the mr. roboto project site


	02.15.04 Roboto Monthly Meeting - Minutes for the 2.15.04 Meeting (1) Introduction (2) Old Business, see Nov. meeting minutes (3) New Business Secretary/PR (Jeremy Hedges) - We are trying to develop a new way of running the meetings according to an agenda. We hope that by doing this, the meetings will run in a more structured way, and encourage everyone to participate. The basic organization as such requires a sheet of paper with the board of directors announcements, any larger discussion items, and any items brought by others to be produced before the meeting commences. The meeting then follows the agenda. The board members each make any announcements they need to, with any items requiring discussion placed upon the Open Discussion list. After the board members finish their part of the meeting, the Open Discussion portion of the meeting follows. In this section everyone contributes to discussion about the topics. Any items in either section requiring further action to reach completion will be added to the Action List and reviewed at the end of the meeting. - We're at the time of the year where most folks need to renew. Please do so! - To further the promotion of the space, Jeremy will be producing flyers to distribute with the upcoming Roboto events listed. He will also be contacting the City Paper and Pulp about getting all of our events listed in the weekly listings. - At a recent CMU discussion group about co-operatives, collectives and etc (which Q spoke at), Jeremy and Q spoke with a person who runs an organization at CMU to provide non-profits with help from students and students with valuable internship/project experience. If anyone has any suggestions for possible projects, let us know! We'll most likely be contacting this group for help developing a business plan if and when things move forward with buying a building. Another idea is to find someone to help with the graphic design of informative materials (such as a pamphlet about Roboto, Roboto Speaks, etc). Facilities (Jim Robinson and Jen Briselli) - More active cleaning up needs to take place after shows. If you are a promoter, member, or board member, this means you! Please help keep the space looking nice, even if we're trying to ruin it with free-form art on the walls! - Microphone cords are breaking like someone's stepping on a lot of cracks! Please be respectful of our equipment and keep in mind that we may have to start including a repair/replacement fee for promoters if bands continue to destroy these. - The Icons of Filth show, which was excellent and well-attended, brought up some reminders for promoters. Shows need to be scheduled for ending at 10:30 REGARDLESS OF BEING ON A WEEKEND OR WEEKNIGHT. We do have neighbors and would like to respect their ears as well. Please make sure that you have set times for each band to begin and end and communicate this information to the performers. - Artists, there is good stuff coming from still more folks, so keep your eyes open! Treasurer (Mike "Q-tip" Roth) - Balance is $2230.15 - We spent $150 on the materials for the wonderful door grate that Corey built. Check it out next time you're at Roboto! Booking (Joseph Wilk) - Due to webserver and email problems, Joseph has had a difficult time keeping the booking end of Roboto running smoothly. As such, we have decided to break our current contract and switch services to a more reliable server. Sweet! IV. Open Discussion - Microphone Cord issues. Someone suggested the possibility of fastening the PA to the upper stage area. We discussed several possible solutions for the amount of cables breaking, but it is the board member's decision to ask the promoter for compensation for a broken cable. - Paint Roboto Your Way Day. Today we had an open paint-a-thon for anyone interested in decorating the space their way. The paintings are pretty sparse right now, so we've decided to try and have another evening. It was decided to hold this on February 27th at 6pm. Alaina also said that she knew some people who would be interested in contributing photography or graffiti. - The Arthur Fleming Center trip. We have been discussing a field trip down to DC to visit the Art Fleming Center. It is a space that hosts a number of organizations (including Positive Force among others), and we would like to find out how their space works and what we can take away from that to improve Roboto. It was decided that the trip would work best on the weekend of the March 13th/14th. We are planning on leaving at 6pm March 12th from Roboto. We will be returning early afternoon on the 14th. It was voted that Roboto will provide $50 towards gas/tolls for the trip, but each person interested in going will most likely need to contribute a small amount as well as pay for food. We need folks who are interested to RSVP ASAP. You can do so by emailing info@therobotoproject.org or you can call Jeremy at 412-726-2725 to let him know you're interested. We ESPECIALLY need folks with cars to volunteer as drivers. We will be making arrangements for staying overnight on Friday and Saturday. - The Action Group. For several weeks the board has been discussing the organization of a group of folks committed to volunteering their talents and time to Roboto. The idea is to give an opportunity for action to people who are interested in taking their membership seriously but not able to run for the board of directors. We're still working on how exactly to organize this group and everything, so your suggestions are welcome! Joel and Alaina both seemed very interested in hashing out some ideas, so expect more in the coming months! - The decision process. The board (specifically Q) has been looking back upon how exactly decisions have been made over the course of Roboto's four years. The membership packet leaves the decision making rather vague, but we're interested in coming up with a more concrete understanding of decision-making within the organization. Q has drawn up a three-tier system for the decision-making as it has worked previously. Day-to-day decisions and those falling under each board member's specific responsibilities are made by the board of directors as is necessary. Larger decisions that do not require immediate action and warrant discussion are brought to the monthly meetings and fleshed out. The board typically votes on these decisions at the meetings under the direction of the members present. The large decisions and elections are brought to a vote by the general membership and thus decided upon. Any decisions, however, may be brought to the monthly meetings and discussed if any member feels that the decision has been made without the best interest of the cooperative. The next monthly meeting will be March 14th at the CMU Women's Center, 6pm sharp!