Notes from our casual meet, 05/08/2014
Hi all,
Here's a few notes from the conversation we had. It was myself (Ben), Robert and Sean. These aren't decided courses of action, but we would like to start some of these to get the ball rolling.
1) We discussed finding out what's happening with the advertising revenue. If we haven't been paid, we need to chase this up. It was also suggested that we put out an advert for the WM student housing coop to get more revenue.
2) It's assumed that we'll put out a print of 10k issues for distribution. I would like to work a volunteer sign up database and distribution map. I'll work on this and hopefully get it ratified if people are okay with it.
3) We need to put out a call out for the conference in Autumn (I think)
4) We should work on a 'write for us' style advert block in the paper to encourage more article submissions. I'd also like to get a few of these printed and have them put around a few public areas like local libraries and notice boards.
5) We need a list of our membership and who is in what role, and who would like to undertake a task. If this is done, we can then send out email updates, and I can text people to remind them about meetings and potential online votes.
6) We should make an advert in the paper for ourselves to encourage people to join - something like "join us, have a say in how we run, " etc, to drive up recruitment from our paper distributions.
7) We should have an "Advertise with us!" space on our next issue, so that should be designed.
8) As always, ask people to submit articles. However, we felt it would be worthwhile creating a basic style guide. It was suggested we use something similar to the 'new internationalist' or 'the guardian'. Just a basic one so people have an idea how to submit stuff. This also allows us to define the kind of articles we want more clearly so we don't get anything.
9) Sean needs to speak to Natasha Turner for a reason I can't remember.
10) In order to help secure distributors, we get someone from Left Unity to write something about the party, and ask people in exchange to help distribute papers in central and north birmingham. I think this would have to just be an open piece similar to how papers have articles from various political parties, and not an explicit article of support. We would need a wider discussion with the membership as people are cautious about political affiliations.
11) Maybe some kind of letters page. I'm happy to send one in.
12) Where should we next meet, and what time. It was suggested that maybe 7pm would be better if people had work hours. I will put this forward as a proposal.
It'd be better if we could get a quorate vote on a lot of these, but I'm not sure of the process.
Sean Farmelo Thu 7 Aug 2014 9:23AM
Can we get a few more peoples thoughts on this as it will hopefully stick at the same time for a long time into the future.. @rupertholland @helena @edwardbauer @lindsey @daniellindley @pietroangelerio @jolyonjones @bobwhitehead @rachelobrien etc
Ben Thu 7 Aug 2014 10:33AM
I think we can just change the time as and when it's needed to be honest.
Sean Farmelo Thu 7 Aug 2014 11:32AM
input is always good though (Y) but yeah i guess so
Poll Created Fri 8 Aug 2014 10:18AM
next printed edition Closed Mon 11 Aug 2014 10:07AM
From the conversation occurring about the womens edition it appears that there is some consensus about doing the womens edition as a pullout in the next edition. As there are lots of good current articles in general and from my understanding there are lots for the womens edition too my proposal is that we publish an edition this month. We would still need time to do a call out for articles, solicit adverts and get the graphics and stuff done. I'm personally busy for the two weekends after next with reclaim the power and radical routes and the general assumption in the meeting was that some other people would be involved in both of those. The rough idea for a distribution start date we came out with was starting on Monday the 25th and finishing with a final push to get all of them deliver on the weekend 30th and 31st - what do people think about this suggestion?
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 100.0% | 3 |
|
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 36 |
|
3 of 39 people have participated (7%)
Sean Farmelo
Fri 8 Aug 2014 10:19AM
this works for me and would mean I could particpate in the distribution and design work
Robert
Fri 8 Aug 2014 6:10PM
Works for me. I'll try to get something written but I'm rather plagued by headaches at the moment.
nick
Sun 10 Aug 2014 12:43PM
We need to something, so this seems
good.
Lindsey Mon 11 Aug 2014 9:06AM
@seanfarmelo What would the article deadline/editing & design time line?
Sean Farmelo Mon 11 Aug 2014 11:31AM
I don't really know what the situation is with how long the printers and stuff take as edd has dealt with that before - but presumably the deadline would be something like tuesday 19th or wednesday the 20th
- Only three people voted in that, are we going to go ahead anyhow? :S
Lindsey Mon 11 Aug 2014 2:37PM
I endorse an issue going ahead, but I'm going to be away for the second half of August so I didn't vote in the pole because I won't be able to contribute much.
Kelly Rogers Mon 11 Aug 2014 6:34PM
Let's talk about it tomorrow (I can come) and try and assess whether it's actually feasible with what we've currently got on the table.
Rupert Mon 11 Aug 2014 11:19PM
i think it's a good idea, i'm working on an article at the moment (might be more suitable for the website, dunno) and of course unit 930a (minus elio) will help with distribution
Robert Tue 12 Aug 2014 9:42AM
Apparently we've got two articles on Palestine already; now I've (hopefully) got the wife's editing out of the way I should be able to do another. Give it a Palestine focus, with the womens' material as a pullout, and we should be well on the way.
nick Tue 12 Aug 2014 3:15PM
Sean asked me to say that the meeting today is at the ICC.
Robert Tue 12 Aug 2014 7:41PM
Explains why I missed it! I didn't realise it wasn't at the MAC.
Robert Tue 19 Aug 2014 12:06PM
Do we have an official deadline for this yet?
Edward Bauer Wed 20 Aug 2014 12:57PM
Sorry I couldn't make it I had to do a shift at work.
Articles underway on Palestine currently are
Shenstone - @seanfarmelo
Zena Agha – Palestine from a Jewish perspective → Nat
Palestine from a feminist perspective → Kelly
BDS and no further? → Edd
I belive the deadline we agreed was the 29th of sepember but this could have been changed by the meeting last night.
@seanfarmelo @ben13 @nick4 are you in position to report what happened/ deadline. Call out needs to go out today or tmw.
Sean Farmelo Wed 20 Aug 2014 2:29PM
I was at reclqim the power and didn't have battery on my phone so I'm not sure if there was a meeting at all last night - is anyone able to report back on that? I agree the call out should go out asap. should we just use one from the previous editons or rewrite a new one - I'm happy to do it,
Robert Wed 20 Aug 2014 5:59PM
I didn't hear anything about a meeting; I was at the PSC planning meeting then a birthday party.
Sean Farmelo Thu 21 Aug 2014 2:30PM
ok we can assume that it didn't occur then. That is a shame - but then it is august so maybe a difficult time of year to get weekly meetings off the ground!
Does anyone have minutes from the last meeting so that I can get the discussed dates in last weeks meeting correct - that is for the early to mid September edition that would be not too time sensitive so that it could still be handed out to freshers
Kelly Rogers · Wed 6 Aug 2014 1:15PM
Also I really like the idea of a letters page - this time it's obviously going to be a but manufactured - but people should definitely reply to articles in the last edition if they want to