Members meeting - 16 March 2022, 19:30

Announcements Member Meetings
#1

:loudspeaker: Member Meeting

Date: 16 March 2022, 19:30
Location: Hackspace Manchester, Wellington House, M40 7FS
Web link: meet.google.com/qfd-umzh-nwb

Agenda

To add your own points, please reply to this thread. Items posted immediately before the meeting may not be included. Please leave at least 24h when adding an item. Time may run out - usually meetings last 1h30 but can end earlier or later.

Team Updates

  • Board
  • Finance
  • Membership
  • Outreach
  • Metalwork
  • Woodwork
  • Visual Arts

Member submitted items

Items raised in this thread can be considered for AOB.

  • Landlord Communications
  • Fire Alarms Update
  • Abandoned Items
  • Emailing members re: storage
  • General Inductions
  • Newsletter Opt-Ins
  • Financial Records and Treatment
  • Board Composition and Committees
  • Standing Meetings
  • AOB

Minutes

Minutes will be written up after the meeting, posted below this thread.

Want to change this template? Edit it in the “About the category” post.

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#2

Context to agenda items:

Financial Records and Treatment
An overview and analysis of how financial records are prepared, reviewed and approved, together with ongoing budgetary and financial management considerations, e.g. normalised working capital requirements, option to tax, capital allowances, etc.

From my perspective as a member, I would like to understand who is responsible for our financial planning and accounting requirements. From here, we may be better able to understand our position and free up capital to further develop the space for the benefit of the membership as a whole and ensure our finances are not a mystery.

Board Composition and Committees
An overview of the board and its various committees, together with consideration as to whether the current form of the articles of association and terms of reference are fit for purpose in the context of the current space, noting that these have not been updated since 2012.

In particular, what is the role of each board member? Who sits on each of the committees? Do these committees need to change? How frequently do the board and their respective committees meet? Etc.

Standing Meetings
Ought we to have standing meetings so that, say, every last Wednesday of the month is a members’ meeting, unless communicated otherwise as opposed to ad hoc arrangements?

2 Likes
#3

Couple item’s I’d like to add

Landlord Communication

Update from the board as to whether there is anything members should be aware of from the Landlord.

Fire Alarms

Update from the board as to whether there have been any discussions with the Landlord about our fire alarms. The board said they’d contact Northern about them after we found a Call Point was activated without sounding the alarm. Last I heard our fire panel was still reporting a fire so it needs fixing.

2 Likes
#4

A few things I can answer here to give history:

Committees

The space has several committees but every time a push for getting members to help there is almost zero interest. Due to the low numbers there just isn’t anything happening in most of them. Committees have been something that the space has been trying to get working for years.

A board meeting in October 2019 is when the Finance Sub-committee was formed: An Update from the Board - Following this month's Board Meeting

Another post with details of more sub-committees was posted shortly after: Sub Committee Recruitment

Current Sub-committees (that I know of):

  • Finance Sub Committee
  • Membership Sub Committee
  • Infrastructure Sub Committee
  • Procurement Sub Committee
  • Health and Safety Sub Committee
  • Outreach Sub Committee

In addition to the sub-committees there are the workshop teams that are intended to manage the workshops/equipment of the space. They are a little more active. Current teams (that I know of):

  • Laser
  • Woodwork
  • Metalwork
  • Welding (awaiting welding to be up & running, may merge with Metalwork)
  • CNC

All of these are supposed to meet at least two times a year but due to the low level of input there isn’t any point.

Meetings

Historically this was the first Monday of the month at 7pm. That was two frequent so it was reduced to every-other month. The board decided that it was no longer going to host/organise the meetings as they should be member run/organised. Relying on members however has meant that it becomes ah-hoc. They take a lot of effort, needing a chair and someone to write the minutes etc.

The Board meetings should also be every two months. A set date was never agreed as board members have busy work schedules so couldn’t commit to a set time. I am not aware of any board meeting having taken place since 18th September 2021 (https://github.com/HACManchester/board_minutes/blob/master/2021-09-18.md)

#5

I’ll be happy to provide a Google Meets link that’ll work for over the 1h limit. It’s more reliable than Jitsi.

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#6

Thanks Marcus, that is helpful context.

Let’s discuss further at the meeting.

#7

Will there be an option to join the meeting in person in the space? I don’t have wifi at home. Or should everyone be on their own screen to create a level conversation field?

#8

My 2c is that’s entirely fine if you’d like to join at the space. :slight_smile:

From before, if there is a group of people at the space all using one laptop, someone should probably chair the laptop and make sure that everyone in the room is able to raise their hand and come forwards and speak.

Speaking to the laptop will be important so everyone can be heard. Likewise muting when someone isn’t talking which we could all do to prevent background noise.

#9

I’ll probably be there in person. Thanks for putting this forward. I also have an agenda item to add:

Abandoned items in the space (junk)
There are still some abandoned/unclaimed/untraceable items left around from the storage clearout at the beginning of this year. Suggest we send a general email notifying the membership of a deadline to collect (2 weeks?) then open this “pile of shame” up to the general membership. After a further 2 weeks, take the rest to the tip.

#10

Thanks for organising!

I will try my best to be present for the meeting. There are a lot of good and important points here.

I suspect a big overhaul of how the space operates is long overdue. It’s encouraging to see some interest being shown.

#11

I’d like to add one thing

Emailing of members

We need to follow up our last all-member email (about storage changes) with a final update:

Item 1 - Abandoned Items/Posessions

  • Remind all members about abandoned items/personal posessions, and make clear the date by which stuff must be collected lest it be binned.
  • Let it be made clear how to claim items.

While we are sending an all-member email, we should consolidate any other business-critical items:

Item 2 - General Inductions

Remind people of the requirement to complete the general membership inductions

They are not the tool inductions.

  • A large number of members have not completed their general induction and those who have may have done it years ago, before the updates which added considerable detail on the recent changes in the space.
  • I propose to reset the status of everyone’s general induction only so tool inductions will remain as is, but everyone will be asked to complete the general induction and reminded about the requirement to complete it.
  • When logging in to the membership system, users who haven’t done the induction will be reminded.

I think this will help remind members of the missing values we’ve seen - such as cleaning, the rules, finding the handbook, etc.

And finally use this chance to inform people of an opt-in newsletter so we can publish updates by email more easily:

Item 3 - Newsletter Opt-In

We can let people “opt in” to a newsletter which would feature more fun items such as events, projects, goings-on, etc
The newsletter idea has been discussed before and there seems to be interest from people to do it.

I’d like to keep this one all-member email concise, but if there are other business-critical things that should be included do shout.

#12

I’m conscious this is now becoming a long meeting likely to last longer than an hour.

Was there capacity within the virtual meeting service the space usually uses to accommodate this?

#13

Meetings usually run an hour and a half at the max.

I will provide a link to a Google Meet which will work over that time limit for a group.

1 Like
#14

Meeting Information

Google Meet Link

meet.google.com/qfd-umzh-nwb

Dial In

02039562921
PIN: 529 864 228

1 Like
#15

Thanks Conner.