[Fsfe-uk] AFFSAC 2004 and AFFS AGM

[Marc Eberhard]

Dear all,

as 15 MAY 2004 seems to be free from conflicting events, we will hold 
AFFSAC 2004 and AFFS's AGM on that date. So far we have three offers at hand
for the venue:

- Handsworth Grammar School, Birmingham (room offered for free)
- Aston Uni, Birmingham (room GBP 170 + VAT for up to 99 people)
- UMIST or UofM, Manchester (similar price to Aston Uni)

If someone can offer another venue, please email address@hidden with
prices as soon as possible. Otherwise we will choose between these with
Handsworth Grammar School being the clear favourite at the moment.

We're also playing with the idea of selling stand space to interested
companies or organisations wanting to exhibit their free software services,
solutions or products at AFFSAC 2004. If someone is interested in this
possibility, please contact address@hidden to discuss details.

The event will be free to AFFS members (same as last year). Unless we manage
to attract enough extra funding by selling stand space, catering will not be
included (again same as last year, we should be able to organise at least a
tea / coffee maker and a few cups, but not more). In that case we will
compile extra information for people about what food they can get where and
perhaps priming a local establishment to take a large number of people.

The programme will be similar in that we start off with presentations for
AFFSAC followed by at least a two hour time slot for the AGM at the end of
the event. Starting and finishing times will be convenient for same day
travel to and from the venue. Interested speakers can contact
address@hidden Further details and an official call for
presentations will follow shortly.

Concerning new applications to join AFFS, we will follow the same procedure
as last year: Applications received more than 21 days before the AGM (15 MAY
2004 - 21 days = 24 APR 2004) are processed as normal and can vote at the
AGM. Applications received after this date, will be put on hold and you will
be able to attend AFFSAC and the AGM, but you will not be allowed to vote at
the AGM. These applications are then formally processed on 15 MAY 2004 after
the end of the AGM.

As the two year term of the current committee is coming to an end, we will
need new nominations for committee members and most of all a quorable AGM to
elect new or reelect existing committee members! A separate call for this
will be issued with the official AGM invitation to all AFFS members. Another
important issue is the framework for free software grants, which I will
follow up again on this list soon, so that it can be thoroughly discussed on
the list and then be decided upon at the AGM. We will be discussing changes
to our constitution too, to make it more workable. The current constitution
is mainly copied from a template and has proven to have several problems
with an organisation as distributed across one country as ours.

Thanks,
Marc
_______________________________________________________________________________

email: address@hidden, address@hidden, address@hidden
email: address@hidden, web: http://www.aston.ac.uk/~eberhama/