Meeting notes

March 9, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

Members present: ???

Completed:

1. by-laws are accepted
2. wishlist is created but not yet on the wiki
3. March 19 event planning is ongoing

Current tasks:

1. Draft a budget
2. Continue March 19 event planning

March 2, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

Members present: mike, fernando, jeff, andrew, jay, les, mark, stef, burke, rich, alex, russ, mak, ron, dan, ben, glenn

Current tasks:

1. Create by-laws
2. Create a "wishlist" of initial gear
3. Plan a March 19th event

The basic plan outlined at the meeting was this...

First, we need to establish by-laws and create an initial wishlist, which will enable us to apply for government grants and give us a good idea of startup money.

Next, we need to draft a good budget, consider the number of members we have, and define the amount each member would be required to pay. If it's an acceptable amount, and the members vote in favour, then we'll be in a position to accept a space.

February 22, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

People here: andrew, mike, justin, fernando, crust, mark, stef, martin, paul, dan, ron, mak, andrew, molly, jay

membership - we're taking them today. $10 for now.

location

• last step - insurance
• proper lease - 4 weeks away
• cheapest cut - $600/month for 1000 sqft
• pictures - to be posted by ron
• loot and pillage

sister space - prototyping space

• molly, justin, ron - will help out

we should have plan B spaces

mike owns the space - it's a conflict of interest

needs to know before a month from now

jay - prefer a disinterested landlord

mike - as a landlord, we'll take care of things

a good landlord agreement

grants

• outstanding meeting w/ destination winnipeg
• mike met with ed a month ago - probably good for 5 grand
  • require bylaws, group, etc
• going to set up a meeting with stem (GoM) - upwards of 25k
• winnipeg arts council - we should talk to them
• need an ongoing amount, and also members

consensus vs majority

• mark's idea - do everything in consensus when possible, use majority when it can't
• difference between consensus and unanimity
• hacklab.to - mail in votes/members
• quorum - if we have quorum, vote happens anyways
• everybody should sign up to discuss mailing list

mike asked his lawyer to draft up the minimum bylaws

• mark - take a kiss approach, then have a policy/constitution that doesn't have the same legal * standing but takes care of the more difficult issues

ruby user group meet up - thursday @ 7

space - 24/7 - every member has a key

mark - fundraising idea - auction off a coder for a weekend to code for an open source project - * mark volunteers

• other idea - bounties
• certain languages, no apps from scratch, etc

mark - wants to talk to andrew about bookkeeping

money

• $100 for stickers, magazine, etc
• business cheques - another $100 or so
• about $1000 in the bank account

18:44 - meeting adjourned

February 8, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

Members present: Andrew, Jay, Justin, Fernando, Dan, Mak, Mark, Glenn, Mike, Stef, Edwin, Burke, Rob, Dave, Russ, Brian, Ron

• Upcoming events
  • Secret Handshake @ King's Head
  • RONx Manitoba
  • Winnipeg Code Camp
    • Free breakfast, lunch
    • Sign up at winnipegcodecamp.com

• SkullSpace Hack-a-thon
  • February 12
  • Red River College
  • Free, donations are good
  • See events

• Global 555 hack-a-thon
  • Saturday, February 19
  • No official SkullSpace entry

• Hexbomber edits an online zine
  • If somebody writes an article, he'll publish it
  • hackthiszine
  • ACTION ITEM - Ron or Martin to write it

• Memberships
  • Gonna have to start charging very soon

• Space
  • Owned by mike's holding company
  • We would be required to sign a one-year lease
  • Next step - we need to raise $5000 or so
  • Group activities, etc
  • Make sure we're accountable
  • Flesh out the 'business plan' to potentially get grants
  • Make sure we can get insurance
  • Formalizing projects/etc will help justify government funding
  • Being associated with a good user base will inspire confidence
  • Suggestion: words under the logo ("knowledge - community - technology")

• Protolab
  • Makerspace - woodworking, metalworking, etc
  • Beyond the scope of skullspace
  • Some desire amongst membership for this kind of stuff
  • Much higher startup cost - $65k - $100k

• Lounge
  • Presentations, arcade, general meeting, sound equipment, etc

• Meeting adjourned - 18:38

February 1, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

Members present: Andrew, Mike, Martin, Dan, Rob, David, Ryan, Russ, Glenn, Ron, Mak, Jay, Burke, Stef, Mark, Cheryl, Alex, Kyle

• Destination Winnipeg
  • Ed loves helping out with this type of project
  • Two suggestions:
    • 1) Destination Winnipeg - needs a defined business plan (Ed)
    • 2) STEM - community development initiatives (Dave)
    • ACTION ITEM: Ron to meet with Mike, Ed, and Dave to find out more

• Info about how other hackerspaces are run
  • ACTION ITEM: mark - find out how other hackerspaces deal with theft, vandalism, etc
  • ACTION ITEM: ron - talk to ultramegaman and see what they've done
  • Thought: a legal agreement with memberships might solve our problems
  • Other thought: separating out the expensive stuff into a more tightly controlled area ("prototyping lab")

• Members
  • ACTION ITEM - andrew to create a list of potential members
  • stef - keeping a list of founding members to encourage people to do it
  • others - that leads to a somewhat elitist attitude that we want to avoid
  • mike - suggested collecting money up front, but that's a chicken/egg problem that's come up before
  • somebody else - suggest prorating the fees paid up front against the actual membership fee

• Upcoming community events
  • Thursday, February 3, 19:00 @ LO Pub - iPhone developers meetup
  • Saturday, February 5, 10:00 - 13:00 @ Legislature - Freedom of Information Rally
  • Saturday, February 5, 21:00 @ LO Pub - Data Dance ($5)
  • ACTION ITEM: ron - create a list of future/past events

• Past events
  • Cupcake challenge
    • Videos are up on youtube.com/skullspacewpg
    • Winners haven't been announced yet, but after the mess we made on their floor we probably didn't win
  • Charlie Brown Christmas Challenge
    • We won first place!
  • Room Jam
    • At least 4 members participated
    • Check it out at http://www.somanyrooms.com
    • No plans to release source

• Logo
  • "Skullo" is a problem (due to the shape of the key
  • ACTION ITEM - somebody to create a page for logos
  • Everybody likes the "Cutesy" skull
  • Nobody likes the peso/doillar
  • The font needs work on Tish's
  • The key is awesome
  • "double colour" is good (I don't remember who said that or know what they meant)
  • the "redbull" font looks best

• Branding
  • "people love to look at things" --Dan
  • ACTION ITEM - ron to install countperday on wiki
  • ACTION ITEM - ron to fix wiki logo

• Hack-a-thon event!
  • A general event on February 12 @ noon
  • ACTION ITEM - stef to check for unused office sace
  • ACTION ITEM - mark to check for room at Red River
  • If both locations fall through, it'll be at mak's. Definitely location to be announced next meeting.

• Winnipeg Code Camp
  • Happening February 26
  • Red River College on Princess
  • We have our own branded room!
  • We'll be doing free giveaways

• Bannatyne location
  • Mike was there, spoke on it...
  • Has to be rezoned, then occupency permit, then insurance - then good to go!
  • $600/month + insurance + utilities
  • There's another location on Gertie as a backup
    • Similar size, layout, etc
  • Waiting on governemnt
  • Prototype space
    • Area for more expensive material
    • Huge cash outlay
    • "decapitation clause" - ie, members take care of stuff
    • Access for small business
    • Community access
    • Reciprocal access for SkullSpace
    • ACTION ITEM - Ron to write this up for mailing list for comments (so we have it in writing)
• ACTION ITEM - Ron to look into mail list archival
• Ideas for member projects (requested by Mike)
  • Password cracking
    • ACTION ITEM - Ron to email Mike about legalities
  • arduino
  • indoor plant growing with arduino
  • talks/tutorials/workshops (arduino, lockpicking, ethical hacking, etc)
  • b-sides conference
  • nmap scripts
  • etc. (from wiki page projects)
  • EM stuff
  • Faraday cage
  • First aid
  • Suggestion: get bins for everybody
  • Suggestion: look at ways to encourage people to finish projects
• Meeting adjourned: 19:06

January 25th, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

Members present: Corey, Russ, Ron, Jay, Clark, Mark, Andrew, Fernando, Tim

• Meeting called to order: 18:03
• Last week's actions items
  • ACTION ITEM - Ron to follow up with stef on his items
  • ACTION ITEM - Ron to follow up with logo designers (Hexbomber, Aaron, Tish, jon, Stef's girlfriend)
• Upcoming events
  • Wednesday, january 26 - .net user group
  • Thursday, January 27 - Ruby meetup
  • Thursday, January 27 - "tweet up"
  • Friday, January 28 - co-op event @ King's Head or Tavern United
  • Saturday, January 29 - Sunday, January 30 - Room Jam
• Articles of Incorporation
  • They've been approved, we'll have them back soon
  • ACTION ITEM: Andrew to look at opening the bank account/paypal donation/etc
• Possible grants
  • Mike is meeting w/ Ed from Destination Winnipeg tomorrow, will get us some information
    • ACTION ITEM: Ron to find out what the deal is and talk about it next meeting
  • Having a lower ratio of males would help with some grants that require equality
    • ACTION ITEM: Andrew (or Molly) to talk to female geeks to raise interest
• Discussion about power structure going forward
  • Proposal: People who *do* stuff (bank account, etc) don't get a say in what's done
  • ACTION ITEM: Mark will look at how other hackerspaces are run and get back to us
• Space
  • We may have access to enter next week (in a limited way, controlled by Mike)
  • We should be able to get the lease signed in 2-3 weeks, depending on the city/other factors we can't control
  • We'll have to work together to clean up and sort out a reasonable grand opening date
• Members
  • We need to get a list of people who will commit to paid memberships once we have a space
  • ACTION ITEM: (assign next week) to start talking to people and finding out who will pay)
• Meeting adjourned: 18:41

January 18th, 2011 - 18:00 @ LO Pub

Members present: Andrew, Ron, Mak, Darcy, Fernando, Jay, Aaron, Molly, Paul, Mark, Martin, Russ, Stef, Burke

• Meeting called to order: 18:00
• Logo ideas
  • Current idea: "SKULL" on top of "SPACE", where the 'E' is the teeth of a key (sketch http://i.imgur.com/5dB4w.jpg)
  • Leanne (from Manitoban) will work on it
  • Tish is also working on it
  • Stef asked Jon to try something as well
• Financial status
  • Approximately $43 in the red
  • Main loss this week was from muffins
  • Main gain this week was donations from members
• Re-cap of the Cupcake Challenge hack-a-thon
  • Events: cupcake baking, coding, lockpick village, introductions, waffles
  • Mak needs to live closer
  • We need to find a space so we don't have to go to Mak's
  • A dozen cupcakes were mailed to Brighton and one (smushed) to Redmond
  • Pictures are posted to Flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/skullspace)
  • ACTION ITEM: Andrew to write blog on the muffin challenge
  • Andrew posted a Youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_2b1iUvpss)
• Bannatyne location
  • Initial review of the terms seems reasonable
  • May potentially lead to shared office space
  • We should have emergency contacts who live/work downtown (Stef)
  • Security of equipment - business insurance
  • Cleanliness will be *very* important
  • Eye wash station, etc will be needed
    • To be discussed when we actually have a space
• Meetings
  • We're moving to weekly meetings
  • Next meeting is Tuesday, January 25, 18:00 @ LO Pub
• Winnipeg Code Camp
  • Free conference at the end of February
  • 4 tracks, 20 sessions
  • Ron and Mak are speaking for sure, and likely Andrew
  • ACTION ITEM: Stef to submit a talk
  • ACTION ITEM: Ron to send abstract of his and Mak's talks
• Other events
  • Secret Handshake - Thursday, January 20, 2011
  • Ruby User Meetup - Thursday, January 27, 2011
  • Flash in the Peg - Wednesday, January 19, 2011
  • ACTION ITEM: Andrew (etc) to infiltrate all local groups
• Public Relations
  • Martin is taking over public relations
  • Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, flickr, etc
  • ACTION ITEM: Everybody to infiltrate Reddit Winnipeg
  • Suggestion for/from Martin: bi-weekly blog update with our current status
  • Idea from Martin: a small paper slip with a QR code
• Finances
  • If it comes to the point where we can no longer go on, any money (if any) in excess of expenses will not be used for personal profit
  • None of the founders, nor anybody else in the organization, will personally profit from SkullSpace's income
  • Re-embursement is not the same as being paid
• Events that we host
  • Free for members, small fee for non-members (ultimately to encourage them to become members)
  • Once/month, maybe more
• Startup funding
  • ACTION ITEM: Martin to look into startup funding
  • ACTION ITEM: Ron to find out about Destination Winnipeg (Ed Suzuki)
  • ACTION ITEM: Stef to find out about Yes Winnipeg
  • Note: Assiniboine Credit Union might be a potential source for B-sides Winnipeg
• Meeting adjourned: 19:04

January 4th, 2011 - 17:30 @ LO Pub

Members Present: Andrew, Dan, Dave, Mak, Ron, Russ

• Logo
  • no bones
  • minimal detail
  • ability to render as one colour
  • "SkullSpace" in the logo
  • not scary
  • cartoony/cute/anime
  • skull as one of the letters perhaps (the skull is not the focus of the logo)
  • one of the S's should have a white fedora on it
  • book
  • lock and key
  • ACTION ITEM: Andrew to get this info into logo designers' hands

• A-zone space
  • ACTION ITEM : Mak to ask Mark about the space and get response

• Cupcake challenge
  • January 15th, Saturday
  • Mak's place

• breachdb
  • Ron wants to make a statistics site about password breaches
  • searchable and whatnot
  • db schema was refined

• Stuff Wishlist
  • Projector
    • ACTION ITEM: Ron to be in charge of projector
  • Chairs
  • Networking equipment

• Finances
  • Still ~$200 in debt.

• Members
  • ACTION ITEM: Ron to make member benefits page
  • Dues
    • $40/month
    • $20/students or low income

December 21st, 2010 - 17:30 @ Lo Pub

Members present: Andrew, Mak, Ron, Russ

• Signed the articles of incorporation
• Discussion on Event ideas
• Discussion on next event
  • December 27th, Ron's place, ethicalhacker xmas challenge
• Discussion on first official event
  • March 1st, millennium library
  • One 30 minute talk on what SkullSpace is all about
  • Break with snacks
  • Another 30 minute talk on open source tools
• Discussion on Finances
• Discussion on maintaining a presence at other groups
  • asterisk user group
  • ruby meetup
  • MUUG
  • secrethandshake
  • .Net meetup
  • 2600 meetup
• Action Items:
  • Andrew
    • Talk to tish re: logo design
    • File articles of incorporation
  • Ron
    • Set up mailing list
    • Find out when next ruby meetup is
    • Reserve and book 40 person room at library for March 1st if possible
  • Mak
    • Get pricing on business cards
    • Create facebook account

December 7th, 2010 - 17:30 @ Lo Pub

Members present: Andrew, Mak, Stef, Ron, Russ

• Discussion on Physical space requirements
• Discussion on Event ideas
• Discussion on stuff Wishlist
• Discussion on Finances