The SCA Board of Directors meeting took place in Denver, Colorado on October 20, 2024 - about a half hour’s drive from my home, and in my home Barony of Caerthe. So I skipped the second day of Crown Tournament (including skipping the Princess Protector rapier tournament, which is the most important of the reign - I told my doña in advance and she was supportive since as I told her, the tournaments happen every six months, but she also presumably did not know that she’d receive a writ at that day’s court…. oops)

I took notes but since the recording and minutes will go live eventually, I’ll skip most of the actual content and focus on the meta information I took in.

These were the links I had open on my computer: the agenda, the previous minutes location, and the biographies of the board members.

http://www.sca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/October-20-2024-Q3-Board-Meeting-Agenda-Final-10-14-24-Public.pdf

http://www.sca.org/about/board-of-directors/#minutes

http://www.sca.org/biographies/#board

Things I learned:

  • I arrived just before 10am for the 11am meeting; this was excessive as I was the 2nd one there
  • This is the second post-2020 in person meeting. 2 Meeting Owls were used for remote connectivity; every board member also joined the zoom without audio to see the zoom chat (which caused some issues with echo when they didn’t remember to disable their audio).
  • Most official attendees wore business casual level clothes - polo shirt, button down shirt w/o jacket, up to a suit jacket+pants, for women a sweater or generally something one step nicer than a t-shirt. I asked the most formally dressed person there about it (the counsel and Crown Prince of Caid) and he said that for him it was a means of showing respect to the international nonprofit he’s representing.
  • There are 6 board member seats who always vote, plus the 7th who is the chair and can optionally choose to vote.
  • Each board member is an ombudsman for 5-ish special topics (a kingdom, a theme, etc).
  • There were about 15 people in person in an official capacity as the Officers of the Board were also all present and giving reports in their agenda sections - the President of the SCA (not a board member), Society Seneschal, Society Treasurer, Society Counsel, and the local-to-the-area Society Marshal also attended in person, for example.
  • I didn’t previously understand the difference between “officers” and “board members” – my other 501c3 experience is as a board member of our <500 person hackerspace, which is much less formal and has some overlap in the roles.
  • The SCA uses a set of rules of order with very strictly defined language choices. If you say the wrong thing you have to repeat it the right way for it to count. They also call the chair “Mr. Chair”.
  • Here is the process by which agenda votes occur: Item is read into agenda with context -> topic of vote is stated -> motion to vote -> someone else seconds the motion -> discussion if any -> board members only vote -> if more than half vote, the motion carries
  • The board had to vote to see agenda out of order - necessary as 11am in Denver is 8pm in Finland, and 4am in Australia, where officers were.
  • The executive session took about 11 hours, and was on the previous day. The day I attended began at 11am and ended at 4pm - about 5 hours with Q&A after.
  • There were emotional moments between the board members, especially those stepping down.
  • I asked our Society Marshal and she spends about 40 hours a week on her office. She was absolutely delightful and genuinely enjoyed the work involved in the role.
  • I like that there’s more context on why these votes happen when they are presented (this isn’t in the minutes ime)
  • I also enjoyed watching the metagame of the board members trying to be the fastest seconder of motions

Highlight topic: President’s Report on “Transparency in the SCA” - my raw notes

“I got a lot of emails. Most of the emails were about sanctions” He’s working on a Policy on Conduct to consolidate handbooks etc. No new rules, 3rd draft, hoping it leads to transparency.

Comments from board: A great start, love this. Won’t help w specific sanctions. suggestion to “please see X policy for more information” in the overview policy.

What are the next steps for not just this policy but our transparency generally?

Members want guidance on what the board looks at in violations. Will be a follow up.

Organizational trust, excited to see what’s next.

SocSen - “a lot of the rules people get in trouble for are in the socsen handbook - we need to move these to be easier to find” - this is going to make the seneschallate easier.

This will also help with investigations

A few edits still need to happen - Chair suggestion: we need to return for further work, renumber, add references. But skeleton is exciting! Direct President to work with socsen and corporate officers to find any rules that need referencing and were missed.

Hope to be ready next quarter.

The questions I still have:

  • The Board voted to accept each officer report. What happens if they’re not accepted (or skipped)?
  • Why are we voting on these heraldic items with the full board? Why is this an effective use of time?
  • Why is creating a new branch handled differently than dissolution - shouldn’t the board vote in either or neither case? Board acknowledges kingdom level additions, but votes on dissolutions
  • What is the difference between Society Exchequer and Society Treasurer? Likewise - Archivist and Chronicler?
  • The agenda posted on the website was an older draft than the agenda the board seemed to be following. How do we get the latest info?
  • How often does policy actually change as a result of requested written commentary? I know the Board has the responsibility of requesting commentary & listening to the results. I don’t always know how they were thinking of handling issues before commentary comes in.

If you want more content about the board

Meetings for next calendar year are set as follows: Jan 25/26 April 12/13 July 14/15 Oct 18/19 some will be in person - April and Oct - depending on budget

I learned: The Board wants to do town halls at events. It does not have to be your biggest event but should have a good group. More lead time is better to get cheap flights. See who can make it - not everyone, 2-3 up to “almost” everyone. The barony helping finance it means more people can come - “we are extremely careful with your money” post-covid. (Board opinion is that we have to do better in the future with financial management - reduce cost, generate revenue, etc.)

I also learned: The board is always seeking nominations & you can self nominate. Share about your skillsets and aspects of membership - age, title, etc are not the only relevant factors. We care more about real life skills, digital, legal, etc. Can ask on a zoom call if interested. Rumors to dispel: You don’t have to be a peer with 30 years of experience. We want someone passionate, committed to the health, and willing to put in the time and effort to serve members. Jonathan is not (yet) a peer :). Megan was not a peer when joining. Not a disqualifier to be a peer though. (my note: This reveals a very large difference in vantage point between my 7 years in the SCA and the board member view… Jonathan has only about 25 years in)