From league@ai.mit.edu Thu Feb 28 17:26:18 1991
Return-Path: < mib@geech.ai.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 16:20:00 -0500
To: league-mailings@geech.ai.mit.edu
From: league@ai.mit.edu
Reply-To: league@ai.mit.edu
Sender: mib@ai.mit.edu
Subject: LPF mailing part 5
This is the last part. Many thanks for your patience both in enduring
the delay in the mailing as well as the mishap with part 3.
-mib
\input texinfo.tex
@settitle Minutes
@headings doubleafter
@center @titlefont{Minutes}
The following are the minutes of the annual meeting for 1990 of the
League for Programming Freedom as prepared by Christian D. Hofstader.
Chris Hofstader started the meeting by welcoming the attendees and
thanking everyone for coming. He then gave a brief history of the
organization, followed by a synopsis of major league activities in 1990
including:
@itemize @bullet
@item
An increase in membership from approximately 50 people to approximately
500 people.
@item
The League's first trade show booth at AAAI in Boston where we were able
to recruit for and publicize the rally at Lotus.
@item
A second successful rally against Lotus Development corporation,
attended by approximately 350 people.
@item
The League's second trade show booth at SD/90 East in Boston where many
people were able to have the opportunity to meet League activists.
@item
Chris Hofstader and Gordon Schantz attended Fall Comdex on the League's
behalf and were able to make a lot of important contacts.
@end itemize
After the introductary speech all in attendance were enlisted in an
effort to count the votes for officers and directors. This took nearly
two hours.
When the votes were finally counted Richard Stallman called the meeting
to order and we proceeded to discuss League business.
Stephen Sisak, who replaced Denis Filipetti as Treasurer in August, gave
the financial report. (See attached.)
Richard then opened the floor for discussion of new business (we had no
old business to discuss as this was our first annual meeting).
@itemize @bullet
@item
Methods of increasing membership were debated. Some of the ideas
presented by the attendees were: direct mail, magazine
advertisements/inserts, free media, lectures by League activists and
trade show booths.
Direct mail and magazine advertisements were dismissed for the time
being due to the very high costs involved.
The free media (magazine articles about the League etc.) is something
that we will strongly try to continue to exploit. In 1990 the League
had tremendous success with articles in Dr. Dobbs Journal,
Communications of the ACM, PC Magazine and others.
Lectures by League activists is another
area that we will use to get to
potential members. League activists
will be made available to hopefully
accept any invitation to speak. It was
also noted that it would be very helpful
if we could find volunteers who would
enjoy speaking in their area.
Trade show booths and trade show
attendance is another good way for the
League to meet potential members. Trade
show booths that we must pay for are
quite expensive and the shows must be
selected carefully. Trade show
attendance on the League's behalf is
encouraged for all members, especially
if they were going to attend the show
anyway.
@item
How and where to print our position
papers was the next topic to discuss.
Everyone bickered about this for awhile
and finally it was decided that the
League officers would decide at a later
date after getting samples and prices.
@item
The last topic discussed was League
meetings. There are no formal meetings
of the League with the exception of the
annual meeting. Anyone who would like
to become active in the League can do so
easily by contacting any of the officers
or other activists.
@end itemize
After the discussion period ended Richard called for the
official election of the officers and directors.
The election results are in the main portion of this mailing.
The ballots are in the League archives and will be available
for inspection by any League member.
After the election of the officers the meeting was
adjourned.
@bye