There is still a bit of time (34 hours and a bit) for you to file your Hugo Award nominations if you haven't done so. I just did mine!

If you were a member of Aussiecon IV (last year's Worldcon) or Renovation (this year's Worldcon) as of January 31, 2011, you are entitled to nominate.


Information about the process is available here:
http://www.renovationsf.org/hugo-intro.php

The online nomination form is here:
http://hugos.renovationsf.org/nominations.php

If you have lost the email with your nomination PIN you still have time to request a new one. Information on doing so is available at the nomination form page.

_________________________________________

And yes, Yipe! The Costume Fanzine of Record IS eligible for nomination for Best Fanzine this year. If you enjoy our 'zine, I hope you will include it for consideration while making your nominations.

An open letter of thanks to kevin_standlee

Dear Kevin:

Thank you for all your patient explanation and tutorials of parliamentary procedure and Robert's Rules of Order.

Today I was attending the smOdyssey annual membership meeting, which included election of directors and assorted motions to amend the corporate bylaws. It quickly became apparent that while they *wanted* to run by proper rules of order, some of the subtleties and priorities were not well understood.

I ended up de facto parliamentarian to help them navigate the business. Fortunately, this was not a hostile audience (for instance, they understood that "calling the question"[sic] actually is a motion to vote on whether to end debate, not something that automatically ends debate). They didn't need someone to split parliamentary hairs, they mostly needed someone who understood how the "deck of cards" (as you have described it) sorts out when a motion is being considered, an amendment is proposed, etc. etc.

So, as a result, the meeting only lasted from 2:00pm to 6:40pm. If I hadn't been paying attention to all of kevin_standlee's tutorials, I'd still be there!

Thanks, Kevin!