It’s July, which means it is time for the annual meeting and elections!
This year the annual meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 25th. If you are a voting member please, please, please show up to vote or place your vote online in the week leading up to the meeting. We need 50% of members to place votes to have this meeting count. We will start a thread one week before the meeting for people to ask for the link to vote if you need to vote online.
As always there are five officer positions (Secretary, Treasurer, CTO, COO, and President) and 5 board of director positions open. I have attached a document that describes the responsibilities of each position. Read through this if you intend on running! In order to run, you have to have been a paying member of the space for at least 3 months.
If you would like to run, (or would like to nominate someone else), please respond to this email with the position(s) you would like to run for. You must do this at least 1 week before the meeting. If there is a position for which no one is running at the time of the annual meeting, we can take nominations at that time, otherwise if you don’t announce your intent to run a week before, you cannot run. It would also be helpful to write a few notes about why you want to run and what you intend to do if elected to the position, since we have new members and those with differing schedules who may have not met each other yet.
This is also the best time to bring up bylaw changes if you would like to make any, due to the turnout we need for the annual meeting. Please post proposed bylaw changes at least a week before the annual meeting.
Lastly, we will be doing a potluck grill out again. I will post a separate thread about food and grill coordination next week.
I would also run for COO. I am currently in school for Operations Management, and I believe that what I am learning can be applied to the hive, but also it can give me vital experience for my major. I would like to be clear that if I become the COO, I would be doing less physical improving of our space, and focus on more logistics. This means that I would want to focus on developing a structure so that we can have more classes, more outreach programs like these library events, and hopefully such things as finding a bigger space for the hive to move to in the future. Since I would not be having an active role in physical improvements, I would like to build a system where our members can contribute more towards those physical improvement projects.
It might be difficult, but I believe it will help make the space feel more inclusive to members with ideas and really help people feel more invested in the space. The more makers we have making things, the better our organization will be in the long run.
Current COO goals:
Contact SCORE and Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati (ESC) to gain insight on how to make our non-profit better.
Create a lower barrier to members making classes or workshops.
More outreach opportunities
Getting more activity with the meatspacers
(Optional) Bounty Board to entice members to help around the space.
Also, if I become the COO, I will hand off the Fablab warden position to another person.
I’ve been a part of the hive for over 6 years. I have loved helping us grow and seeing the transformation through the years. As a board member and warden, I’ve been more involved in the leadership and direction of the hive in the last year and a half.
I want to keep this forward momentum going by continuing to improve the space, obtaining new and better tools, and maintain a culture of learning, sharing and making. The most important thing we have is our members; I’d like to coordinate more opportunities for us to promote our culture and foster our community! I also really enjoy welcoming visitors, orienting new members, and doing public outreach.
I think another important part of successfully running a space is to collaborate with local and national maker/hacker spaces in order to learn from each other. The maker community as a whole works together to create a better, more accessible world for all makers, and I’d love for us to be more involved in the movement as a whole.
If elected, I would also plan to stay as wood shop warden until a dedicated member is interested in taking that over. That way the position isn’t left vacant for a long period of time, and the wood shop would still get the needed attention.
I will be running for CTO again. I feel I have made some good progress over the past year in terms of improving the network bringing the websites up to snuff and I’ve still got plenty of projects in mind if I’m elected again. In particular I would like to concentrate on automating and streamlining the things that keep the space running (waivers, new member onboarding and central authentication for the hives various websites and computers just to name a few).
I would like to run for a board member position. I think the monthly meetings were critical to get things done as a board, and would like to continue those. My son still goes to bed fairly early, so I am hesitant to commit to anything that requires me to be there weekly.
I know he still might be out of town but I would like to nominate Lorin for the board if he accepts given his constant efforts in all directions of the hive. I would also like to throw my name in the running for a board position due to ongoing seeking for sponsor money and tools for the hive. I think it would be a benifit as well as I travel to all maker faires and work on outreach while there.
Or if bylaws change and we get a few people in spots just to pursue grants, sponsorship, etc. I would like to get a group started
I was going to be there tonight but traffic is shut down both ways on Colerain. My dad made it through but I was stuck after they shut down both ways.
I would like to nominate myself for a board member position.
I want to get more involved in the Hive but I have limited time available. The board would be a great way for me to help out.
Just a reminder that this Tuesday, July 19th, is the last day to nominate for positions or to propose bylaw changes.
To recap, we still need at least two people to run for board member positions, and someone to run for secretary.
Board and secretary are both pretty low time commitment positions. These positions are a great opportunity if you’d like to get more involved and help take the hive to the next level! You can self nominate, or nominate someone you feel would do a great job.
Secretary needs to be at most meetings and board meetings. I haven’t seen you at many this year, as I know you’ve got an unconventional schedule. Would you be able to make the Tuesday meetings during the term?
