The following are the minutes recorded for the JAT Board Face-to-Face Meeting, which took place on November 9, 2007, from 10:45am to 6:30pm, on the 27th floor of the Horizon Mare building in Ariake, Tokyo.
The meeting was chaired by director and president Manako Ihaya. In attendance were directors Mike Sekine, Jed Schmidt, Phil Robertson, Nora Stevens Heath, Karen Sandness, and Ko Iwata, as well as auditors Wolfgang Bechstein and Yusaku Yai. The minutes were recorded by Jed Schmidt.
Proposals
Outside grants sought by IJET organizing committees require board approval before application: ACCEPTED (7 for, 0 against)
JAT will waive registration fees for IJET organizing committee members up to an amount equivalent to four times the registration fee: ACCEPTED (5 for, 2 against)
Payment for non-keynote presenters at IJETs requires board approval: ACCEPTED (6 for, 0 against, 1 abstain)
The 2008 AGM will be held at the monthly JAT meeting in Tokyo in May: ACCEPTED (7 for, 0 against)
IJET-20 will be held in Sydney, Australia on February 14 and 15, 2009: ACCEPTED (7 for, 0 against)
The North Sydney Harbourview Hotel is endorsed by the board as the venue for IJET-20: ACCEPTED (7 for, 0 against)
Membership status
Japan/overseas members ratio unchanged at 65/35
Number of member is holding steady, if not growing slowly, and can be checked on the members site.
Data is slightly off due to paypal switchover
Membership website needs are mostly incremental/usability-related
Treasury
Decision to keep our US bank account for now until new treasurer takes over
Funds left over from IJET18 will be sent back
Mizuho bank account will be used for IJET19
Kagi is now closed, all payments now through PayPal
Website
Transition to new website and host is complete
The Board has decided to continue using Basecamp in place of a mailing list for Board communication
Most changes over the next term will be for usability and design
Webmaster will look into:
- finding ways to have Basecamp send own email
- purging old members from database
- keeping static content on front page
Contest
Posted on mailing lists and social networking services (mixi, gree)
Questions to raise when next contest is considered:
- What should be the protocol for fixing mistakes? Should entrants be told they should flag?
- Should JAT buy an article from a publication to ensure quality?
- Are the prizes fair? Should we somehow compensate people who can’t attend IJET?
- Should we change compensatation to the larger of transportation or IJET registration fee?
- Is the contest a good PR opportunity (with Japan Times, etc.)?
- Should board members help pre-screen entries to reduce burden on judges?
IJET
Survey results
Japan IJETs growing faster in popularity than overseas IJETs
Time committment and total costs are biggest factors in attendance
Practical and industry-related sessions are most popular
Most desired domestic IJET: Hokkaido
Most desired overseas IJET: Canada / New Zealand / Australia
IJET-18:
A good conference, especially given the inexperienced hosts
IJET-19:
Keynote speaker decided (Okinawan translator)
15 speakers accepted, 12 slots left
IJET-20:
Proposals for Sydney IJET and IJET venue both accepted
Board meetings
The board decided to keep its policy of non-reimbursement for board AGM attendance.
NPO liaison
Emily Shibata-Sato will continue her work as NPO liaison
Public relations
Mike is going to record the TAC zeirishi presentation, kicking off a potential TAC podcast
Mike is going to manage a member publication list
The board agrees to have all site content professionally translated, using funds from the tech budget
Mike proposes to have JAT pay speakers for non-Tokyo, local seminars; the board declines, maintaining its practice of paying for the venue but not for speakers (as a rule).
The board will explore sending a kikakusho to tsuyaku/honyaku journal for a bimonthly article