TAFF Committee – Hilary Term 2012 Meeting 1 – Madding Crowd, Monday 16th Jan
January 23, 2012
Preliminary Agenda:
Stash – James and Shivani have a crisis
TAFF Dinner
Treasurer Handover
Workshop
Next Committee
AOB
Present – all committee except Jacob and Anna
James Barber present as outgoing treasurer
Meeting was opened
Stash Crisis – Shivani apparently made a mathematical error during stash buying, forgot about VAT – resulting in an £82 deficit. But! James had simultaneously noted that TAFF’s accounts had not properly taken account of interest, so it turns out TAFF has an extra … £71.50 in its account. So only £9 needs to be raised. As well as simply just writing it off, we could potentially raise the price of existing stash a bit. The committee decided that doing both these things seemed to be best. After a discussion of economics, it was decided that henceforth hoodies would cost £20, and polo shirts £12. Sarah G suggested Shivani could bring/advertise stash at TAFF socials or get-outs.
David Ralf, University Drama Officer, entered, bearing mail. Matt noted this mail, being accounts related, should be forwarded to the Treasurer (now Jay Anslow of University College) rather than the Secretary. Tom endorsed this.
TAFF Dinner – Shivani confirmed that Christ Church was the best option for a venue, and that she had re-signed the contract with them. The question before the committee now was how much to charge for tickets, and how much to subsidize. The cheapest menu from ChCh will cost £26 per head (it was noted that including VAT this number became £31) James Barber approved. It was asked how much the meal had cost in previous years. £27 had been the cost of the year before last’s dinner. Matt suggested raising a subsidy through a mix of charging alumni slightly more, and TAFF’s own money. Alumni could pay the full price ticket (at present calculations, a full price ticket with acceptable wine allocation was approx. £35) James suggested that a £25-30 price range ought to be our target for students. This meant TAFF would need to provide an approximately £10 subsidy: assuming all attendees (there are 40 places available) were students, this would be at most a £400 subsidy. Matt Wills noted that he needed to hold tickets for Derek and Penny of Henley Theatre Services, and requested that Tom remind him of this.
Treasurer Handover – James noted that the handover was almost complete, he had the last few forms that would create Jay as the new signatory of the TAFF account; it was heavily hinted at by James that Jay might wish to renew TAFF’s internet banking capabilities.
Workshop – The coming Friday would be an introductory workshop at the BT. Matt and Tom would be hosting; James, Matt F and Geoff all volunteered to help out. Shivani suggested holding a separate workshop for directors and producers explaining how to use TAFF to find techies. Tom should send an announcement email to the list.
Next Committee – The elections should be held a week before the AGM. It was suggested that non-graduating members of the committee might consider whether they wanted to be on next year! If not, people should definitely be on the lookout for those who might be interested.
AOB – Sarah G noted that the Hothouse getin was on 29th January, Sunday of 3rd. People should help out! Sarah G also requested that OUDS Treasurer Stephen Poole be mandated[1] to include footnotes in every email he sent to the TAFF list in future.
The hunt for a replacement for Mark Roberts as Senior Member continued, Dave Ralf mentioned that he might have some leads. Shivani mentioned she had a friend who might now be eligible for Senior Member status. She should ask him.
The meeting closed.
Action Points:
Price of stash to be raised: £20 hoodies, £12 polo shirts.
Shivani to advertise/bring stash to events and get outs.
Dinner subsidy to amount to roughly £400, at approximately £10 a head for current students.
Tom to remind Matt to hold tickets for Derek and Penny.
Workshop to be announced, committee members to help with it.
Search for next committee to begin. Elections to be finalized in time for AGM.
Dave Ralf and Shivani to investigate Senior Members.
[1]Stephen Poole to use more footnotes.
TAFF Minutes – MT 2011 – Meeting 2 (Far From the Madding Crowd – Tuesday 8th November)
January 23, 2012
Agenda:
Stash
Treasurer
TAFF Dinner
Christmas Social
Henley BBQ
6th Week Social
Sewing Machine
Cuppers
Present: Sarah G, Tom C, Matt W, Anna V, Jocasta P, Matt F, Geoff H
Absent: Jeremy C, Shivani S, Jacob H, James B
Meeting was opened on the arrival of Geoff Hall.
TAFF Treasurer –
James’ term is up, we need a new treasurer to bridge committees as well as oversee TAFF accounts and pay in cheques. Tom should double check constitutional rules on elections, time-span etc. and speak to Shivani about setting up a system for voting.
Sewing Machine –
Approved by Matt and James already; where will it be stored? Not the Moser. Give it to Hires and Venues Rep? Sarah G notes that it’s more the kind of thing people would go and use if it was somewhere than something people would want to borrow from her. Store it in the O’Reilly? Matt will speak to the MES and the O’Reilly Technician. Final decision shall be made later.
Cuppers -
Matt thanks everyone for help thus far, and those who have volunteered to help out in the week. Geoff was confused regarding the timetabling of slots, Matt explained that everything was in his emails. [At this point the minutes are obscured by hot chocolate staining]
Senior Member –
James Methven was able to sign the Registration forms, Tom thanks him. As Mark Roberts is still going to be leaving, the need for a replacement is still important to consider however. Who do OUDS have? Simon Taverner, of the Wardrobe, says Anna. Given that that’s also partially a backstage role, Matt will raise the question with him. Primary role of Senior Member is authorising Re-registration.
Christmas Social -
Paddyfields as a venue (Chinese cuisine)? Shivani should scout out the potential numbers that might be interested.
Henley BBQ -
Henley Theatre Services would like to confirm a date with TAFF sooner rather than later – Matt suggested Saturday in 1st Week of Trinity, this was a bit far in advance to be sure for most people, but generally not a problem. Anna asked what the Henley Barbeque was, Matt outlined that it was an annual barbeque hosted by TAFF’s sponsors at Henley Theatre Services, who provide lighting hires and various other services for some Oxford shows as well. Tom suggested that given the high numbers of Freshers on this and likely future Committees, it might be worth at some point setting down a list of ‘TAFF Traditions not to kill’ so that they were not lost.
TAFF Dinner -
Christ Church as investigated by Shivani seemed to be too expensive. Committee members where possible to investigate their own colleges facilities to see what is on offer. It was noted that two years running had been at Lincoln, which was relying on a lot of organisation from Mark Roberts – unfair to rely too much on him.
Stash -
The sooner payment can be made to Shivani, the sooner this lengthy trial can be brought to a close and prevented from dragging on, as TAFF stash missions have often done.
Website – Mythic Beasts have sent TAFF another invoice, at some point Geoff needs to orchestrate the switch to Pilly’s server. Doing so will require temporary TAFF list downtime, so preferably this could be saved for the holiday. Matt F asked Geoff how much time it would actually require to get it up? There was discussion of removing the ‘@tabsareforflying’ middleman between messages and the list, potentially helping lower spam, but doing so would lose the publicised ‘list’ email address.
Workshop – The situation at the O’Reilly in the transition period between Dan Travers and the new technician meant that a workshop there had become to complicated to enact for the timebeing. Given there will not be such a workshop, it seems advisable to arrange a BT one at some point in the remainder of term, or early in Hilary. Opinion was divided as to whether this should include some ‘hands on’ elements of practising with lights etc., but it was argued that this could prove more confusing than helpful. A classic introductory workshop seemed like an option without drawbacks, other than being unexciting.
Meeting closed.
Action Points:
Tom to organise Treasurer elections.
Matt to speak to O’Reilly authorities about sewing machine.
Matt to ask Simon Taverner about potential Senior Member status.
Shivani to find numbers on a Christmas Social.
Committee generally to consider preparing information for future committees on TAFF traditions.
Committee generally to investigate their colleges facilities for TAFF Dinner/AGM in Hilary 2012.
Those with stash orders to pay Shivani.
Geoff to organise the transfer of TAFF’s servers in the holiday.
Committee to determine details of and arrange a workshop either in late Michaelmas or early Hilary.
