# Ruby Australia Special General Meeting (SGM) Minutes - May 2023 **URL:** \ **Category:** Meetings\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://forum.ruby.org.au/t/ruby-australia-special-general-meeting-sgm-minutes-may-2023/1374 "2023-07-18T05:27:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![quintrino](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.ruby.org.au/quintrino/32/167_2.png) [@quintrino](https://forum.ruby.org.au/u/quintrino)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://forum.ruby.org.au/t/ruby-australia-special-general-meeting-sgm-minutes-may-2023/1374/1 "2023-07-18T05:27:11Z")
# Ruby Australia - Minutes of 2023 Special General Meeting Location: Online (via Zoom) Time: 22 May 2023, 1900 AEST/1830 ACST/1700 AWST ## Current Committee Members: - Nick Wolf - President - Sharon Vaughan - Vice President - Mat Button - Treasurer - Michael Rixon - Secretary - Lee Sheppard - General Member - Mark Glossop - General Member - Kirsten Comandich - General Member ## Meeting Attendees: - Pat Allan [PA] - SGM host - Kieran Andrews [KA] - Mathew Button [MB] - Kirsten Comandich [KC] - Claire Fernandes [CF] - Kevin Garcia-Fernandez [KGF] - Mark Glossop [MG] - Ben Greig [BG] - Geoff Hodgson [GH] - Anton Katunin [AK] - Daniel Nguyen [DN] - Simran Sawhney [SS] - Lee Sheppard [LS] - John Sherwood [JS] - Tom Tuddenham [TT] - Nick Wolf [NW] - **Apologies (Ruby AU committee members):** - Sharon Vaughan [SV] - Vice-President - Michael Rixon [MR] - Secretary - Tarun Mookhey [TM] - General Member ## Proceedings Meeting commenced: 1905 AEST - [PA] Welcome and Thanks - [PA] Acknoledgement of Country - [PA] Overview of Pat being host (short personal intro) - [PA] Introduction to Ruby Australia - [PA] Overview of meeting protocols (asking questions, voting, etc.) - [PA] Introduction of committee; recognition of apologies - [PA] Ratification of minutes from 2022 AGM - Brief overview of protocol - Minutes ratified as accurate (7 votes affirming, 0 votes dissenting) - [NW] President’s Report: - Major focus for RubyAU over last 6 months was RubyConfAU in Feb 2023 - “…my personal opinion, a roaring success” - Interjections (visually) by SGM attendees in support of statement - Particular thanks to event manager Deb - amazing job - Conference considered as very well received - Made that way thanks to efforts by lots of people - Also have been supporting meetups continuing or restarting - Upcoming RailsGirls events in MEL and SYD (synchronous event in July) - Thanks and recognition of Sharon Vaughan for her time on committee as (outgoing) VP - Engaged in planning of RailsCamp for this year; tentatively in QLD - Coordinating with some folks already - Still seeking additional EOIs from volunteers for running camp - Questions for President: - [PA] Timeframe on RailsCamp? - [NW] Nothing reportable as yet; depends a lot around potential venue - [MB] Treasurer’s Report: - “Live from New Zealand” - Approx $141K in bank - RubyConfAU 2023 - ran at very slight profit - Good for helping us run our other events - [NW] Additional note that we’ve updated our banking to take advantage of higher interest rates - Questions for Treasurer: - [LS] Estimate on $ needed as “buffer” for covering future event costs (particularly venue deposits)? - [MB] Roughly $90~$100K; most $ is around venue hire and the bookend social events - [JS] MCEC venue hire cost for RubyConfAU? [MCEC is aka “Jeffs Shed”] - [MB] About $70K - [MG] Sponsorship Report: - Sponsorship Prospectus just updated as of last AGM and conference announcement - Sponsors rapidly “rolling in” after that - Most sponsors chose to renew their sponsorship - Some at the same sponsor level; others higher; a few lower - Some new sponsors came on board; offset by a couple of sponsors dropping off - Some sponsors were a bit challenging for me and [MB] to sort out; bit lost for words - [PA] “needed a bit of encouragement, perhaps?” - [MG] end of the day it all got sorted - As [MB] mentioned, post-conf we’ve ended up _slightly_ ahead of where we were - Well-positioned for events in 2023 and early 2024 - Looking at implementing a CRM system to keep better track of our sponsors and obligations - Also wanting to do a very loose audit/assessment of sponsorship+financial systems to assess current situation and where we can improve - Questions for Sponsor Rep: - [DN] How long do sponsors get as sponsors? - [MG] Recap of Sponsor Intervals (as per Sponsorship Prospectus) - Basically 12 mo including a 1x RubyConfAU, at least 1x RailsCamp, all other RbAU events - Interval period is 12 mo min; longer if needed to meet those obligations - [PA] Meetup Reports - [KGF] MEL meetup - Going through several transitions - Trial of changing event host - from [KGF] to [SS] - Also seeking new permanent location and drinks sponsor - [DN] SYD meetup - Recently changed event host; from [MB] to [DN] and 2~3 other volunteers - Attendance 30~40 pax per meetup - New arrangement for food catering very positively received - Still struggle to get speakers each month - Good venue sponsor at present, but looking to rotate venue location - Like MEL, SYD is also looking into drinks sponsorship - [NW] absolutely, we can discuss outside SGM - [PA] Committee Elections - Most roles are 12 mo terms; Treasurer 24 mo - Per constitution, 50% of committee roles are up for election at each general meeting - Intent is to reduce loss of institutional knowledge and churn from leadership changes at each general meeting ## Elections of Committee Members - At this meeting, there are 4 Positions available: VP, Treasurer, 2x General Members - Vote will only be taken if there are more nominees for the available role(s) than empty positions - Position of VP: - [PA] gives brief overview of VP role and responsibilities, 12mo role - [TM] nominated [LS] in advance; [NW] seconds; [LS] accepts - No other nominations - [LS] declared elected to VP - Position of Treasurer: - [PA] gives brief overview of Treasurer role and responsibilities, 24mo role - [TM] nominated self in advance; [NW] seconds; [TM] accepts (assumed) - No other nominations - [TM] declared elected to Treasurer [TM] to be granted full access to Ruby Australia Commbank accounts 1321 7238 and 1321 7246 with full signatory powers on the account as a representative of Ruby Australia - Positions of General Member: - [PA] Gives brief overview of GM role and responsibilities - [PA] 2x terms expired (for [MG] and [KC]) - thus 2x 12mo GM Positions - [PA] Notes [LS] moving into VP role creates a 6 mo GM Position - [PA] Notes [TM] moving into Treasurer role creates another 6 mo GM Position - [PA] Hence 2x 12mo and 2x 6mo Positions available for election - [TM] nominated [DN] in advance; [MB] seconds; [DN] accepts - [CF] nominates self; [NW] seconds; [CF] accepts - [BG] nominates self; [NW] seconds; [BG] accepts - [BG] expresses interest in 6mo Position; avoids necessity for voting - [PA] declares [DN] and [CF] elected to 12mo GM Positions - [MG] potentially nominating self for remaining 6mo Position - [NW] clarifying nature of outstanding Positions; definitely 2x GM Positions - [MG] nominates self; [NW] seconds; [MG] accepts - [PA] declares [BG] and [MG] elected to 6mo GM Positions - [NW] Thanks to outgoing committee members [SV], [MB], [KC] - [KC] Thankyou and “I will be back!” - [PA] General Business & Questions without notice for Committee - [MB] Silly comment - considered two conferences every year? - [NW] “Thankyou for your suggestion; it will be minuted and considered.” - [NW] Thanks to [PA] for ongoing assistance, support and general help for Ruby AU in the background over many years - [NW] “Hat for Pat Project” is ongoing - [PA] Close meeting, wrap-up and thanks Meeting adjourned at 1958 AEST