CommunityMeetingMinutes20180517

Attendees: JM, AM, JP, SG, ZZ

Review of/actions from last meeting

Alex to investigate streaming options - Still ongoing. JP suggested just using Google Hangouts and using computer cameras if no other option was available.

Recent Events

IoT Liverpool - the talk was well attended, and by many people we don't see regularly. Overall, it was a success, and it would be worth trying to deliver similar speakers in the future, although finding budget for things like that is always an issue.

Mini Make Fest - the event wasn't a roaring success for us, mainly as it was stuck in the middle of the move. We took the VR which was very popular, but did little to promote DoES.

Maker Faire Newcastle - went very well. The event seemed more relaxed as there was less time pressure due to Made Invaders being absent. Play The Tree didn't need active manning, which also helped, although there should probably be more notices to make it clear it is an active exhibit.

Fabric District Launch - the Saturday was well attended (possibly accidentally due to them attending other events in the area), and many of the people that wandered in were interested in using us in the future. It would have been useful to have flyers available for Thursday, as it was difficult to speak to everyone. There is definitely hope that some people will return to use the service.

Upcoming Events

Liverpool Make Fest 30 June 2018 - JP has been reminded to finalise our involvement, Make Fest are looking into whether or not Play The Tree will be a viable exhibit. We will encourage people who use DoES to bring us something to display, which will also work as advertisement for them. We should figure out a way to also demonstrate the co-working side of things. JP will try and find out how many volunteers we will have for the day.

Birthday Party - July 21st has been pencilled in. There is a discussion around having two separate but joined events - a daytime event which would be more child friendly, and an evening one which is more of a launch party. ZZ suggested that we should plan events for the earlier session, including VR, possibly something to do with the horse heads and so on.

Building Move & Crowdfunding

Reward creation and distribution - JP will ask Ste Whitfield if he could do the keyrings. A discussion was held around how the bricks would be created, and what material they could be, and was deferred to a later date. It was decided that the bricks would go in the Events Space, on the OSD above the kitchen hatch, so we will measure the area and see how best they can fit. The hope is that they will be the same size as regular bricks, and so will fit the rest of the room.

The t-shirt design needs to be decided on, or pushed out to people who have ordered them. Currently there is no clear favourite that would be an obvious 'one'.

It's worth us offering delivery and pick up as options.

Finances

The finances are a bit perilous at the moment - we have £4k across all accounts, but still need blinds and carpeting buying. However, it's a concern rather than a panic at the minute.

New Revenue Streams

SG has raised the idea of parties - hen parties and birthday parties in particular. AM pointed out that people who are paying for out of hours access might not be interested in having to share the space with parties, which is something that hadn't been considered and would need to be looked into.

AM suggested that we need to be wary of stepping on the toes of other people in the city that do similar things, whereas JP argued that there is plenty of space for everyone in the market. Also, it was raised that DoES doesn't so anything, and that could change through these ideas, but SG countered that that wasn't strictly necessary, and it would depend on how things were managed.

DoES Job Roles

We have far more responsibilities in the new space, and those need to be managed. As a very simple example, we have more room, and so that leads to more things that need cleaning, and we currently don't have a cleaner.

JM suggested we get quotes from cleaners. JM also said that we could create an automated system that reminds people of the tasks that need doing - SG suggested something as simple as a tablet with todoist, and ZZ pointed out we could even just use the whiteboard. It would also be useful to have somewhere where people can log things that we need or are running out of.

Membership Benefits

Warm fuzzies, and cheaper prices. And we may use it in the future for other things.

Equality

Nothing has progressed further as JP is waiting for a response to her email to someone who is advising us on this. Still ongoing.

AOB

JP raised the question of where the workshop ends. As the workshop and co-working space is now combined, workshop members can technically work all day at the same desks as the permanent desk members, and we need to work out whether or not this could be an issue. Although we don't have a problem with it right now, it could cause problems in the future. One clear differentiator is the clear desk policy - permanent desk holders can do whatever they like with their desks and leave things out, whereas workshop members have to pack away each night.

The fact that we've started accepting payments through Colu was raised. There were ethical questions raised around the system, and also some concern that it's going to get confusing when different people take payments if they don't completely understand how to do so.

Lack of organiser availability - there is a concern over the fact that occasionally we have issues with there being someone in to take charge of, for example, taking in deliveries or having responsibility for groups. As well as this, ZZ, who is essentially an 'organiser-lite', pointed out that there is no information for people like him who might be happy to take on some of this workload.

Logistics of 24 hour access - issues raised around this included emergency contacts, whether we would be comfortable with random people being able to be in the space unaccompanied, safety issues regarding tiredness, and so on. We are aiming to try and get this sorted as quickly as possible, and it will be discussed at the Directors' Meeting next week.

We may stream the Festival of Maintenance from London, 28th September

Confirm time & date of next meeting

June 21st, 7pm.