12/4/10 Meeting of the NJ/NY Costumers’ Guild (aka, the Sick Pups)

Held at Diane’s house, Kendall Park, NJ

Attendees: Diane, Laura, Byron & Tina, Dora, Sandy, Susan T., Marcy, Rich & Stephanie, Kathy D. (Did I miss anyone?)

Minutes were reviewed and approved as written.

Treasurer’s report: As of the October 29^th statement, we had $1,420.03 in the treasury. Marcy said that she recently put in six people’s dues, and has more to put in. Then she will send dues to the ICG.

Lunacon: There have been rumors that Lunacon plans to scratch the masquerade and only have some sort of “costume party” instead. However, the web site still alleges that there will be a masquerade. Just among the Pups, there are at least three costume presentations being worked upon for Lunacon.

Byron commented that cons say that they want a costume track, but unless a volunteer comes through to run it for them, it generally doesn’t happen.

Philcon commentary: Poor publicity. No, terrible publicity! No program information available, even to panelists, until a week prior to the con. Diane said that Jim liked their programming, and Laura said that she thought it was good, especially Saturday’s. Dora noted that the 2011 Philcon will be the 75^th Philcon. Gary Feldbaum will be con chair next year, and is looking for a masquerade director. They don’t have any GoHs listed yet; apparently their first choice turned them down. Sandy said that there is some dissension among the PSFS membership re: the future of Philcon; they’ve diverged into two groups: one wants to make it a “literary” con (such as Boskone), and the others want it to become more open to newer groups/interests. Tina commented upon how Boskone’s dis-invitation of fannish groups in order to be “literary” adversely affected Boskone.

Byron said that some con websites have been good about posting information in advance. He cited Arisia, Albacon and DarkoverCon (Armida Grand Council). He also mentioned that in the Albany area, the Town of Colonie library young persons’ discussion group is getting all fired up, and the librarian is trying to raise money for con memberships. Laura said that a lot of people she knows actually aren’t that interested in media type cons, and could be interested in SF cons if they knew about them.

Regarding web sites, Susan reminded everyone to please send her their bios for their personal web pages on the Pups web site.

Recruitment / Publicity for the Pups: Lunacon & CC are good places to publicize the Pups. Pups info will be put in membership packets – if we don’t have a brochure we need to develop one.

Upcoming Exhibits of Interest:

Byron mentioned “The Peacock Male ” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Perlmann Building), and Diane mentioned the “His and Hers” exhibit at FIT.

Sandy & Dora plan to attend Arisia for at least one day, to publicize the con.

As regards the above mentioned member packets, when asked what would be in them, Sandy & Dora said masquerade registration forms, “money” for the Friday night social, map of the area, local attractions lists, for starters. Byron said that Albacon managed to get some very nice stuff from the local convention bureau (guide to restaurants, local attractions, etc.).

Dealers Room: We hope to get the Reconstructing History pattern dealers to come. They had a big table at Darkover Con. Byron was very impressed with the period dress that one of their people was wearing, made from their patterns. Susan also mentioned Tom Willeford / Brute Force Leather as a possibility. In addition to corsetry, he is doing a lot of steampunk accessories.

Hotel: Dora said that the hotel doesn’t want to release all of their doubles. If anyone has a problem contact CC29hotelrep@gmail.com. All rooming complaints should go to that address, so she can have all problems in one place to send to the hotel reps & manager. Diane asked about the hotel shuttle. The hotel has contracted with a shuttle service that runs from Newark Airport to the hotel. It needs to be booked a week ahead of time. Byron: that needs to go up on the web site ASAP.

Fashion Folio: The winners of the Folio will be posted on the web site. No designs will be posted there. One designer is adamant that nothing of hers be posted, as she has had designs stolen in the past. The Folio will be sent privately to members for whom we have an e-mail address, and separately distributed to the rest.

Video Masquerade: Kevin & Andy have been contacted. We / they need to do something soon, not at the last minute.

Election Commissioner for Site Selection: not firm yet but possibly Dom Corado.

Historical Masquerade: Byron has not yet heard back from Gordon Rose re: acting as M.C. If that falls through, Rob has offered his services. The Historical Masquerade will not have “judges” – it will have “critics” – he still needs to find “critics” for the Historical.

Election of Officers:

The slate for most of the positions was easy to fill: for “Vice” President - Sandy (naturally), for Recording Secretary - Tina (who is already doing so), for Corresponding Secretary - Elaine (who volunteered), and for Treasurer - Marcy. However, there was a long and pregnant pause when no sucker candidate was willing to stand forth for the position of President. Dora clearly cannot be expected to continue to serve in that position during the con or the run-up to it. Byron agreed to serve in this capacity from now until the post-con wind-up period had elapsed (from now - noon 5/15/2011), at which time Dora will once again take up the reins. The nominations were closed (moved by Diane & Rich), and voting then took place.

The slate was elected almost unanimously, with 1 nay, 1 courteous abstention, and 1 uncourteous abstention (the above exceptions were requested to be included in the minutes – the Pups do everything differently! Tina).

Dora will notify the ICG BoD of the election results, to get Byron back onto the moderated list. We also need to update the list of officers on both the ICG and Pups web sites, and ensure that the correct e-mail address and (Elaine’s, as Corresponding Secretary) mailing address are updated and correct.

In conclusion, it was suggested that we send an e-mail to Toni, saying “Congratulations on your election!” Well, we did warn everyone to show up to protect themselves!