From lojbab@lojban.org Sat Apr 26 01:43:07 2003 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojbab@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_6_6); 26 Apr 2003 08:43:06 -0000 Received: (qmail 96196 invoked from network); 26 Apr 2003 08:43:06 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.218) by m11.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 26 Apr 2003 08:43:06 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO lakemtao03.cox.net) (68.1.17.242) by mta3.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 26 Apr 2003 08:43:06 -0000 Received: from lojban.lojban.org ([68.100.92.1]) by lakemtao03.cox.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.05 201-253-122-122-105-20011231) with ESMTP id <20030426084305.NJXQ23518.lakemtao03.cox.net@lojban.lojban.org>; Sat, 26 Apr 2003 04:43:05 -0400 Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.0.20030426022514.0347da80@pop.east.cox.net> X-Sender: lojbab@pop.east.cox.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9 X-Priority: 1 (Highest) Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 04:22:41 -0400 To: llg-members@yahoogroups.com,lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: IMPORTANT: Call for Agenda items, LLG annual meeting, important announcement Cc: clifford-j@sbcglobal.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed From: Bob LeChevalier-Logical Language Group X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=1120595 X-Yahoo-Profile: lojbab X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 19430 This is a call for agenda items that people would like to have discussed at the annual meeting of the Logical Language Group. Please submit things to me, and I will incorporate them in a formal meeting notice to be snail mailed in a few weeks as noted below. Be as specific as possible, and if you want to see the Bylaws amended in some way, I need the exact wording that you would like to see approved. ALSO, if you are NOT a voting member of the LLG, and feel that you are interested enough in organizational matters that you would like to be, and that you can fulfill the responsibilities of members under the Bylaws (they are on www.lojban.org), please let me know, and you will be considered for voting membership during the meeting. There is no obligation for a voting member to speak Lojban (yet) - there was a motion last year that we evolve towards holding the meetings in Lojban rather than English, and it is intended that we attempt to run this year's meeting with bilingual translation available. Xod is responsible for setting that up at this point, if people want to volunteer to help with translation. Here is the information on the meeting. See also the last couple of paragraphs of this message which contain an important announcement in the context of the meeting call. The following motion was passed by the Board last November: >4A. I move that the annual meeting be called for Sunday June 15, 2003 at >6PM EDT, to be held online using IRC or some similar means to more >effectively include non-US Lojbanists. Formal notice of this meeting will >be snail-mailed to all members before May 15, 2003, including a proposed >agenda and any bylaw amendments to be considered at the meeting. This >meeting may be continued over multiple sessions if needed, but if it has >not concluded before July 15, 2003, then it will be adjourned until >Saturday, July 26, 2003 at 2PM EDT, to be conducted in person at LogFest. Thus for the first time, the LLG Annual meeting will be held on line, and it will be held BEFORE LogFest, if possible. To maximally comply with the Bylaws in this untried effort to get more of the membership participating directly in the meeting, we have to send out official notice in a few weeks, which has to include the specific wording of any proposed Bylaw amendments to be considered, and as specific as possible details of any agenda items to be considered at the meeting. The parameters of the meeting have changed slightly since November. The following is a brief list of the annual meeting agenda as included in the Bylaws (note that the bylaw version on lojban.org is incorrect and is missing item (6)) (1) roll call; (2) proof of notice of meeting or waiver of notice; (3) reading of Minutes of preceding meeting; (4) reports of Officers; (5) reports of committees; (6) proposal and approval of new members, who shall assume membership immediately if present at the meeting, or at the end of the meeting if not present. (7) election of Directors, if necessary; (8) unfinished business; (9) new business. There is virtually no restriction on what may be discussed under new business, but bylaws amendments are severely constrained. We want to identify as many issues as possible so that people can give instructions in their proxies for any portions of the meeting that they cannot attend. Please let me know what you want to discuss. I am planning that the meeting be conducted by email up until agenda item 5, because other than calling the roll and approving the minutes of the prior meeting, that portion of the meeting is not interactive and thus does not require timely interactions. The meeting will be conducted on the LLG-members list with information copies of all reports posted to Lojban List for the benefit of interested Lojbanists who are not voting members. (An alternative for either this portion or the IRC portion of the meeting, may be to use the PHBBB forum on lojban.org which has been set up for the byfy. But this may require setup work from Robin that he has no time for per his posting of a couple days ago. Any decision on this will be likely made before the formal meeting announcement.) After agenda item 5, I intend that the meeting will adjourn and reconvene on one or more IRC channels, so that debate and voting can take place interactively. The date and time of that reconvening has not yet been decided yet; whether the decision needs to be made before the meeting will be decided by John Cowan as parliamentarian. We intend that people have plenty of warning, and that the time will be chosen to be as fair as possible to people spread over half the globe. We will ask that people provide proxies covering specific issues (but wait until the formal meeting announcement next month) so that they get a vote and the meeting can be conducted even if the time isn't suitable for them. In the last few years, I have turned over the chair of the meeting to John Cowan after the initial stuff, since he is a knowledgeable parliamentarian and runs a more orderly meeting than I do. As Vice President of LLG, he also serves in my stead when I am absent, and assumes my responsibilities as President when I cannot. The logical time for this turnover is after the reports, which also corresponds to the reconvening just described. IMPORTANT: This year will be somewhat different with regard to turning over the chair. It is my intention to resign as President and Director of LLG after the conclusion of the email portion of the meeting, in which case John Cowan will assume the chair automatically for resumption of the meeting in an interactive forum. I am not planning to run for reelection to the Board of Directors of LLG, though I plan to continue in a less time-and-responsibility-intensive leadership role in the Lojban community, and will continue to serve on the byfy. At this point, I am planning as if John Cowan will be the next President for transition purposes, but the actual election of a new President will be made by the Board of Directors elected at the annual meeting, after that meeting is over, and I will not be on the Board that makes that election. Nora LeChevalier is planning to resign as Secretary/Treasurer of LLG and Board member at approximately the same time (though possibly before the meeting starts), and as Robin Powell mentioned in his announcement, we are already starting a transition on the assumption that Robin will be elected as the new Secretary/Treasurer in June or July, though again this will be up to the Board. Some assumption as to who the next Secretary will be is necessary, because in this first transition of power, there is an enormous amount of information and records and CLL inventory and responsibility to be transferred and no precedents have been set; in the LLG, the Secretary/Treasurer has more actual power than the President, handling all correspondence, monies, and the important order-fulfillment function. Shawn Lasseter is also not planning to run for reelection to the Board of Directors. There will thus be at least 3 potential openings for new people to serve on the Board (the Bylaws require the Board to have between 4 and 7 members, and we have 7 right now). If you are a consistently active Lojbanist who can commit to the level of effort needed to serve on the Board, you may wish to consider seeking election. Nora and my decision to not seek reelection to office or to the Board is intended to encourage a new wave of leaders to take over, a group more oriented towards the directions that LLG has been taking as an organization. Many new people have become active, and Nora and I haven't had the time to stay in touch with the net-based wave of change that has been sweeping through the community; furthermore, in the last couple of years, even the functions of our offices within LLG have been only intermittently fulfilled, and we cannot in responsibility commit to continuing them. This orderly transition of power will also serve to put Lojban up with Esperanto among the few artificial languages wherein the founder turned over his power and authority in the organization during his lifetime. This should bode well for Lojban's future. Bob LeChevalier -- lojbab lojbab@lojban.org Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273 Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org