We had a sizable turnout at yesterdays meeting, and we are proud to announce we have 17 official members! We expect more members to filter in gradually, especially as a result of this weekend's Code Camp.
Our goal is to overflow the room we were given - it seats 30, so we think it shouldn't be a problem. The talks run all Saturday at Red River's Princess St. Campus, first one is at 8:30 so come early! Free food, pubs all around and we'll have freebies to give away!
For anyone who missed the meeting last night, we started setting the foundations of how the group will operate. We realized that our initial membership costs were way to high - especially since we did not have a physical space or much to show in the way of a group.
We had a solid question and answer session in which we drafted the decision-making process of the group. We're aiming for consensus based decision making where the group will be unanimously for or against proposals, but since that may be unachievable we plan to have majority rule bylaws in place. By paying your membership dues, you get the right to vote in group decision.
A major point we went over was the method of voting. We'd prefer to have voting done in person, and for any major decisions we will be issuing a few weeks notice so anyone unable to attend will still be able to vote. We've decided that the bylaws and rules will be drafted as a group and we will vote on them, the timeline for this is still tentative but we are aiming to have this done in the next couple of weeks.
We're going to continue holding weekly meetings and monthly hackathons. Though we may not be participating directly in global hacker challenges every time, our meetings will coincide with hackathon timelines so we'll be on the same page as other hackerspaces.
We didn't go over many potential project details, but there was talk of a sister space - a "prototyping space". This hacker/maker space would be more geared towards hands-on making, and will hopefully include woodworking, electronic and metalworking tools! Come to the next meeting if you want to hear more about it!
We urge you to read the mailing lists, as they are full of information about group decisions and progress! Feel free to use the discuss list to get your voice heard!
