Meeting postponed from 29th Dec 2024
1. Approvals
1.1. Approval of the minutes of the November 2024 meeting as posted to the list on 5th Jan 2025
2. Ratifications
None
3. Proposals
The Event manager proposes that the board approve Appendix C of the Events policy - the business plan including the fees for Autscape 2025 - see attached.
Summary below
We have not increased our spending on the event. This is at a minimum and as we are using the same venue with around the same amount of volunteers, presenters and expenses we are confident we can keep it to around the same as last year of no more than £3K.
However, the fees have gone up slightly. This is because the base fee of per person cost has gone up. We also still need to recover our funds enough to meet future deposits. With the fees we have set if we get expected numbers we can do this and we are on a more secure footing for the future. If we exceed the numbers then even better. If we get less numbers then the deficit we need to make up next year would be around £10K which is a lot less than what we have been working towards making up so we should not see a big increase in fees next year.
To offset the increase we have made the professional fee a lot higher. This is because the only people who would be choosing this option would most likely not be paying the fees themselves. They will be getting the fees paid from their employers or through their research.
We have also made the fee for sharing the same as the zero requirements fee which is lower than the standard fee. This will encourage people to share so we will have more spaces and people who share will be paying less.
Therefore the fees are as follows:
Adult fee £495
Adult fee zero requirements and sharing £465
Professional fee £745
Support workers (no prog) £375
Child 2-17 and infants with crèche £245
Infants 0-2 (unless in crèche) £60
Adult Extra day £125
Child Extra day £60
Note: there is no reduced fee for extra day so those who take the cheaper option of zero requirements rooms and those who share will have to pay the same as everybody else for the extra day. Since the extra day is not technically Autscape and it is not much above the fee charged by the venue people will not miss out on Autscape if they cannot afford the extra day and we did not think it was appropriate to subsidise it.
Day fees
Adult - including support workers £115
Child £60
Professional £195
Note: Autscape is contracted for a residential conference. Day fees are billed on top of the residential contract. If too many people choose to come for days only we risk not being able to make our contracted numbers.
4. Follow ups
5. Role reports
5.1. Chair
5.2. Company secretary
5.3. Treasurer
5.4. Fundraising coordinator
5.5. Technical coordinator
5.6. Event Manager 2024
5.7. Event Manager 2025
5.8. Membership secretary
6. AOB
Part two - Confidential part
(redacted)