SP Board Meeting Tuesday

The Board of Directors of Second Pride will have a General Meeting Tuesday September 23, 2014 at 06:00 PM SLT in the Second Pride Headquarters Conference Hall.

Proposed Agenda for Second Pride General Meeting:

1. Call To Order:

2. Department Reports:
    A) Build:
    B) Events:

    C) Community Relations
    D) Security
    E) Treasurer Report

3. Chair Selection

4. New Business

5. Proposed Date for Next General Meeting Saturday

6. Motion to Adjourn

Source: Notice in the Second Pride Festival group

New SP Board to be Installed Today

The recently elected board of Second Pride will be seated at the board meeting today, Saturday September 13, 2014, at 11 AM SLT in the Second Pride Conference Hall (SLurl).

I hope to see you all there!

Second Pride Meeting - August 2, 2014

A Second Pride Board Meeting has been called to Saturday August 2, 2014, at 11 AM SLT.

The agenda for the meeting (as posted on the Second Pride website).
1. Call to order
2. Proposal 1 – Correcting references of Membership Director to be Community Relations Director.
3. Proposal 2 – A proposal to articulate criteria by which excess donations should be awarded to other non-profit groups, and to increase transparency of the process to the membership.
4. Proposal 3 – A proposal to increase confidence and transparency in the election of Board of Directors.
5. Proposal 4 – A proposal to reduce the appearance of Conflicts of Interest when sitting board members run for re-election.
6. Discussion of Charitable donation
- Approval of amount to donate
- Discussion of how the money is to be distributed.
7 Putting Second Pride and the sim in search
8. Review of Election Procedures
9. New Business
10. Adjournment

Report from the SP Annual Meeting 2014

Due to a busy first and SecondLife I have not been able to post a report from the Annual Meeting of Second Pride earlier, but here are a summary of my impressions.

For the minutes from the meeting and a full running transcript, please visit Second Pride; Second Pride Annual Meeting Minutes July 19, 2014.

Marge Beaumont, Karl Kalchek, Sutry, Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck, Kharissa Indigo & Baz Ceawlin

We started off with the department reports.

Chair - Petr thanked all that had volunteered their time and done a great job for Second Pride. He also reminded us all that the organization relies on volunteerism.

Treasurer - Marge gave us a summary of the financial status, in short all is well and the finances are in good order. (As a personal observation let me say that I believe that Marge may have been in contact with Esme Capelo concerning her presentation, as you see from the example below she used cute cats.) 

Community Relations - Karl informed us that the membership had increased with 25% over the year. He also reminded us that we should be proud of this year was an increasing diversity of the vendors, sponsors, and performers who were part of Second Pride Festival this year. There were many new sponsors and many sponsors who returned after leaving Second Pride for one reason or another over the years.

Security - Sutry reported that there had only been a few griefers that had been swiftly dealt with by the excellent volunteers on the security committee. 

Events - Khar informed us that working with the sponsors created some new and different ideas in this area, by combining main stage events with other stages and settings throughout the entire festival grounds highlighting each unique area. We also had our first King and Queen pageant, 57 DJ’s, a live band, a rock concert and some very talented live singers. This year having an interactive website and a Festival Guide with detailed information about the vendors and events was very helpful, as well as having the DJ’s register online. Having less stages then last year and list of availability of DJ’s on line made it much easier and faster to make the schedule. Kharissa concluded by leaving a short list of suggestions to the coming board.

IT - Baz told us that the Event survey had received about 45 responses from festival attendees. The vast majority or the responses have been Good to Excellent. The breakdown was:
Excellent 48%
Good 34%
Neutral 9%
Poor 5%
Terrible 5%
There were many constructive comments and suggestions made.. the survey will be summarized and passed on to next years board.
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Next we moved on to the question of proposed recipients of donations. A committee has been formed to decide criteria for worthy recipients of donations from Second Pride. The committee will make recommendations to the full board. A method to garner input from the community on where the money should ultimately be dispersed will be made soon.

The meeting next covered the election time table and procedures, among others

• Election procedures will be posted the Second Pride website on July 19th
• Candidate declarations will be accepted from July 31st through midnight SLT August 14th, per the by laws.
• Voting will commence at 00:01 AM September 1st and remain open through midnight September 4th.
• You must have joined the Second Pride Festival Group by midnight July 31st to be able to vote for your candidates.
• Members of the Second Pride Group will need to visit an election kiosk on the Second Pride sim.
• The election kiosk will provide access to an online voting ballot where members can vote for candidates of their choice.
• You MUST be a member of the Second Pride Festival in-world group before midnight July 31st to be eligible to vote. Joining of the Second Pride Group will be closed for the entire election period, July 31st through September 6th.
• Protections have been put in place to block voter fraud through the use of Alt accounts. If you are in a situation were multiple users in your household will be voting from the same device or internet connection, you must inform the election committee prior to voting.

Four proposals for changes in the by-laws were made, in attempts to remedy known problems.

The meeting then stood for one minute of silence in memory of the victims of Flight MH-17, which included over 100 AIDS researchers en route to a conference in Australia. (Picture above)

A call for volunteers to an election committee was made. If you are interested in participating and fulfill the requirements (see the minutes) send a notecard to Karl Kalchek.

Next meeting will be on Saturday August 2nd at 11 AM SLT.

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All in all it was an unusually long and intense meeting with many interesting subjects. The meeting was conducted in an orderly fashion under the excellent guidance of our chairperson.

SP Annual Meeting 2014 Today

The annual meeting of Second Pride will be held today, July 19, 2014, at 11.00 AM SLT, and will take place in the auditorium on the Second Pride sim (SLurl).

The agenda of the annual meeting (as posted on the Second Pride website) has been amended (changes are shown in bold) and now reads as follows:

1. Call to Order
2. Department reviews
3. Plan for Second Pride donation to real life (a.k.a. first life, my comment) charity
4. Election Time Table and procedures
5. Proposed By-Law Changes
6. New Business 
7. Adjourn

Reminder: Second Pride Annual Meeting 2014

The annual meeting of Second Pride will be held on Saturday July 19, 2014, at 11.00 AM SLT, and will take place in the auditorium on the Second Pride sim (SLurl). 

The agenda of the meeting (as posted on the Second Pride website) is:

1. Call to Order
2. Department reviews
3. Plan for Second Pride donation to real life (a.k.a. first life, my comment) charity
4. Election Time Table and procedures
5. New Business 
6. Adjourn

Second Pride Annual Meeting

The Second Pride Annual Meeting will take place on Saturday July 19th, 2014, 11 AM SLT, in the Second Pride Conference Hall.

The purpose of this meeting is (per the Second Pride bylaws Article III, section 1, paragraph 2)  "for the membership to offer questions to the board in an open, unrestricted and unfettered forum, AND for the Chairman to announce election dates for the next Second Pride Board and certain election guidelines."

At this meeting the board usually also takes the opportunity to report on and review the recently concluded festival.

Pre-Festival Second Pride Meeting

There will be a public Second Pride board meeting on Tuesday June 17, 2014, at 7 PM SLT.

The meeting will be to review the schedule and answer any questions there might be regarding the soon commencing Second Pride Festival. (The festival starts on Saturday June 20.)

I & My Identical Twin

Sometimes we need to be in two places at the same time, but as we know that isn't possible in our first life. However in SecondLife it is. On Friday evening I realized I had promised to be at two separate places at 12 PM (noon) on Saturday.

First I had promised Tomais that I would be at the Wastelands sim for a photo shoot with him, Lee McKay and Ryder Yowman for the "And equality under the law for all" picture. So I needed to have my body there. The second place I needed to be was the Second Pride board meeting taking place at the exact same time. So I needed to have my mind there.

The problem is impossible to solve in first life, but a no-brainer in SecondLife. I logged in the lairds Secretary of State, my oldest and wisest alt Wild Zepp-McMillan to take care of my presence at the Second Pride meeting, while my body rested safely at the Wasteland sim under the protection of my lover.

Wild hasn't been online much and far less outside of the home sim since he was created, so first thing he needed was new clothes. (He only had system clothing and any McMillan would rather be seen naked.) He was sent off to a trip to The Men's Department with an allowance of L$2 000. After only spending about L$500 he was good to go and a pride to see.

I can understand if you have difficulty telling us apart, but left to right it is
Bock McMillan and Wild Zepp-McMillan

The experiment was a complete success, I am happy to say, and I was able to perform my obligations in both places, thanks to Wild and being in constant communications with Tomais on Skype.

The photo shoot turned out wonderfully and I am extremely proud to have been a part of it.

"And equality under the law for all" Photography by Tomais Ashdene
with (left to right) me, Ryder. Lee and Tomais

You can see more of Tomais photography on his his Flickr photostream here or his Tumblr PhotoMonkey SL (NSFW). However, all four of us were ejected from Wastelands and sent back to our respective homes when we tried to pull off the naked version of the picture.

The Second Pride meeting went well too, for the minutes please visit SP Board Meeting Minutes 4-19-14 and for the transcript please visit Transcript of SP meeting on 4-19-14.

As could be expected, the present Marketing Director World Undercroft and Event Director Merrick Genesis, were relieved of their duties for failure to attend three consecutive meetings in a row without permission from the Chair.

The meeting was informed that the key responsibilities of the Marketing Director would be performed jointly by Karl Kalchek and Baz Ceawlin. As the position of Events Director is crucial for the upcoming Festival, even I could see that the position would have to be filled with someone who had the skills for the office. I was therefore not at all surprised when level headed Marge Beaumont made a motion that the position, in accordance with the bylaws, should be filled immediately by Kharissa Indigo (a.k.a. the Relentless Khar).

Although I myself love Khar and could see that she had the required skills I was worried by this nomination both for Khar's own sake and for the sake of Second Pride as she has been a target of "some contention" (to put it mildly) within the community, so I gave voice to my concerns at the meeting.

After being assured by several members of the board that they would not allow Khar to stand alone as a target and that they had discussed policies to handle such a situation I was satisfied. The board then appointed Khar to the position of Events Director.

We were then introduced to The Sponsor and Vendor packages for the Festival, and the registration form for those who had purchased those packages.

Next meeting will be Sunday, May 4 at 12 PM (noon) SLT.

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P.S. I would like to clarify that Merrick Genesis absence is due to first life health issues, not through any desire to neglect his duties.

SP Board Meeting - Today at 12 PM (noon)

Agenda

1. Marketing Director - declaring it open.
2. Events Director - declaring it open
3. Status update on Festival.
4. New Business
5. Adjourn

This should be a pretty interesting meeting seeing we are less than three months away from the Festival.

The vendor and sponsor packages are up at the Second Pride website already. Here is a link to the Festival Package Comparison Chart for both vendors and sponsors.

Due to prior engagement I will be attending the meeting as my alt Wild Zepp, who is the Secretary of State of Southern Charm.

Soloing

As my hubby is away on an important function in his first life and the Second Pride meeting I was supposed to be at lacked quorum, I took the opportunity to go out flying on my own for an hour in my Seakite.

The Blake Sea was busy, but I did not get in anybody's way and didn't crash into any apartment buildings either - or crash at all for that matter.

SP Meeting - March 30, 2014, 12PM (noon) SLT

This post is a reminder that there will be a Second Pride Board meeting today Sunday March 30, 2014, at 12.00 PM (noon) SLT.

The agenda of the day looks pretty uneventful, but one never really knows what is hidden in these documents or what may just happen. So I am going, as I mostly do, and hope to be joined by many of you.

Here is your parade float to the auditorium at the Second Pride sim (SLurl).

SP Meeting - March 2, 2014, 12PM (noon) SLT

This post is to remind ya'll that there is a Second Pride Board meeting today Sunday March 2, 2014, at 12.00PM (noon) SLT.

From today's agenda I think the two most interesting may be the information on Fashion Pride and the announcement of the Festival dates. (Hopefully I will be able plan parts of my summer vacation to accommodate the Pride Festival.)

I hope to see you all at the meeting! Here is your rainbow painted float to the Second Pride Conference Hall (SLurl).

World Is On Board

At the Second Pride public board meeting yesterday World Undercroft was appointed as the new Events Director. The vote was unanimous. All the seats of the board are now filled again, lets hope they stay that way.

The members who were at the meeting were also informed about some exciting upcoming events. The rest of you will have to wait, because I am telling you nothing - yet! (You could however - if you were really curious - head over to the Second Pride website and read the minutes from the meeting, Minutes from the SP Public meeting 1/26/14.)

Second Pride Meeting - Jan 26th, 2014, 10AM

There will be a Second Pride board meeting today at 10AM SLT. The main event seems to be to fill the position of Events Director.

The only candidate for that position being World Undercroft, I am not particularly shrewd if I believe he may get the job.

The rest will be a wonderful surprise, isn't it exciting? I hope to meet you all there!

Hotboy Resigns from Second Pride Board

At the Second Pride emergency board meeting today it was announced that the Events Director Hotboy Lockjaw (formerly known as MJshotboy Skytower) had resigned from the board on January 8, 2014, effective immediately. (The resignation has now been posted on the Second Pride website, Resignation of Hotboy Lockjaw - url)

Hotboy was duly thanked by the board for his efforts for Second Pride and it's membership and for a job well done, it was also noted that organizing events for such a diverse group is not an easy task.

The meeting then went on to a call for candidates for the vacancy as Events Director.

After some discussion it was decided that

1. Interested parties should submit notecards to the Co-Chair/Secretary Andy Long a.s.a.p. but no later than Monday January 20, 2014, 5PM SLT, expressing their interest and outlining their experience in event planning and organizing in SL.
2. The Second Pride forums will be opened for questions and responses until Friday January 24, 2014, 5PM SLT. 
3. The time of the board meeting to review the candidates and appoint the new Events Director is a yet to be determined but will occur during the weekend of the January 25, 2014.

It was stressed that qualifications for the job include, skin thick as a rhinoceros, no first or second life obligations at all and lots of time to spare, exceptional prior experience and a great talent for organisation.

The minutes from the meeting are posted on the Second Pride website, Meeting Minutes of Emergency SP Board Meeting January 11, 2013.

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On a personal note, I would like to add the following.

I was extremely saddened to learn about Hotboy's resignation. However, after reading his statement, I fully understand that he must have been under great personal strain to finally take this step. I commend him for doing so. There is most certainly a limit to what attacks and pressures we can expect our elected officials to suffer for the common good.

To some degree I feel responsible for adding to the pressure by calling for events catering to all timezones. However, although I believe that such a move is necessary for Second Pride to grow, I would have accepted that it may not be doable at this time.

The new Events Director should hopefully be able to call upon the support of Hotboy, and others with previous experience of this post, as well as a group with an abundance of experience and ideas on how to handle things. This job cannot be accomplished without other people acting as shields, giving support and performing necessary tasks, thereby allowing the Events Director to focus on the main objectives.

Second Pride: Notice of Emergency Meeting

Late yesterday this notice concerning an emergency meeting was posted on the Second Pride website. It would seem like yet another member of the board has dropped out or resigned.

It is a pity seeing as how the board seemed to have started working well together and were focusing on the future at the latest board meeting.

I know where I will be on Saturday January 11, 2014, at 2PM SLT and I hope to see you there too!

Finally Moving Ahead

The Second Pride meeting on Sunday was a joy to witness for a devoted member. Instead of the bickering and infighting that has characterized the previous meetings, the few members that had assembled, saw a board working constructively to deal with the issues at hand and even raise their eyes to look into the future.

Left to right: Jagger Naughton, Sutry Long, Marge Beaumont, Karl Kalchek,
Andy Long, Jak Calcutt, Hottie B LockJaw and Merrick Genesis

The second most huggable man in SecondLife Jak Calcutt (Build Director) was granted access to the Second Pride avatar for the remainder of this year. The step was taken to avoid unnecessary delays in building as the avatar holds all the landscaping material, textures and buildings etc. that are owned by the organisation. The board and the membership present were convinced that enough safeguards are in place.

Jaggy’s Co-chair for IT Director is Baz Ceawlin, Andy’s Co-chair for Secretary/Co-chair is Story Long, Sutry’s Co-chair for Security Director is Jordan Anderson, Marge’s Co-chair for SP Treasurer is Jynxx Beebe. Karl, Jak, Hottie B (the board member formerly known as Hotboy) and Merrick are still looking for suitable candidates.

(Source my imperfect memory and Meeting Minutes of SP Board Meeting December 8, 2013)

Second Pride - Finally A Full Board Again

I have been remiss in my bogging to keep you updated on Second Pride, if you desperately need someone to blame I suggest you speak to Mr. Tomais Ashdene.

However, there was a board meeting last Thursday (which I unfortunately could not attend due to timezone hassles) that presented quite a few interesting developments. If you should wish to read the complete and unadorned minutes please visit the Second Pride website, Meeting Minutes of SP Board Meeting Nov 20, 2013 (url).

Here are my personal reflections on what occurred.

The attending membership was informed that Damian Tar had chosen to resign as Chairperson of the Second Pride board. He was duly thanked for his services to Second Pride.

This news saddened me greatly. Damian has been treated abominably by parts of the gay community, both in the election process and afterwards. He has received countless vicious and unreasonable personal attacks ever since he declared his intention of running for Chair. Damian has not even been granted the common decencies, that are fundamental principles of every democratic society, the right of being considered innocent until proven guilty or the chance to be heard in his own defence. Instead he has been judged, condemned and hung out to dry by the mob in whispering campaigns on social forums with little or no mercy shown.

I have grown to like, respect and admire Damian, but I can also see that in the end the hostility and focus on his person took away his and the boards ability to perform the important work they are elected to do. With the added burden of his sickness it is understandable that he, for his own good and the good of Second Pride, finally decided to step down. Like the board, I wish Damian all the best for the future.

Petr Hasting-Vanbeeck was appointed to replace Damian as chairperson.

Petr is a hardworking, no-nonsense and charming man who is well equipped to handle this position. I trust him and his level headedness to assure that the board's focus now is turned to the business at hand.

Andy Long was appointed to the position of Secretary/Co-Chair. I welcome this appointment also, although I will implore the new secretary to in the future spell my last name correctly, i.e. McMillan with two capital M's.

Sutry Long was appointed to the vacant position of Security Director. I am certain that Sutry will be an asset in the boards continued work.

So we finally have a full board again, lets get some work done people!

IT Director Jagger Naughton informed that Baz Ceawlin had agreed to become his co-chair.

At the meeting Petr then commenced to announce the creation of an ad hoc committee to review the bylaws of Second Pride.The committee is to be co-chaired by board directors Karl Karlchek and Marge Beaumont and include "Doc Spad, Bock Mcmillan (sic!) and one more as yet unnamed committee member".

The Meeting of The Day

Don't miss it, those of you who can make it!

There are now four candidates for the vacant Security Chair, beside Tylendel Falconer and Sutry Long (whom I have informed you about earlier) we now also have Andre’ “Andy” Rennebohm and Jake. Read the candidates statements here to prepare for the meeting.

Yeah, yeah, I mistakenly published this yesterday, but the meeting is actually today!