ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee April 2004 Conference Call

Tony Baylis
Colleen Case
Alain Chesnais
Gudrun Enger
Thierry Frey
Barb Helfer
Erica Johnson
Jackie Morie
Scott Owen
Dino Schweitzer

Dena Slothower(SIGGRAPH 2004 Chair)

Judy Brown
Masa Inakage
Stephen Spencer

Dena Slothower presented the budget and highlighted modifications

Motion (Owen, Enger) ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee approve the final SIGGRAPH 2004 budget with a 5% positive or negative variance.

Approved unanimously

Additional clarification on variance percentage was requested. Who set the 2% and where does the proposition of 5% come from? It is a reasonable compromise between the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee Requirement and the ACM policy requirements .

Thanks were given to Dena Slothower for all the documentation provided. It was quite thorough and detailed, and she was thanked for all her hard work in getting the budget to this point.

Boston is proposed as the site for 2006. Boston is a slightly more expensive city than New Orleans. However, recommendations from the promo group and exhibits management indicate that Boston has a strong draw for increased revenue in exhibits and registrations due to the local technical community and industry.

Motion (Owen, Case) That the ACM SIGGRAPH EC conditionally approve Boston as the site for the S2006 conference contingent upon successful negotiations with the host city.

Approved Unanimously.

Huguette Chesnais has announced that she will step down as TAS Chair on June 30, 2004. Because most venues that hosted the TAS were chapters, chapters would like to appoint Lina Yamaguchi as TAS Chair, and. Lina will accept the position if offered. The TAS Chair would then be a member of the chapters committee and report to the Director for Chapters to expand the program using the chapters as a base. She will step down from her position as paid support for TAS administration. She will then need to decide with the Director for Chapters if paid support is still required. Right now the TAS budget is the Vice President’s responsibility. A proposal was made to move this budget to the Director for Chapters’ budget.

Resolution (Frey, Helfer) ACM SIGGRAPH EC supports moving the TAS program and its accompanying responsibilities from the Vice President’s area of oversight to fall under the oversight of the Director for Chapters.

Endorsed Unanimously.

It was proposed to change the official term of Executive Committee offices from July 1^st to 2 or 3 weeks post conference. Some concerns were expressed by members of the group, and these issues were discussed. Concerns were regarding the nominations issues and a potential conflict of interest. There was consensus that this proposal was a good idea.

Motion (Frey, Baylis) Accept the proposal and move forward with a task force to deal with a transition plan and submit the bylaws change during the 2005 election cycle..

Approved Unanimoulsy.

There was a request for chapters to be able to purchase and re-sell conference materials at chapter functions. This request is for publications, specifically the SIGGRAPH Video Review DVD and the conference DVD Soma presentations, not merchandise like t-shirts or hats. Discussion followed as to whether this is a member benefit and this proposal would undermine the membership price. Erica Johnson raised concerns about issues regarding re-sale of ACM merchandise and the potential tax implications. According to current policy, a member can purchase multiple items for themselves. Thierry Frey withdrew the proposal from this discussion and will work with the member benefits task force to see how something of this nature might fit in with that total package.

Tony Baylis gave an update on the budget, and he plans to have the issues resolved next week

The next conference call is scheduled for May 12