Space Committee Minutes010414

EMS
New Space Committee
Meeting Minutes
Meeting date: 01/04/2014

This meeting was a specially scheduled Committee meeting, only because we didn't have the time set at least 30 days in advance. Weston took minutes, and Clif cleaned them up.

Members in attendance:

Weston Turner
Darrel Perko
Taper Wikel
James Hukill
Nathan Worth
Dirk Godsey
Cord Slatton-Valle
Marie Slatton-Valle
Bob Miller
Clif Cox
Kassie Kaplan
Ben Hallert
Sam Foster
Mark Danburg-Wild

Question 0: how do we define ourselves?

Maybe we need to modify our mission statement. Do we double our space and expenses, and assume more responsibilities and have more community involvement or remain more or less a club house where members work on stuff?

Question 1: Where do we move and when?

Well, since we only have one place that has agreed to our low ball offer that answers the where at least. However we can't commit yet because sadly, we don't have all the utilities info for this space.

Question 2: What new revenue streams can we use to fund the new space?

Classes

Some classes would be free or reduced cost for members.

welding
soldering (James)
sewing (Marie)
cooking
python programming (Weston)
raspberry pi (Cord)
robotics (Weston)
3D printer and printing (James?)
home brewing (James)
bike maintenance
html/css/internet/web (Sam)
3D modeling (Kassie)

Co-location fees, (partners):

This is basically just renting out our meeting area to other groups, though if they want to be more involved with us they are always welcome.

EUGLUG
Model rocket club
join a project (semi-colocation, but group project based see 4)

LAN parties

This is like a glorified meeting room rental.

Group projects (New):

This is a way to bring in people who want a little bit more structure on their projects, and or who just want to join someones else's project. They wouldn't have to be members per se, but would get a discount if they were. The idea is that a project would be somewhere between a class and a membership. There would be a physical goal to complete, part of which you might share or be able to take home. Or not...

Vacuum former
target range
Near space balloon
Pumpkin chunckers

Possible advertising channels:

craigslist
KLCC
local paper
sponsorship
See business plan on EMS website

Renting out various spaces

Shelf space
Bay space
Floating project space (on a desk or roller cart)
Member offices/desks

See the other business plan pages for more examples of these.

Kits, swag, shirts, hats, etc..

Grants:

Get sample letters of inquiry, post them on the wiki

Fund raisers

May include open houses, bake sales etc...

Sponsorships:

Some sponsorship can be permanent or semi-permanent
Some can be one-shot

Pre-next-meeting requirements and action items:

Make public our revenue and expenditure statements. Public business plan, including financial model.

Get utilities costs on prospective space(s).

Action Items:

Financials prepare and publish a more comprehensive budget (Weston 1 week)
Get best, worst, and average case utility costs (Clif)
We can also get EWEB and NW Natural bills directly (Darrell)
Give notice to move out
Get folding tables and folding tables
PSA advertising for our move

Questions:

Wen should we have our next open house?
When is the next mini-maker faire?
Do we need 60 days notice in order to move out?

Conclusions:

There is a general consensus that we must move to a bigger space. Per question 0, the sentiment is that we should embrace the larger Maker Space model, offering more community outreach etc..

We also decided to hold the next Business planning meeting next Saturday at the same time. At that time we will have a more comprehensive budget worked out, which will be made public for the membership to evaluate.

-- Main.ClifCox - 19 Dec 2013