Best Of

Icrontic's Board of Trustees met on 28 July and the minutes are available: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13WNJDdt3t7qWYbF8lJ7xx4GvG_gCSLjUx4FFAmn0wDY/edit

Highlights:

1. We finished defining Committees: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DQpcm-F-_drjSVZMoJ1gGsfEWdd4nAxyHa99rth915Y/edit
2. We assigned folks to Committees (but you can still volunteer! https://forms.gle/k4Rp8i1otKZbyvju8 )
3. We made minor revisions to the Code of Conduct based on community feedback: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z9qYna1hbyxABfxsMTFxD2BH2V50khKHQYR8bBbmYZI/edit
4. At no time did Rob leave his son out in the rain.

We chose a controversial selection strategy: If you volunteered for a committee — tag, you're it. 😂

Committee assignments start 1 August, and your first act should be to choose a Chair, read & understand your committee definition (and ask for clarifications if needed), figure out how you'll work, and recruit anyone else you think is required for success. Each Committee will have its own private Discord channel to facilitate communication. It would be great to read the other committee definitions as well so you understand the overlap!

The Board is here to help if you have questions or challenges!

Here are the current committees:

• Membership: @primesuspect, @CB, @FridayUnited, @DontCallMeKelso, @Massalinie, @GnomeQueen
• Moderation: @BobbyDigi, @CB, @cola, @DontCallMeKelso, @Linc, sparkles, @Sazbean
• Expo: @Linc, @CB, @BobbyDigi, @GnomeQueen, sparkles, @FridayUnited, @SailorDoom, @GHoosdum
• Events: @Annes, @Linc
• Platform: @Linc, @Strikes
• Archives: @GnomeQueen, @Linc, @primesuspect

Thanks to all our past and upcoming volunteers!

We would especially like to request WOMEN to volunteer for the MODERATION committee!

Volunteer here: https://forms.gle/k4Rp8i1otKZbyvju8

We also passed a resolution officially thanking the Transition Team for their work last year! That was @BobbyDigi, @GnomeQueen, @Annes, @Winfrey, @Garg, @Sazbean, @primesuspect, & me. Thanks all!

The Board hereby resolves to recognize and thank the Transition Team for their hard work, insight, and dedication to Icrontic in the drafting of the Bylaws of the Icrontic Social Club thereby ensuring Icrontic’s continued success into the future. The Transition Team is: Brian Ambrozy, Lincoln Russell, Sarah Worsham, Jonathan Rush, Charles Winfrey, Anne Baynes, Jackie DiOrio, Bobby Cometa (aka Bobby Digital).

Hello Icrontic!

On 8 June 2024 we had the second Board of Trustees meeting for the Icrontic Social Club. This was our first time meeting as a "complete" board! I was joined by @primesuspect, @sazbean, @ghoosdum, and @massalinie. We're excited to make a few announcements from our very productive 3.5-hour session.

First, we officially added @ghoosdum & @massalinie to the Board and selected board officers. For the term ending 1 Aug 2025, our President will be @sazbean, our Treasurer will be @ghoosdum, and I'll be our Secretary.

Second, we established an official system for club membership, Code of Conduct, and official communication channels. Those were announced separately.

Third, we approved the mission & scope for our first two committees. They will be the Membership Committee and the Moderation Committee. We'll explain them in greater detail and solicit volunteers in a separate announcement.

There's still lots to do! Our next Board meeting will be the first day of Expo, 19 June.

Icrontic is many things, but at its core it is a social club made up of members.

Membership in Icrontic is not required to participate in the community, attend events, or game with Icrontic folks, but membership carries with it the benefit of having a voice in the shape and future of the community. Some of the benefits of membership include:

• Eligibility for board seats and committee positions!
• Swag! (Including a very nifty official membership card!)
• Receiving official club announcements and communications!
• Potential discounts on events and activities!
• Respect and admiration of your peers!
• A special role in our Discord server!
• Probably a lot more!

Membership is granted on an annual basis, and is $5 per year. If you participate in ANY Icrontic event that has a ticket cost or fees associated, that purchase also includes membership if you'd like (e.g. all paid Expo attendees are eligible to become members). Membership can also be sponsored by another member if you are unable to pay!

In order to be eligible for membership, you must be 13 years old and you must agree to the Icrontic Bylaws and to abide by the Icrontic Code of Conduct

To sign up as a member,:

• STEP 1: Fill out this form: https://forms.gle/g4wgq4bejo21TWP8A
• STEP 2: Until we have a better mechanism in place, send $5 to @Linc via Paypal, CashApp, or Venmo per the instructions on the form. If you have bought a 2024 Expo ticket, just fill out the form and we'll handle it manually since your ticket includes eligibility.

Membership is opt-in so if you DON'T want to be a member, that's fine!

We had a truly outstanding group of folks nominated to be on the Icrontic Board of Trustees. Thank you to everyone who nominated themselves and others!

The initial board (Sarah, Brian, and myself) sat down to consider them all on Sunday, 5 May and talked about how we hope to see things organized. After a thorough discussion of all the candidates, we realized we could move forward much quicker than planned.

We want the Board to strictly be an oversight body. They set the guardrails on governance, interpret the Charter, and provide a backstop for accountability. And… that’s about it. We don’t want the Board to get directly involved in things like organizing events, moderating Discord, or managing where we keep files & photos.

These areas and many others are (or will soon be) places for leadership in our community. We hope EVERY single person nominated volunteers for prominent roles in the committees that will soon be forming, because we need their support.

As an oversight body, everyone has to live with the results if the Board decides something. Who would everyone trust to make sober, considered but also emotionally intelligent choices when it really mattered? Empathy & curiosity were at the top of our list for priorities.

After thoroughly reviewing all the candidates, we had enthusiastically unanimous agreement on exactly two. We also decided it was best to start conservatively with a 5-person Board, leaving open the possibility of a bigger Board in the future if it’s warranted. Therefore, we chose to SKIP the planned interview process and move forward immediately with those two appointments.

We’re excited and pleased to announce that Emily McRae (@Massalinie) and Rob Updegrove (@GHoosdum) will be rounding out the first full term for the Icrontic Board of Trustees.

Please join us in congratulating our new trustees!

As part of ongoing preparations for the Helium Wars, we've taken steps to ensure the continuity of our command structure. Please stand by for—

ahem. What I meant to say—

We've been working on a transition plan for moving the community from a private-ownership structure to a board-led structure. It's not about making big changes to the community, it's about creating a more predictable power structure & accountability that doesn't rest on one person's shoulders. We were all set to nominate our Board when I realized we had a chicken-and-egg problem. If we're trying to move to a less owner-centric model, isn't a bit weird to hand-pick the entire board without more input? On the other hand, we haven't even defined "membership" yet, and auditable elections would be an administrative nightmare on top of that.

Our solution? Form a minimum "first" Board to select the rest of the Board.

I am pleased to announce that as of last night (20 Mar 2024) around 8PM ET that Icrontic is no longer a privately-owned endeavor and, in fact, has a Board of Trustees. The inaugural members are myself (Lincoln Russell), @primesuspect (Brian Ambrozy), and @Sazbean (Sarah Worsham). We'll be choosing at least 2 additional Board members to be officially seated at the start of the annual term (per the bylaws), 1 August.

We met at La Palma in Detroit and signed the official paperwork. A bonus unimpressed @Pink is also included.

To do this bit of legal gymnastics, we added an Article 8 to the charter, establishing how we made the transition.

As there's still no legal club entity this is all symbolic, but I think it's an important one. Icrontic no longer has co-owners, it has a Board of Trustees. May it provide another 25 years of fun and shenanigans. Cheers!