First try at Skype for the general meeting

[Mr_Phelps]

We have made a new Skype account for the general meetings.

The account name is general.meeting.k.con and we will be working to get it up and running this Sunday.

Rather than have individual people logging into the session we would like to limit the conference calls to at least groups of 5 (if possible) at the remote locations.  The intent is to have people still having face to face meetings with others in thier geographic area.  This way it limits the monetary impact to people out in places like Bend and Eugene while still letting them actively participate in the discussions during the meeting. 

As we get the technology sorted out we will be asking the remote locations to find meeting places that can host the conference calls and streamline the process.

Thanks for your patience as we get this sorted out.

Mike Andrews
Kumoricon Chair

[TomtheFanboy]

So, is it going to be happening this time?

Has the board tested out a group in Seattle and a group in Portland?

[Mr_Phelps]

We use Skype for the Exec meetings every month.  Eric now has the second conference call device and there should always be one of them available that way.

Even so, expect some difficulties while we start getting this in place.

[TomtheFanboy]

Now now mustash, the board has been very clear that there are only supposed to be GROUPS using the skype channel to reduce... something... bandwidth?
Anyway, they told us that they wanted to limit the general meetings to one or two groups of people gathered together in Bend or Eugene or Seattle. That way there would only be one connection for all of them and if people wanted to say something only one of them would talk to the staff at the meeting (after they had been officially recognized by the staffer monitoring the skype connections from the General meeting).

If it all works out you should be able to listen to the digital recording of the meeting afterwards though.

[Mr_Phelps]

The main reason for limiting is that we want to promote the meetings as a social event so people can get to know each other in person.

The secondary reason is that I am under the impression that Skype limits the number of callers in a conference call.  This way we can make sure the maximum number of people can actually participate.

[Antares]

Can you post a primer as to what is needed for a group to connect?

[TomtheFanboy]

Antares, if I can't get a ride on Sunday I'd like to meet up and skype into the meeting with you.

[Antares]

K! Do you know how it works? I downloaded it. That's about it. :-)

[kurosakiichigo666]

Is it possible for there to be another way? I live in Redmond, OR (right next to Bend if you didn't know) and I would really like to be in on one or more of the general meetings. Is MSN messenger an option? Or is it possible someone could send me the minutes of the meeting? I'm trying to get on Gaming staff and I need to get to one of these meetings but I can't go to Portland just for one as I have school and work, and gas is WAAAY to expensive. I really hate Skype and last time I downloaded it I got viruses and spyware up the Yin-Yang. How about online meetings in a dedicated chat room on MSN or Yahoo? I dunno. Just ideas, they probably all suck...I wish I was moving up to Portland earlier but I won't be coming up 'till right before con...

[TomtheFanboy]

... Or is it possible someone could send me the minutes of the meeting?
.... How about online meetings in a dedicated chat room on MSN or Yahoo?

The meeting minutes are posted shortly after each meeting. Here is a link to the most recent ones.
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=6458.0


Some of the departments (Programming and Yojimbo, I know for sure) have held a lot of meetings online using basic chat services. Though in order to chat with the gaming staff you'd actually need to be using the IN GAME chat features because they never really answer their normal yahoo or AIM messages.
<_<

[RemSaverem]

Will there be a Eugene Skype-in for the May meeting?

[Mr_Phelps]

We will have access to the internet, so barring technical difficulties we will have the Skype session running.