[Coco] Glenside Club Meeting: Thursday September 16, 2021 @ Special Time (6:30PM Central)

[Glenside President (Jim Brain)]

As noted last week, we have dipped below the 2 month countdown to the 
2021 29th Annual “Last” CoCoFEST! and we’re in the home stretch of 
planning and organizing for the show. I want to thank Terry Steege again 
for his early 2021 work concerning presentations, and I’d like to thanks 
Tony Podraza who is handling much of the detail work concerning the show.

I also want to make sure folks know we’re soliciting nominations for the 
2021-21 GCCC officer slate this month. We’ve enjoyed a very productive 
year of change, and I’d encourage each of you to consider running for 
one of our positions (even mine :-). I think helping manage the work of 
the club like GCCC (who has adequate financial footing, a well respected 
following, and a well-attended yearly event) offers significant rewards, 
and the work is pretty light.

On the first point, here’s some CoCoFEST! updates prior to our meeting, 
though I’m happy to answer questions about them at the meeting:

  * As per last month’s decision, we’ve rented a third room at the venue
    to hold the presentations (we’ll use the next larger room as the
    auction space). The venue was nice enough to rent the room for
    $200/weekend, though I think it’s normally $200/day.
  * A number of folks took a tour of the facility last weekend after the
    conclusion of VCF-Midwest. I’ll try to attach some pictures to the
    posting. I think we’ll have plenty of room for all of the activities
    and exhibits
  * Power should be relatively plentiful, and they have 2 220V outlets
    int he room they will convert to 110V AC for more outlet action.
    But, exhibitors should definitely bring a power strip or three
  * And, speaking of power strips, the organizers of VCF-Midwest believe
    they will have some of the long 6-8 ft TrippLite industrial power
    strips to lay at the edge of the room, which should put an outlet
    much closer to the tables. Many thanks to Michael Lee for the
    willingness to help. We will probably still buy some of our own
    strips and I’m suggesting we have VCF-Midwest folks store the strips
    and allow them to use them for future VCF-MW shows (they are bulky
    and hard to store, but VCFMW organizers Jason Timmons and Michael
    Lee bought a building very close to the show site which makes
    storage easier).
  * A number of Glenside members attended the VCF Midwest show in person
    last weekend. As some have noted, there’s nothing that truly
    replaces a physical show (though I am glad we’ve all been able to
    stay connected virtually in the interim). I thoroughly enjoyed
    myself, and there were significant crowds. I can only theorize that
    people are eager to socialize and the cost of wearing a mask was not
    a significant concern. Kudos to the show attendees, as compliance
    was very high, and I didn’t see any altercations. This bodes
    extremely well for our November show, assuming the situation doesn’t
    change drastically.
  * That said, we are going to livestream the show for those too far
    away to attend or who find themselves unable to attend for other
    reasons. It won’t be the same, and I’m still encouraging everyone to
    make attempts to visit in person, but we will try to put the
    presentations and auction online for everyone to enjoy.
  * We still need to finalize exact times, but we do have the venue on
    Friday afternoon/evening for early setup. We will announce Friday
    setup times in the coming month.
  * If you’re an exhibitor, note that each table will be adorned with a
    lovely black tablecloth, courtesy of the venue. Color code accordingly
  * Folks who pre-register will have their badges already printed and
    ready to grab and go. Skip the line and pre-register at
    https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ .

Now, while we prepare for this great event in November, we must turn our 
attention to elections in October 2021. As noted before, we’re actively 
soliciting for nominations for President, Vice President, Secretary, and 
Treasurer. There’s no onerous work needed to put your name in the 
running. Make sure folks know you’re interested, and I’d encourage you 
to attend this Thursday’s discussion to express your desire.

As I noted in a previous communication, secretary Richard Bair 
officially requested someone take over his position in the coming year. 
He’s faithfully held the office for some time, and I think he’d like to 
pass the baton to a new face in the crowd.

Once nominations are made, we will be sending out via our various 
channels the full list and voting will commence on TandyList. We will 
close the voting right before the October meeting and announce the new 
officers in October.

To ensure we have plenty of time for nominations and also to answer any 
questions about CoCoFEST! planning, we’re starting the meeting an hour 
earlier at 6:30PM. I hope you can join us for part or all of the discussion.

To join the Meeting:
https://bluejeans.com/889394355

You can call in: Phone Dial-in
+1.408.740.7256 (United States)
+1.408.317.9253 (Alternate number) (Global Numbers)
Meeting ID: 889 394 355
Room System: 199.48.152.152 or bjn.vc

Want to test your video connection?
https://bluejeans.com/111

For those unable to join us on BlueJeans or have prior commitments, we 
will livestream and have a replay available on our Facebook page 
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/290791956162).

-- 
Jim Brain, 2020-21 President
Glenside Color Computer Club (GCCC)
president at glensideccc.com
www.glensideccc.com