Meeting notes

This page serves as the index for SkullSpace meeting minutes.

Minutes from previous years

Meeting_notes (2018)

Meeting_notes (2017)

Meeting_notes (2016)

Meeting_notes (2015)

Meeting_notes (2014)

Meeting_notes (2013)

Meeting_notes (2012)

Meeting_notes (2011)

Meeting_notes (2010)

January 28, 2020 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• No introductions needed
• Previous minutes
• Financial
  • NYE Social boosted it a bunch
  • We still haven't gotten back up to peak members, so we'd be on a slight downward slope without these fundraisers
  • Everything else is similar. It seems it mostly boils down to membership levels and fundraisers.
• NYE Social:
  • Got too much alcohol
  • Managed to return most of that
  • In the end we made about $1400, so it was a success
  • More than half our guests used EventBrite
  • We keep on underpricing drinks
  • The downstairs has been leased, so we can't throw any more of this type of social
    • Or can we? It seems the second floor of the adjoining building is still open, so that's an avenue of discussion
• AGM soon
  • Any bylaws or such need to be in by February 4th.

December 17, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Introductions
• Minutes
• Financial
  • Everything is normal, memberships are still a bit low
  • We're up this month because of a donation for the TEC by two different councillors from their Per Capita granting fund
• Our New Year's Eve event is announced
  • eventbrite to be set up soon
  • DJs have been contacted
  • We could use some help decorating
  • Same kind of social
  • Please contact Mark C or Colin E to help with it. We'd like volunteers to watch the door for portions of the night.
• X-Carve
  • We got the suckit dust boot, which we'll be able to use to clear away debris and cut things like soft metals.
• Movie night: Dec 20
  • Fear of a Black Hat
  • It's All Gone Pete Tong
• TEC
  • Got 10 students for the last class of the year, at the end of November. They were using 7-segment displays to get the students to display their names.

Six of the old laptops have been activated with Windows, so they should be easy to use by students.

November 26, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Upgrades to X-Carve:
  • boot has arrived
  • vacuum hose will be attached
  • long term goal to box in the vacuum assembly
  • increase sound damping.
• Edwin will put $400 to improve electronics department tools.
  • soldering station(s)
  • variable power suppl(ies/y)
• Financial Reports
  • used funds from social toward improvements at front/class/office
  • walls are partially built, Ben M. to continue building/painting
• Troy suggests possible loans from membership at low or no interest toward improvements to the space
  • can we get tax receipts for donations? would we require a separate entity/charitable org?
• TEC Lab#3 - Advanced Arduino [ Lucky Number Generator ]
  • Learn how to drive a seven-segment display with the arduino
• Movie Night
  • Dec. 20th
  • Fear of a Black Hat
  • It's All Gone Pete Tong
• First Friday Next Week ( Dec.6 )
• Next Month-end meeting is to be held on Dec 17th

October 29, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Introductions
  • 14 members present
• Ratified previous minutes
• Financials
  • We still have fewer members (down from our high in April), so we're on a slow downward trend. I was wrong about being mostly even in the last couple months, since we had those big spikes in net worth. We tend to get an extra 1 or 2 members each month or two, but we also tend to lose 1 or 2 members each month or two.
  • Most of our lost members are newer members who realized they were just never coming by. The rest were longer-time members who also were never coming by, and who wanted to redirect their funds elsewhere in their lives.
• Making announcements
  • The board hasn't been properly announcing discussions (and their results) to those members who weren't present at meetings. We're going to try to fix how we report things like that. We've also had a few issues over the years with people misreading ambiguous statements in the minutes, so we'll try to get these proofread. Overall, our goal is to enable every member to join discussions online and be represented in the board's final decision (or membership votes).
• About minutes
  • We haven't been keeping proper actual minutes. What we have here is more like Meeting Notes, which is what this page on the wiki is called. We should be gathering the meeting's topics, thought out and written down, before the meeting happens, and then using our time at the meetings to come to agreement together. We're going to try collecting those kinds of ideas during regular Tuesday show-and-tell, or whenever a discussion comes up, and submit those to the email list for discussion before the monthly meeting. That way we can enter the meeting informed by the experiences of all members.
• Coworking
  • Mark C started talking ‌in August with some of the other members who frequently used the space during the daytime, and compiled a list of needs and wishes. The classroom, with its hand-me-down furniture, was barely acceptable as a place to sit and work every day. They then introduced the idea of having the next AntiSocial as a way to raise funds for the renovation of the front space. Chris J and Colin E put it all together and ran it in September with the help of many members. The board used a portion of the funds last week to buy two adjustable standing desks with some accessories and two high-resolution monitors.
  • Mark has a list of plans when it comes to coworking, but that will require more discussion. At this time, all members present accepted that Mark C and Alex can use the desks during the day. Mark's goal is to receive funding from members' workplaces to improve the space, in exchange for weekday priority use for those members. Plans include new flooring, better furniture, and movable false walls.
  • Please note that this does not mean we'll be opening up a general co-working business. Only members could sign up to be co-workers. There's some debate about whether we'll accept new members who are there specifically for co-working, or if we'll offer members the possibility only after they become members.
  • There's a thread on Discuss where we're debating whether or not we should introduce any fees at all, whether we can be allowed to place priority on some furniture, and about how we should communicate with members to decide on purchases or policy updates. We discussed the possibility of holding a vote for next month's meeting.
    • A few members are afraid that requiring a fee for access to specific furniture would be seen as an increased membership tier.
    • Members who helped fundraise don't want to be disallowed from using things bought with that money.
• Policies, in general
  • We haven't touched our policies in a long time. The directors can legally set policy themselves, but we should have a(nother) policy of running any changes past the membership first. We should have a discussion in the next little while about what we should do when someone (whether a director or other member) identifies an issue with the way we go things. For example: The directors could announce their initial thoughts to the mailing list, then we can discuss, and the members can choose if holding a vote is necessary.
• Purpose, mission
  • A couple weeks ago, Edwin and some members were talking about how SkullSpace has never really (in the last several years, anyway) had a mission statement, or clear goals for the purpose of the space. Edwin proposed that our purpose should be to help people make rad things, and that we should take some time at each monthly meeting to decide on a new project to help with that month.
  • Ben M made a list of possible rules. It should:
    • not be for profit,
    • benefit the space,
    • take no longer than three weeks to complete, and
    • require the skills of four or five SkullSpace members
  • Talk to Ben M about his ideas. We'll post it to Discuss at some point.
• Avant
  • Chris J is interested in switching our insurance to Avant, since it's nearby and they handled us well for the social. Chris will take a look and see how they compare to our current insurance, to see if it's even worthwhile.
• Tech Club
  • We've applied for a per-capita grant from Winnipeg, and we'll probably be getting a grant of $500 for the tech club.
  • Brad T wants to work with members of the space to hammer out some lesson plans so we can have something to run with when the time comes.
  • Thor was talking about making TinkerCAD logins and preloading a bunch of laptops with software and models so they're ready for lessons.
• Interior
  • Chris brought an interior designer. She recommended that we clean the place up and move forward with our goals, of course. She also recommends info near the door and more projects on display.
• Improvements
  • There was some interest in updating the 3D printer's computer. Some members pointed out that the current computer performs strangely in some circumstances. Someone wanted to have a computer for some 3D modelling, and pointed out that the lounge computer might be needed by others at the same time. It was pointed out that the current 3D printer computer is fairly dumb, and is used to slice models and send them to the printers. We might want to get a small, low-powered computer for that and a medium-powered computer for 3D modelling elsewhere. We can discuss it more online to figure out what would be best.
  • Someone had mentioned that we should get new soldering iron tips, or even newer soldering stations. We never got around to it, and that's something we should discuss. What are our member's requirements for soldering? We'll make a poll on Discuss.
  • We pay members back for a purchase that was needed. If we run out of paper towels or pop, or if we have an open request (like for a new 8-foot 1A step ladder for around $150), you can bring something to the space and send us a copy of the receipt, and we'll get a cheque to you. At this point in time, we're trying to get access to new banking tools that would allow two directors to sign an eTransfer to allow immediate payback. Until then, we'll have to meet with you.
• Events
  • First Fridays this Friday, November 1st.
  • Scott from Extra Life is one of our new members. He's hosting a game day this Saturday, November 2nd.
  • November 2nd is The Long Con, Winnipeg's best security conference.
  • New-Year's social potentially being planned. We've gotten some attention from our previous social, and people want to know when we're holding our next one. Talk to Colin E for some initial plans. Nothing is really set in stone yet.

September 24, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Introductions
• Ratified last-month's minutes
• Financials
  • The social gave us quite a lot
  • Everything else is fairly normal
• We're using the money from the social to purchase a couple co-working desks. These will be for people paying for a co-working package.
• If the tools at the space aren't good enough for your needs, please let the board know. We have a fund for improving the space.
• We should upgrade the 3D printer computer. It doesn't run Windows and is hard to reboot. We should get a small one with 16 GB of RAM or such and enough power to do some 3D modelling.
• Brad T presented about an Electronics & Technology Club he wants to start
  • A workshop for youth to learn electronics skills
  • Instructors will engage one-on-one with students
  • Ideally, it'll end up running in the afternoon each weekday. It would probably start only on Saturdays
  • Students would choose projects, and the teachers would break it down.
  • Teach them microcontrollers and such
  • Add components like LEDs and motors
  • Teach the production of circuit boards
  • Also cover programming, 3D printing, bike tinkering, CBC, and cybersecurity
  • We'd have to keep up with social media
  • We could try to get Tip Top Electronics to sponsor
  • We'd need to get some grants
  • We should have some basic tools
    • A couple Raspberry Pi
    • Blue Pill Arduinos
    • Jumper wires
    • Breadboards
  • If we market to parents, it's possible to get $300/month.
  • We would need people to get background checks before they start helping

August 27, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• 6 members present
• intros
• Ratified minutes
• Financials
  • Hydro bill was 50% bigger this month
  • We're at the end of the A/C weather, so we'll be back to normal right away.
  • Everything else was fairly steady.
• Social planning
  • It's less than three weeks away!
  • We've got nearly all the pieces together, it's just a matter of getting that all into place
• Brad is doing some LED lighting on a show with electronic artist Cyber Girl on August 31st
• We signed up for another year of First Fridays

July 30, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• 7 members, 5 guests
• Introductions
• Ratified minutes
• Financials
  • Thank you to Sean Penn for almost using our space as a filming location. They paid for the space, even if all they did was move out and move back in. We gained $2000 for that
  • Thank you to Helga for a donation after the successful launch of her Shimmer art exhibit. It was great seeing so many members working together on one project
• Ai-Kon was the previous weekend
  • We had Brad's Skulltris with us, and it attracted many eyes
  • We had plenty of members to look after the booth
  • We could do a presentation at Ai-Kon some year
• If we wanted to do presentations, we could use the Millenium Library
• We should look into Manitoba Arts Council can give us grants to work with different groups
• We'll be making an internal list of members who would be interested in doing grant stuff, or running presentations or working with educational groups. At the moment, the best we can do is send it to announce@ to see if there's any interest
• Sandbox is dead without a new (graphically powerful) computer. Sand was also annoying to deal with, so we'd need something different
  • If anyone would like to salvage some of the wood (2x4s, painted black), feel free
  • We still have the Kinect if anyone would like to use it for a project at the space
• Les.net wants to hire someone to set up Raspberry Pi relays to monitor things. Email Chris for details
• Val, a visitor, is trying to make a sculpture for the Forks. It's currently a model of a bull, but she is going to turn the model into a series of panels with the shapes of books in bas-relief. Then she'd like to 3D print the final proof-of-concept
• Events
  • Missing Maps was on Wednesday
    • There are new building footprint datasets released by Bing and NRCan for Southwest Manitoba
  • First Fridays this Friday. Chris will be here. We're thinking of renewing, but we haven't gotten any members from it in the past year and it's difficult to get members to staff it
  • Movie night August 23, Weird Science and My Science Project. Snacks!

June 25, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Introductions
• Financials
  • Net value is even with last month
  • We gained some members recently after we lost a few a couple months ago
  • All the numbers this month were pretty average
  • It's getting into air-conditioning season, so Hydro bills will be higher in the coming months
• Using a larger bit in the CNC machine causes loose material to gum up the rails, so steps will be skipped
  • Edwin is dabbling with designs to get the vacuum connected
• Helga's rippling tile project is nearly complete! The debut is this Friday, June 28th at 7:00pm at Video Pool (2nd floor at the cinematheque).
• Video Pool would be interested in partnering with SkullSpace to offer member's rates to SkullSpace members if they work with Video Pool members to work on and showcase prototypes
  • SkullSpace members could help unlock the full potential of their more technical equipment
  • We'll try to go over there on Tuesday, July 30th after the meeting
• Planning for Anti-Social 2019 is in full swing
  • You can join the channel on Slack, and you can ask for an invite if you're not in Slack
  • We're planning for an afternoon game day as a pre-event. More info later
  • We're aiming for late August or early September
• Next Movie night will be July 23rd, with 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' and 'Mystery Men'
• The Long Con has opened their call for talks
  • Have some ideas, but want to collaborate? Talk to Troy
  • Also, get your employers to give some sponsorship money
• A movie called Flag Day will have a scene filmed from within SkullSpace on Wednesday, July 10th. The space will be closed to all members, so let us know if you planned to use the space and we'll make some alternate arrangements for you.

May 28, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Introductions
• Ratified last-month's minutes
• Financial report:
  • Still losing money. After pruning some members last month, we haven't replaced them for this month. More funds will come in next month and the month after, so it should even out
  • Snacks are pretty low this month
  • Everything else is pretty average
• Events
  • OSM night in June will probably be on the third week. It'll be on a Wednesday
  • First Friday not this Friday! It'll be on June 7th
  • Cookies & Community today. Come talk about business plans or something while eating cookies
• Other
  • We discussed getting a ladder at some point. 8 feet high, grade 1A, it could be either aluminum or fibreglass. Colin 0 will probably pick one up when there's a sale
  • New Ubiquity APs! These ones support the 5 GHz band and 802.11ac
    • Maybe in five more years we'll upgrade again to 802.11ax or something

April 30, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Introductions
• Ratified last-month's minutes
• Financial report:
  • Lower membership from new members dropping out after a couple months
    • We sometimes have to trim newer members who lose interest after a few months, but sometimes Michael gets lazy and leaves it for a month or two. Then it piles up
  • Everything else is fairly normal. On the whole, a small loss for this month
• Events:
  • Ai-Kon is coming up, July 26-28. We get two passes per day, so let me know if you'd like to watch the table for one or more days. There are events throughout the night if you want to enjoy yourself after the dealer's hall closes
  • First Friday of the month coming up:
    • Work-from-Skullspace Day during the workday
    • Potential plans for Lunch-from-Skullspace Day if you work nearby but can't telecommute
    • First Fridays that evening, starting at 6:00
• 3D printer got some extra care. Ordered new print surface using a coupon
• Cookies and Community is held after each monthly meeting. We snacked on cinnamon rolls during the meeting. You should have been here!
• Ended 18:17

March 26, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• Oops, the meeting minutes weren't uploaded. They should be on the lounge computer, so they should be uploaded sometime in May.

February 27, 2019 - 18:00 @ 200-374 Donald

• 14 members present; 3 represented by proxy. These 17 members constituted a quorum
• We decided to wait until more members arrived before we closed candidacy for directors
• Finances
  • Net worth is on the up-and-up (currently at about $2617.44 above expenses)
  • Last year 2770
  • There was a downward spike last year from a large Hydro bill. Michael has been reading the meter weekly since then.
  • Hydro fees are a bit of a guess, we would need to retrieve our login information to find out how much we're charged per kilowatt hour.
  • We're using about 300 kWh/week without the air conditioner
  • Uncollected dues is at its lowest since 2017
  • Some questions were asked
    • Might there be a seasonal trend of membership turn-around? At this point we don't know, but Michael will run some numbers some day
    • Are there any common reasons members suspend their membership? Nost who cancelled recently cancelled for the sake of their own time or finances
• Looking back at 2018
  • Got Prusa 3D Printer
  • Got a new door and got the push-bar installed
  • Started participating in First Friday
  • Went to Ai-Kon
  • Got a new vertical Banner
  • Hosted Manitoba Pinball League
  • Gained enough members to cover expense
  • Thor threw several movie nights
• Discussion of what SkullSpace is came up, a community of technically minded people that are available to help each other out on their projects.
• 360 tour of the space suggested
• Suggestion of an advertising campaign. Idea to run more events for post-secondary students.
• The fob management system's power supply had 'technical' "issues" about a month ago. A newer system was constructed, and will be installed soon.
• AR Sandbox table has become just a table, Keith will be contacted to figure out what to do with it.
• Events
  • Ai-Kon's one-day Winterfest was interesting. We got some interest in our space. One of the 3D pens glitched out
  • First Friday is coming up this Friday, March 1st
    • More members at the space would be helpful
  • Petting Zoo upcoming; date needs to be finalized
• Candidacy for board was re-visited
  • Only five members announced candidacy, so no vote was needed.
  • Directors for 2019:
    • Michael
    • Chris
    • Brad M
    • Thor
    • Ben M

January 29, 2019 - 18:17 @ 200-374 Donald

• Finances are going up at a steady rate.
• Proposal to have routine Dungeons and Dragons at the space, if interested contact Cameron.
• Comedy workshop still happening every other Wednesday.
• This friday is First Friday
• Next month is the annual general meeting
  • Anyone interested in becoming a Skullspace board member please make a post to discuss.
• Several members have noticed 555 days of up time is very noisy