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Minutes of the 1998 Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc.

The tenth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc. was called to order on July 12, 1998 at 10:45 AM EDT.

Non-members in attendance at the annual meeting were:

Keith Lynch voted in as member during the meeting, proxy to John Cowan after he left at 1:15.

Roll call was taken of the members.

Members attending (7) were:

Dave Barton
John Cowan
Guy Garnett arrived after roll-call but before any voting
John Hodges
Nora LeChevalier
Robert (Bob) LeChevalier
David Twery

Members "present" (9) by proxy:

Athelstan proxy to Guy Garnett
John Clifford proxy to Bob LeChevalier
Colin Fine proxy to Bob LeChevalier
Jorge Llambias proxy to John Cowan
Nick Nicholas proxy to Bob LeChevalier
Mark Shoulson proxy to John Cowan
Karen Stein proxy to John Hodges
Veijo Vilva proxy to Bob LeChevalier
Tommy Whitlock proxy to Nora LeChevalier

Members not in attendance (1) were:

David Young

No proper notice of meeting by Secretary/Treasurer was given (per Article 3, Section 4 of the Bylaws)., therefore no bylaw amendments may be made.

Roll Call

Bob: David Young is in Japan for some time,and has not yet sent his E-mail address.

Reading of the Minutes:

MOVED: To waive reading of minutes. - PASSED.

Report of officers - President:

Reference Grammar:
- Book published
- about 200 copies sold
- Some notes of availability up on SIG/ lists/Net-page, but no other real notice.
- 10 sales through Amazon.com
- 1,500 printed ($17,500)
- Loan of $10,100 from LeChevalier's for printing (at 8% per year). Paid back about $2,000 so far.
- Rest financed from membership balances of $6,000 - $7000.
- Geoffrey Sampson has reviewed the book in the Journal of Linguistics (a prestigious publication).
- Someone donated a copy to the national library of Italy.
Next book will be the pocket dictionary. Not much time spent on it yet.
After pocket dictionary will be the level-0 replacement book (introduction). This will be cheaper than re-photocopying the level-0 material (brochure, overview, diagrammed summary).
Printer:
- Pages misprinted in 25-30% of books.
- Some books sent out may also be bad.
- Printer has checked through 2/3, returning the good books, but otherwise not moving quickly on making good. They "accept responsibility", but no real particulars (implied that they would replace bad books with good).
- Bob LeChevalier suggested that in addition to settlement (monetary or good books for bad), that we request the bad books back, mark them "defective", and send them to those who would not be able to buy a copy (e.g. - those in some foreign countries).
- LLG is promising its customers complete satisfaction. Our policy has been to replace any bad book that is returned.

Performance as president:

Order have been delayed (on books) by a month or more. Some other orders date back as far as 1995 (mostly level-0).
Address list not updated; this will take much work.
Publicly thanks Dave Barton for his help with organization and orders.
Requests more frequent encouragement by contact from members.

Sylvia Rissel: Contacted her finally. She doesn't object to being removed. She is still interested, but has insufficient contact for more participation.

Order form needs updating.

Report of officers: Secretary/Treasurer, by President:

No significant correspondence, other than Geoffrey Sampson review.
There will be about 1,400 names on mailing list once typed in, but don't know how many bad.
@2,00 bank balance.
Owe the LeChevaliers $8,000 plus interest.
Owe member balances, but books not up-to-date on the amounts at present.
Have changed bank account such that there will be no charges unless under $500 bank balance.
Sales tax: Owe for 9 months. Very low, but there is $10 late charge.

Report of officers: Vice President, by President:

Retiring at end of 1999 from job as professor, and moving.
Expects he can become more active after retirement.

Report of Committees:

Meeting notice: missed.

Finance Committee: nothing decided because no meetings.

Suggested by Bob LeChevalier: Goran Topic (in Croatia), the teacher in mainland China, and maybe the person in Taiwan.

On-line Ordering: decided todo nothing because on-line ordering can be done through Amazon.com

Consideration of new members:

MOVED: That Keith Lynch be accepted as a new member. - PASSED.

Election of Board of Directors:

MOVED: To re-elect current slate of board members. - PASSED.

Old/Unfinished Business:

None.

New Business:

Discussion of priorities for President:

Items considered [unprioritized]:

Taxes
Updating address list and financial information
Sending book notice to address list
Sending outback orders - paid
Sending out back orders - unpaid (requests for level 0).
Marketing and promotion
Little dictionary work
Package 0 bookwork
Re-establishing DC lojban group(lessons and/or conversation)
Sending out LK
Sending out immediate orders (quick)

MOVED: That discussion of priorities be briefly tabled for discussion of whether to send LK with book notice. - PASSED.

Discussion of sending out LK along with book notice in 1 mailing.

2 mailings would: allow for updating address list with good addresses in between, so LK would more likely be mailed to a good address; be another contact from LLG.
1 mailing would: help remind people better of what the lojban project is.

MOVED: That there be separate mailings; the book notice flyer, then LK. - PASSED.
MOVED: To untable discussion of priorities. - PASSED.

Continuation of discussion of priorities for President:

Which next: Level-0 book or little dictionary?
10-20 paid level-0 orders.
50-300 unpaid level-0 (request for information).
Just reprint current documents as booklet, or re-do to make a consistent-style level-0 booklet?
David Twery suggests we look into www.tnaja.com, books on demand.
May want little dictionary ready to respond to any level-0 responses. But, must wait with little dictionary until we have money (from sales of Reference Grammar).
Little dictionary needs work on cmavo since people have complained about non-usable "definitions"; suggestion to cross-reference cmavo list to Reference Grammar.

MOVED: That LLG present to Bob, as President, the following must-do list without regard to other activities or work -AMENDED.

Taxes
Sending out immediate orders (quick)
Updating address list and financial information
Sending outback orders - paid
Sending out back orders - unpaid (requests for level 0).
Sending book notice to adress list
Sending out LK
Little dictionary work

Friendly AMENDMENT: That LLG adopt the following as the list of priorities for which Bob, as President, has primary responsibility - PASSED.

Taxes
Sending out immediate orders (quick)
Updating address list and financial information
Sending outback orders - paid
Sending out back orders - unpaid (requests for level 0).
Sending book notice to adress list
Sending out LK
Little dictionary work

Discussion of items not included on President's priority list - level-0 packet:

MOVED: That we refer to committee of John Cowan and Dave Barton the preparation of a book to replace the level-0 packet. - AMENDED.
Friendly AMENDMENT: That we refer to committee (members: John Cowan - chairman, Dave Barton, Bob LeChevalier) the preparation of a book to replace the level-0 packet. - PASSED.

Discussion of items not included on President's priority list - Marketing and Promotion:

MOVED: That further discussion of marketing and promotion be postponed until next meeting. - WITHDRAWN.
MOVED: That we extend the deadline for the $39 price for the Reference Grammar, to at least next year's meeting, adjustable by the Board - PASSED.

Discussion:

Maybe wording saying $48, but orders over $20 get 20% discount (as is currently listed on price list).
But, people do the arithmetic wrong. May be better to get rid of the 20% discount altogether.
Amazon.com gets the books for $35, then sets their own selling price; we will cut the price to then when they reach 10.

AMENDMENT: That we extend the deadline for the $39 price for the Reference Grammar, to three months from the mailing of the notice, adjustable by the Board - REJECTED. (vote: 4 pro, 5 con, 8 abstain).
MOVED: That further discussion of marketing and promotion be postponed until next meeting. - TABLED.
MOVED: To table discussion of postponement of marketing discussion - PASSED.

Worldcon: What about having flyers for putting on table? Maybe a committee to look into future Worldcons ('99 in Australia, '00 in Chicago, '01 in Philadelphia or Orlando).

MOVED: That we send n flyers to Worldcon, where n is to be determined by Bob LeChevalier and Dave Barton - PASSED.
MOVED: Establish a Worldcon committee to refer Worldcon matters (members Keith Lynch - chairman, David Bowen, Bob LeChevalier). - PASSED.
MOVED: To un-table discussion of postponement of marketing discussion - PASSED.
MOVED: That further discussion of marketing and promotion be postponed until next meeting. - PASSED.

Keith Lynch left, proxy to John Cowan.

Resolution of Printer Problems:

At minimum, want restitution, in the form of money-back pro-rata over the total cost (not the marginal cost) or book-for-book replacement.

Perhaps we should ask for them to give us the bad copies, for distribution to those incapable of buying. But the Printers may not want that since it's a bad reflection on them.

What about postage to re-send books?

21 sent before we discovered problem. We don't know which ones are bad.

MOVED: That the minimum resolution to be accepted is recompense (either pro-rata payment based on total cost of books or book-for-book replacement) plus $500 for expenses to replace bad books - PASSED. (unanimously)

Hire lawyer if can't get satisfaction.
What type of recompense preferable: repayment or replacement? Printers may have a say in this as to what they can do.
If we receive repayment, will we run out of copies? (Guffaws were heard.)

What to do for people who have paid for level-2 packet?

Level-2 packet is equivalent to about 5chapters of the Reference Grammar.
Level-2 packet price is less than book.
But, people have been waiting for it.

MOVED: To send copies of the Reference Grammar to pending orders for the Level-2 packet, and to reject any new orders. - PASSED.

MOVED: To adjourn meeting. - PASSED.

The tenth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc. was adjourned at approximately 1:35 PM EDT.

I certify that the above motions were presented to all members present for discussion and approval, and that all motions were approved as noted. I further certify that these minutes are an accurate representation of the tenth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc.

Nora LeChevalier

Secretary/Treasurer

Last modified: Mon Jun 27 23:12:45 PDT 2005

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