Minutes of May 2008 Meeting
May 18, 2008

The May Meeting of I.B.M. Ring 362 was held at All Souls Congregational Church in Bangor, Maine, on May 18, 2008, at 3:00 pm. The theme of the meeting was Parlor Magic. Please see the Ring Report for details of the performances.

There was a raffle of a Penn & Teller Casino Chip. The raffle raised $31 for the Ring.

Danny Baker called the meeting to order. He cited a set of simplified Rules of Order that have been made available as a PDF on the Ring's web site, which were adopted as the Rules of Order for the meeting.

The agenda for the meeting had been made available in advance, and Danny Baker called for the adoption of the agenda, which was approved without amendment.

The minutes for the March meeting were approved without amendment. There were no minutes for April, as no business meeting was held due to the Elliott Card Challenge and the Tom Craven lecture.

Randy Von Smith presented the Treasurer's Report. The bank balance was $1,620.33 and there was $344.00 in petty cash for $1,964.33 in total funds. Of these funds, $1,582.81 (80.6%) was unrestricted and $381.52 (19.4%) was in the endowments as follows: Ring Name Plaque Endowment ($140.00), Elliott Endowment ($130.35), Chung Ling Soo Endowment ($67.17), Max Malini Endowment ($60.00) and Lecture Endowment (-$16.00). These figures did not include any fund transfers during the May meeting, including raffle proceeds, gate for the Malini Contest, or reimbursement to the Contest Official. Members voted to approve the Treasurer's Report.

In Old Business, Geoffrey Miller, General Show Chair for the All-Star Magical Revue, formally announced that the show had been cancelled. The Ring's offer to the Criterion Theatre and Arts Center was rejected. Their counterproposal, that the Ring could have access to the Criterion Theatre until 3:30 pm on July 4, was unacceptable. The CTAC Board also refused to grant the Ring permission to sell concessions, and insisted on rental fees, hourly salary for the House Manager, a series of other charges, 10% of the gate and 100% of concessions. The Ring Board discussed the matter and voted unanimously to withdraw the offer to the Criterion Theatre and Arts Center. The Ring Board considers it unlikely that the Ring will hold any event at the Criterion Theatre in the foreseeable future, and is actively seeking other venues for public Ring shows.

In Old Business, Paul Szauter reported on the magic class for Summer Festival of the Arts (SFOA). Kim Hawkins was unable to return to Maine for the summer, and no other Ring member is able to meet the demands of the teaching schedule at SFOA. Although the SFOA program went to press before this was known, the most likely outcome is that the classes will not be offered.

In Old Business, Paul Szauter, Contest Official for the 2008 Chung Ling Soo Stage Magic Competition, reported that the contest is currently scheduled for Saturday, September 6, at All Souls Congregational Church. If there is to be any consideration of a different venue, this decision must be made by the June meeting in order to provide enough lead time. Brother Don Paul reported that All Souls Congregational Church already has the event scheduled, so the contest will almost certainly take place there.

In Old Business, Danny Baker reported on meeting themes and Teaching Tables for 2008 and 2009. Danny will present a Teaching Table titled Fickle Fingers & Lead Hands at the July meeting. Dr. Wilson will be the theme leader for From Kellar to Thurston in January 2009. There was a call for a theme for February 2009, the furthest the Board ordinarily goes in the calendar, so as not to constrain the 2009 Board.

In New Business, Phil Smith raised the subject of the Elliott Card Challenge. Phil proposed a revision of the rules of the Elliott Card Challenge to address the nature of the decks used in some way other than the current rules. There had been considerable discussion of this subject via email prior to the meeting. Phil did not have the text of the proposed revisions for the consideration of the members. Brother Don Paul suggested that the discussion continue via email until such time that Ring members had a clearer grasp of what they would like the Elliott Card Challenge to be. Brother Don Paul proposed that the motion to amend the rules for the Elliott Card Challenge be tabled. The motion was seconded and passed.

With no further business, a motion was made to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.