[games_access] Fwd: IGDA: Special Meeting Update

[hinn at illinois.edu]

Update on the IGDA for those who are waiting to join/unjoin/rejoin -- basically they are letting us know that they are having a meeting about meeting about the issues going on (ie, the member being able to vote out a board member, etc).

Sorry to inundate you with IGDA biz but since we are a part of the IGDA, I have to let you know the latest as I find out about it!

Michelle

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:06:22 -0400
>From: IGDA <igda at igda.org>  
>Subject: IGDA: Special Meeting Update  
>To: hinn at uiuc.edu
>
>Dear Members,
>
>Last week the IGDA Co-Chairs, Tobi Saulnier and Bob Bates, called for a task force for the definition of parameters of holding a special meeting in accordance with the By-Laws of the organization.  This task Force was headed by Tom Buscaglia, and included Coray Seifert, Brian Robbins, Dustin Clingman, And Darius Kazemi.  The group began quickly and moving through several revisions are presenting their findings to the Board for review.
>
>These findings are not a set of new provisions for the organization to follow, but rather a strategic plan for how we execute under the current by-laws and policies.  The organizations by-laws are direct and well defined, but for application in terms of keeping fairness and ability of 12,000 members to be able to participate there required a bit of thought.
>
>Though clearly prompted by the call for a special meeting by the IGDA Board last week, this group had a larger goal.  Much in the same manner as the framers of the constitution, they were tasked to create guidelines that could be accepted and used for all future meetings.  The task force was also bound by the financial limitations of the organization. (i.e. We could not run a $50,000 meeting even if the organization were a $3 million annual budget association.)  They also needed to account for our geographic and time separations between members so as not to disenfranchise anyone. These proved no small limitations to overcome.
>
>At this time, their recommendations have been collected and are being presented to the Board by Tom.  The Board will deliberate and move forward with the appropriate guidelines to begin the special meeting that is being called by the Co-Chairs.
>
>There is a timeline outlined in the By-Laws:  The Special Meeting must be announced to the membership.  Then the meeting itself must be arranged, and can begin no sooner than 35 days after the official announcement.  Then the meeting itself is likely to be held in an asynchronous nature to allow for the wide range of participation, and to allow for communications from interested members on the topic the meeting is called for.  The specifics of how this is to be done in a fair and proper manner was the fundamental issue that the task force worked upon.
>
>The Co-Chairs and I want to thank the task force for their service in this matter.  It was a pleasure to act as their staff liaison on this issue, and I believe their efforts will go a long way in ensuring that this meeting returns a conclusion in a fair and meaningful way.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Joshua Caulfield
>
>Executive Director, IGDA
> 
>
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.......................................
these are mediocre times and people are 
losing hope. it's hard for many people 
to believe that there are extraordinary 
things inside themselves, as well as 
others. i hope you can keep an open 
mind.
 -- "unbreakable"
.......................................