the use of the meeting space.  The motion was adopted.  Our August venue is reserved for the picnic.  We need to start making plans in terms of setting up wiki page for picnic, planning who is bringing what, etc.  We do have some money that we are able to spend on that event.  We can take that up in earnest next month.  We currently have no plans for June or July, Vance is trying to see if there's anyone we can recruit to speak; we should start trying to make contacts with people Vance doesn't know, and thinking of other possible events we could organize.  We could follow up with the person who runs the microcomputer museum, as people found the big iron museum interesting.  Please try to beat the bushes for any other talks or events.  Justin asked if we've detected any common threads in conversations with people who've attended our recent events.  Pat indicates that he didn't notice common threads in conversation, but the recent successful talks we hosted were all intermediate to advanced level presentations, rather than more beginner-level presentations.  Justin might be able give a presentation during the week of June 7th (the 11th would be our normal meeting date), he will check his calendar to determine the possibilities.