McMaster Social Sciences Society
Executive Meeting Minutes
Date/Time: Thursday, January 17th, 2013 at 11:30AM
1. Call to Order / Attendance 1 minute
o Attending: Jamie Lai, Maya Kanani, Sarah Taylor, Emily Jones, Alexis Nizerro, Alexander Burnett, Anne Marie Monpetit, Brandy Laura
o Regrets:
o Late:
o Absent:
2. Presidential Remarks 1 minute
- Has been invited to be a celebrity dealer at Charity Ball
- Been heavily involved with the presidential campaigns
- Maya and Alexander attended a leadership conference
3. AM: TedX Sponsorship 10 minutes
- TedX approached Anne Marie regarding a possible sponsorship to help raise $7000
- The hosts were asking the MSSS if we would like to contribute a monetary donation to the event
- If we donate:
§ The MSSS will be put onto the power point for 15 seconds as well as have our logo put onto the sponsorship pamphlet
- This would be seen as a benefit towards the MSSS; gets us exposure as well as an involvement towards other clubs and events outside of the Social Sciences
- Anne Marie will send the email regarding the sponsorship as well as the budget that has been attached with the email to the rest of the executives
- Anne Marie will inquire about the benefits of different monetary price ranges
§ E.g.: $100 – $250: 15 seconds on power point
4. Maya: Forum/ GA 15 minutes
- The date for the General Assembly and Open Forum will be March 29th
- The food options still need to be negotiated with Paradise catering
§ Food or buffet style
§ In favour of having finger food during the day, as the Open Forum will be a drop in event that will be occurring during the entire day; Platters and refreshments that are replenished every hour
- We are accounting for an approximate of throughout the day at one time
- What we need from AV:
§ Podium, microphone, and a power point
§ Projector will cost $170
· Alternate options would be to borrow a projector from Mills
§ The microphone and speakers will be $150
- Payment method will be by cheque
- Booked an appointment with Dr. Yates for February 7th in regards to booking guest speakers for the event
- The Open Forum will begin at 10AM; start set up at 9AM
- The Open Forum will run until 2PM and the General Assembly will be after the forum from 2PM – 4PM
§ Take down will be after 4PM and everyone will be out of the venue by 5PM
a. Clubs Update
- Anne Marie met with HASSA
- Met with Andrea originally in August and with Sarah and Leah just recently
- Sarah and Leah understand the consequences about not attending Academic Showcase
· One of the main concerns was not responding to the HASSA email; Sarah will take charge of the email from now on
· They are on probation but there will be no financial cuts
- Maya and Anne Marie will rework clubs handbook during reading week; By the end of the year, a section about probation is clearly outlined
- Contracts will also need reviewing
· There will be 2 separate Clubs Handbooks; one for executives and one for members
- Religious studies will not receive funding for their events because they have not submitted any formal paperwork in regards to their events
- Maya will be meeting with Social Work on Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
· Will discuss funding
- CLOSED SESSION
- Alex: HASSA
§ Symposium will be McMaster Innovation Park
§ Last year, the symposium was on 3rd floor MUSC
§ Last year’s attendance was good and had a cost of approximate $400
§ Leah decided to host the academic symposium because she works for the McMaster Innovation Park
§ Alex was asked to be a speaker but because the symposium was changed to target more of a graduate audience, he was informally but not officially asked to step down as a guest speaker
§ The original name of the event was the Undergraduate Symposium but with the new shift in guest speakers, the name has changed to Undergraduate Symposium and Academic Assembly
§ As of yet, no undergraduates will be speaking at the conference
§ Concerns: They do not have sufficient funding by themselves, but they will be asking MSSS for funding
· We will not feel obligated to give funding for this event because it will not directly be benefiting the undergraduate students
§ HASSA is not making good use of their money or budget
§ They are paying $1200+ for an event that will not benefit undergraduates; we do not want to support an event that is geared towards graduate student
§ The faculty was not aware of this new change; it is not right to host an event with such a drastic change without informing the faculty
§ Gives HASSA a bad reputation; very inappropriate to invite a speaker, then to uninvited them so last minute
§ Innovation park will not be accessible to undergraduates; there is no direct bus route so not many people will feel inclined to attend
§ Asked MSSS if we would want a table, as well as Experiential Education
· However, there will be little to no attendance from the undergraduates, so it would be redundant to involve the MSSS and EE
§ No formal paper work has been filled out and sent to the MSSS
· If they have booked venues without any confirmation from anyone, we cannot approve of this event or any other events following
· As of October, HASSA has only $500 left of funding
§ We should not consider funding the event unless a formal proposal is presented to the executives
- END OF CLOSED SESSION
5. Alexis: Coffeehouse 10 minutes
- Everyone is welcomed to attend the coffeehouse/open mic night
- Tentative date will be set for February 5th
- Thought the marketing will be targeted towards the Social Sciences
- People that have been asked to perform:
§ Of Gentleman and Cowards
§ Amber Damned
§ Arielle
- Tristan will be the lead of this event as he showed great interest in planning it
· Needs to get the microphone and speakers
· Needs to talk to Paradise catering about the food for the night
- Promotions
· Naila made a picture that will be put onto Facebook
· Relying on word of mouth
- Seana
· Has booked many events at bridges before; will work with Tristan to help out and check in with him to make sure everything is on task
- EOHSS has been submitted and approved
b. Alexis: Mystery Bus 15 minutes
- Tentative date will be on February 8th
- Buses need to be booked for the night as soon as possible
- Cost will be $10; that will include a ride to and from the venue
- The mystery bus will lead the students to a country bar; but no one other than the planners will know
- Possible options:
· Nashville North
· The Ranch
· We want to avoid “copying” Kinesiology because they go to Nashville North every year
- Soc Sci Guy will slowly give away hints leading up to the day of the event
- The bus back to Hamilton will be leaving anywhere between 12:30am – 1:00 am
§ Everyone must make sure that they are aware of what time the buses leave or else they have to find their own ways of transporting back to Hamilton
c. Alexis: Formal 5 minutes
- Meeting at Geraldo’s with the manager to finalize the details of the hall and night of
· Questions that will be asked:
· Pricing: how much money will it cost per person
· Lighting: if they provide it
· What is available at the venue that we are able to access on the night of?
· What time can we go in to set up the hall?
· Where are we allowed to decorate?
· What are the protocols for security?
· Can they do some kind of special drink?
· Will there be subsidized drinks?
· We cannot give out free drink tickets
· What causes us to lose our deposit?
- The theme is the Wizard of Oz
- Photographer is $125 for the entire night; food will be provided for her
d. Promo Communications
- A new form of communication with promotions girls
- The original format was to email the promotions girl through Alexis; Alexis would receive the request from exec, which then would be forwarded to the promotions girl
§ The main communication was between Alexis and Naila
- New form of communication:
§ Exec will email request to Alexis, who will then forward the request to Naila
§ After the initial communication between the exec member and Alexis, all the proceeding emails will be sent between the exec member and Naila; Alexis must be CC in each email
6. Brandy: Scholarship 2 minutes
- The deadline for the scholarship is Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
- There has not been a great interest as of yet
- There is an option to send in the application via email
- Welcome Week planner applications are done; due on February 1st
7. Emily: Branding 1 minute
- Decided on the 3rd option
- Alex moves to change the branding to the 3rd option
- Emily seconds the motion