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TL;DR LIST OF AGENDA ITEMS VOTED ON OR DISPOSED OF AT PRELIMINARY BUSINESS MEETING

C. STANDING RULE CHANGES 

C.1 Magnum PI — PASSED
C.2 Strike 1.4 — PASSED
C. 3 We Don’t Like Surprises, Why Do You Ask? – RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY CHAIR. THE MOTION TO SUSPEND THE RULES TO TAKE UP AN ALTERED AMENDMENT BY 2/3RD OF THE VOTE FAILED.
C.4 Repeal 7.9 [Proxy and Remote Voting] – PASSED

D. RESOLUTIONS

D.1 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Conann a.k.a. She Is Conann — PASSED
D.2 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Lovely, Dark, and Deep – PASSED
D.3 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka a.k.a. The Boy and the Heron — FAILED
D. 4 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Gojira – 1.0 a.k.a. Godzilla Minus One— PASSED
D.5 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Mars Express — PASSED
D.6 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Tiger Stripes — PASSED
D.7 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Mollie and Max in the Future — PASSED
D.8 MPC Funding Request – PASSED AS AMENDED
D.9 Business Meeting Study Group – POSTPONED TO SATURDAY
D. 10 Hugo Process Study Committee — PASSED

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By Chris M. Barkley: The Preliminary Session of the 2024 World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting was held in the Inspiration Suite at The Village Hotel, just across the River Clyde from the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), where the main events of the Worldcon are being held.

The Officers for the 2024 Business Meeting are (left to right) 

• Timekeeper: Ira Alexandre (they/them)
• Deputy Presiding Officer: Warren Buff (he/him)
• Presiding Officer: Jesi Lipp (they/them, Chairperson)
• Parliamentarian: Martin Pyne (he/him)
• Secretary: Alex Acks (they/them)
• Floor Manager: Chris Hensley (he/him) (not pictured)

The start of the meeting, scheduled for 10:00 a.m. GMT, was delayed due to problems with the close-captioning system, which the Chair Lipp declared was essential for the hearing impaired fans present at the meeting and those streaming the proceedings elsewhere at the convention or at home.

The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 11:34 a.m., to much applause.

The 2024 Business Meeting moved on to the first item on the Agenda. Sections of the Agenda quoted below are displayed in italics.

After a brief explanation of the procedures of the Business Meeting, Chairperson Lipp called for the first item on the Agenda; Committee Reports and the Mark Protection Committee Nominations:

Mark Protection Committee Nominations: When the call for nominations were made the following people’s names were placed on the ballot:

Bruce Farr, Chris Rose, Linda Deneroff, Cliff Dunn, Mark Richards, Donald Eastlake, Alan Fleming and Olav Rokne.

Balloting will take place at the first session of the Main Business Meeting on Saturday, August 10th.

Other Committees: The Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee and the Worldcon Conrunners Committee had no comments to record from the members. There were no objections to either committee continuing to function with their current members.

Financial Reports: The LoneStarCon Financial report was submitted late and was not included in the agenda but copies were made and were read into the record:

Chairperson Lipp thanked previous Worldcons who submitted final financial reports: Chicon 8, Pemmicon, DisCon 3 who all disbursed their surplus funds.

Chairperson Lipp moved on to Standing Rule Changes for the Business Meeting, which, if approved, will take effect at the beginning of the next year’s session of the Business Meeting in Seattle.

C. STANDING RULE CHANGES 

C.1 Magnum PI 

Moved, to amend the Standing Rules as follows:

Rule 5.3: Postpone Indefinitely. 

Moved, to amend the Standing Rules as follows: Rule 5.3: Postpone Indefinitely. The motion to Postpone Indefinitely shall not be allowed at the Main Business Meeting, but shall be allowed at the Preliminary Business Meeting and the first time a main motion is brought before a Main Business Meeting. This motion shall have four (4) minutes of debate time and shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote for adoption.

Proposed by: Cliff Dunn, Jared Dashoff

The motion to Postpone Indefinitely shall not be allowed at the Main Business Meeting, but shall be allowed at the Preliminary Business Meeting and the first time a main motion is brought before a Main Business Meeting. This motion shall have four (4) minutes of debate time and shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote for adoption. Proposed by: Cliff Dunn, Jared Dashoff

Discussion: At Discon in 2021, the Business Meeting was subject to heavier time constraints than usual across its first three days. At Chicon in 2022, the business of the Preliminary Business Meeting spilled over into the first day of the Main Business Meeting due to a large amount of business being presented. Combined with the wave of business this year, the possibility that business which might be respectfully but swiftly disposed of via Postpone Indefinitely might be unable to be disposed of thusly for no other reason than the Preliminary Business Meeting either being cut short or running over has emerged. 

Therefore, we propose to adjust the rules surrounding Postpone Indefinitely to allow it to be brought up at the “first pass” of any item of business. Our hope is that this will be adopted with a 2/3 vote for immediate effect, given this year’s Business Meeting circumstances.

Vote: There was no debate and motion was passed by the raising of a majority of hands and was adopted and put into effect immediately by another vote by hands.

C.2 Strike 1.4

Moved, to amend the Standing Rules as follows: 

Rule 1.4: Scheduling of Meetings. The first Main Meeting shall be scheduled no less than eighteen (18) hours after the conclusion of the last Preliminary Meeting. No meeting shall be scheduled to begin before 10:00 or after 13:00 local time. 

Proposed by: Cliff Dunn, Kate Secor

Discussion: We find Standing Rule 1.4 overly prescriptive in its constraints on the Business Meeting. While it might be preferable to schedule meetings according to the directions contained in Standing Rule 1.4, as the last few Worldcons have shown, facility availability and business volume may not always align with this. Whether it is the necessity of the Preliminary Business Meeting spilling into a second day’s session or the possibility that space availability might require “non-conventional” scheduling (e.g. an earlier start or split sessions within a single day with a planned break), Rule 1.4 doesn’t anticipate anything but “vanilla” scheduling. We therefore propose eliminating it so as to remove those constraints.

A debate time of four minutes was proposed by the Mixed Chair and adopted.

After a back and forth about theoretical starting and ending times, a motion was made for a serpentine majority vote, in which the Floor Manager counts each member standing (or sitting) by number. A majority of the plurality carries the motion.

Vote: In this vote, the Yeas were 49, the Nays were 39. The motion passed.

Before proceeding, the Chair announced that write-in candidates for the Mark Protection Committee were permitted but the persons being written in must consent and make their intentions known to the Business Meeting to appear on the ballot. Furthermore, the Chair urged all nominees to post on the Worldcon Discord page to get to know their fellow nominees. They also advised on how to access Discord page

C. 3 We Don’t Like Surprises, Why Do You Ask? 

Moved, to amend the Standing Rules as follows: Rule 2.2: Requirements for Submission of New Business. Rule 2.2.1: Emergency Business.

Proposed by: Cliff Dunn, Kristina Forsyth, Erica Frank

No business may be submitted to the Business Meeting without prior notice for consideration at the same meeting of the Business Meeting without unanimous consent. Any business which is submitted with unanimous consent for immediate consideration and adopted shall be subject to a motion to reconsider at the next day’s meeting of the Business Meeting, and said motion may be made and/or seconded by any member who voted against its passage or who was not present at the time. No business may be brought up under this section on the final scheduled day of the Business Meeting. Excepted from this shall be business presented to the Business Meeting by the Site Selection Administrator pertaining to that year’s Site Selection process and motions pertaining to the resolution of a disputed or failed Site Selection process. Except as provided within, this rule shall not be subject to a suspension of the rules. 

Discussion: This is a minimal change, but it is aimed at preventing a “surprise rules change” by the Preliminary Business Meeting, as happened in Chengdu. The concept of “Notice to Absentees” is important, especially in the context of a convention with multiple conflicting tracks of business. Basically, this would force any such business to the next day. The sole carve-out is for Site Selection business – both for the potential adjudication of disputed ballots and the resolution of a disputed or failed Site Selection process. The former is necessarily time-sensitive and the latter should be considered potentially noticed in the form of the “Site Selection Business Meeting”.

Ruled Unconstitutional by Chair: This proposal was ruled unconstitutional by the Chair and out of order because it conflicts with WSFS amendments 5.1 and 5.6, which interfere with the presiding officer to administer New Business. They did allow that this proposal could be re-submitted at this Business Meeting with different language that would not conflict with the Constitution.

Cliff Dunn offered to resubmit with the several offending words, “No business may be brought up under this section on the final scheduled day of the Business Meeting” omitted.

The motion to suspend the rules to take up an altered amendment by 2/3rd of the vote failed. Cliff Dunn made an appeal that the Chair’s ruling that the motion no longer before the voting body was improper. The Chair ruled that their original ruling was no longer before the body and rejected the appeal.  

There was some slight clapping and the Chair reminded the audience that such demonstrations would count against the debate time and would be enforced.

C.4 Repeal 7.9

Moved, to amend the Standing Rules as follows: 

Rule 7.9: Proxy and remote voting. 

Proposed by: Jesi Lipp*, Jared Dashoff, Alan Bond, Chris Rose, Kathy Bond, James Bacon, Joyce Lloyd, Colin Harris, Gareth Kavanagh, Farah Mendlesohn 

*Jesi Lipp will not be presiding over this item, as they are the maker of the motion. 

Only WSFS members physically present at the Business Meeting shall be recognized for purposes of debate, or may move, second, or vote on motions on the floor of the meeting. Proxy voting is not permitted. 

Discussion: Standing Rule 7.9 sets an extremely bad precedent by explicitly restricting the Worldcon from attempting to allow more WSFS members to be active participants in the society of which they have become a member. It further alienates and bars from participation anyone who does not or cannot spend approximately half of the convention in the Business Meeting. WSFS as a member organization should state and act as if it values its members. The society should take steps to increase openness and participation in its rule making, and should not be prevented from doing so by its very own Standing Rules. The Business Meeting is one of only three duties that the Constitution requires of the host convention; it is critical to the convention and continuation of WSFS and Worldcon. Therefore, we must value participation in the Business Meeting and choose rules that increase participation by the members rather than reduce it. Our current system for holding the Business Meeting privileges voices of those with the financial resources to physically attend the convention, and then further those with the ability to devote a significant amount of their convention time and energy to attending the Business Meeting. 

There are arguments from some that giving up such a significant amount of one’s time and energy is the price one must pay to get a say in the business of their society, and that it demonstrates the commitment and dedication of those members. But lack of financial resources to travel or having access needs that prevent physical attendance should never be interpreted as lack of commitment. Further, this argument somehow concludes that the hours and effort put in by countless volunteers to make the convention run (which in many cases prevent them from attending the Business Meeting) are not “dedication” to Worldcon. The existence of the WSFS membership (formerly Supporting membership) in our membership structure makes it clear that, as a society, we understand that not everyone can always attend every Worldcon, but that we still value their participation. 

Our rules should therefore not limit us from figuring out ways to enable more members to participate in the Business Meeting. The Business Meeting, as it currently operates, is an outlier. Most major organizations with geographically disparate membership allow some sort of proxy voting: corporate shareholders need not physically attend shareholder meetings to vote; religious organizations, in the era of Zoom, have moved to online or hybrid meetings; even most elections allow for mail-in, absentee, or early voting of some kind. Further, allowing for non-physical presence or proxy voting addresses many of the access issues that our current system creates. 

It is unfair to our diverse and disparate membership to constrain the Worldcon from attempting to use these measures to open up participation. Lastly, there is the reality of the time we find ourselves in. With WSFS’s reputation damaged in the eyes of many in recent years by questionable site selection regulations and decisions, as well as by slating and seemingly irregular ballot counting in Hugo nomination and voting, the society should be moving towards transparency in rulemaking rather than taking steps that actively bar society members from participating. 

The Chair stepped down from the podium to address and comment on the motion they proposed. Warren Buff stepped into the Chair’s role to conduct the debate.

Ten minutes of debate time was proposed by Mr. Duff. There was a proposal to delay the discussion of the proposal until after the debate on D.9, which calls for the formation of a Business Meeting Study Group. The Chair pointed out that the proposers of this change were also co-signers of D.9.

Vote: The motion to postpone was voted down by a hand vote. The debate proceeded over the propriety of offering proxy votes versus how such voting could be established and administered by the Business Meeting. There was a motion to amend the motion to completely eliminate proxy voting. It was voted down by a hand vote. A serpentine vote on the main motion on the rule passed by a 49-36 vote.

EXTENSIONS OF ELIGIBILITY FOR THE HUGO AWARD. Next on the Agenda was for an extension of eligibility for seven motion pictures, whom the petitioners thought did not have an wide enough distribution during the previous calendar year:

D. Resolutions From the WSFS Constitution Section 3.4.3: In the event that a potential Hugo Award nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an additional year by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the intervening Business Meeting of WSFS. 

Usually, these proceedings are put to a quick vote and are easily dispensed with and no dramatic work has been denied an exemption before. Until this year…

When the Chairperson proposed to bundle all seven works into a single motion, there were immediate objections, particularly for two of the works, The Boy and The Heron and Godzilla Minus One. After a short debate time, the members voted to separate those two works and vote on them separately.

Vote: The five other works were granted extensions by a wide margin by hand.

D.1 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Conann a.k.a. She Is Conann Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Conann a.k.a. She Is Conann, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne, Amanda Wakaruk, Jason Sanford, Christopher Rowe, Chris M. Barkley

D.2 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Lovely, Dark, and Deep Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Lovely, Dark, and Deep, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne, Amanda Wakaruk, Paul Weimer, Chris M. Barkley

D.5 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Mars Express Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Mars Express, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne

D.6 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Tiger Stripes Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Tiger Stripes, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne

D.7 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Mollie and Max in the Future Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Mollie and Max in the Future, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne, Amanda Wakaruk

Debate time: The debate time for D.3 was set for two minutes:

D.3 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka a.k.a. The Boy and the Heron Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka a.k.a. The Boy and the Heron, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne

Discussion: The Boy and the Heron is an animated Japanese fantasy film by Hayao Miyasaki as well as the winner of the 2024 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The Boy and the Heron premiered in Japan on July 14, 2023, and had its international premiere on September 7, 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival and was subsequently screened at other film festivals, but did not receive a wide theatrical release in most countries until late December 2023 or January 2024. Due to its limited release schedule in 2023, very few members of the Glasgow Worldcon had the opportunity to watch The Boy and the Heron before the deadline for nominating for the 2024 Hugo Awards.

Despite the fact it had a limited distribution, The Boy and the Heron was certainly noticed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which voted it the Best Animated Feature film, a fact that was probably the determining factor in it being voted down, a first for a Worldcon Business Meeting.

Vote: The motion to extend The Boy and the Heron failed by a wide margin in a hand vote.

Debate time: The debate time of two minutes was set for D.4.

D.4 Hugo Eligibility Extension for Gojira – 1.0 a.k.a. Godzilla Minus One Moved, to extend for one year the Hugo Award eligibility of the movie Gojira – 1.0 a.k.a. Godzilla Minus One, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.3 of the WSFS Constitution. 

Proposed by: Cora Buhlert, Olav Rokne, Amanda Wakaruk

Discussion: Godzilla Minus One is a kaiju movie by Takashi Yamazaki as well as the winner of the 2024 Academy Award for Best Special Effects. Godzilla Minus One had its global premiere on November 1, 2023, at the Tokyo International Film Festival and received a theatrical release in Japan two days later. The movie had a limited theatrical release in several countries in December 2023, but was not widely available in the US until January 2024. Due to its limited release schedule in 2023, very few members of the Glasgow Worldcon had the opportunity to watch Godzilla Minus One before the deadline for nominating for the 2024 Hugo Awards.

The main objection was not the quality of the movie, which even some of the objecting members praised. The sticking point was that the film grossed $116 million dollars in the United States. This argument was countered that the astounding earnings were achieved at a limited number of theaters that were boosted by a word of mouth campaign by fans of the film.

(Author’s note: I, too, spoke out in favor of the extension, pointing out that the film’s distributor, Toho Films, had mandated that Godzilla Minus One be withdrawn from all exhibitors worldwide in January 2024, in order to make way for their collaboration with Warner Brothers, Godzilla X Kong, which opened on March 26th, 2024 in Japan and four days later in the United States.) 

Vote: The vote to approve the extension for Godzilla Minus One passed with more than a 2/3rds vote by hand.

D.8 MPC Funding Request 

Resolved, That the WSFS Business Meeting requests that Worldcons donate US $1.00 per WSFS member, and non-Worldcon conventions sanctioned by WSFS donate US $0.30 per attending or supporting member, to the MPC to fund the committee’s operations. 

Proposed by: The Mark Protection Committee Discussion: 

The MPC is and always has been dependent on voluntary donations from conventions for its funding. Other sources of income are insignificant. Decades ago, a donation of $0.50 per site selection voter was suggested based on what the continuing expenses of the MPC were then. But continuing expenses have increased for the growing number of mark registrations in a growing number of jurisdictions, legal expenses, computer services, domain names, insurance, and inflation. Furthermore, the number of site selection voters is more volatile than the number of WSFS members or attendees. For example, there are usually fewer voters when site selection is uncontested. So this resolution suggests a donation based on membership.

Despite the seemingly benign nature of the request, several members argued that this request seemed poised to be a mandatory rendering of funds to the MPC. This line of attack continued even though Kevin Standlee maintained that the proposal was merely a request, not a demand. It was also pointed out that the motion was not binding in any way.

Vote: The vote on the motion was passed by a hand vote with a minor amendment to specify that a convention could contribute to the fund from any surplus funds they may have on hand instead of a specified amount from the general fund.

Debate time: A debate time of six minutes was set by the Chair for D.9.

D.9 Business Meeting Study Group 

Resolved, to establish a Study Group to review the rules governing the conduct of and participation in the WSFS Business Meeting, to report back with specific recommendations to the 2025 WSFS Business Meeting.

Proposed by: Farah Mendlesohn, Colin Harris, Jared Dashoff, Gareth Kavanagh 

The scope of the Study Group shall include: 1. Assessment of alternatives to Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR) as the basis for the conduct of the Business Meeting 2. Assessment of the options for remote participation by Members in the Business Meeting, at three possible levels (a) observation only (b) contributing to debate (speaking), (c) participating in votes 3. Assessment of the options for scheduling the Business Meeting separately from the Worldcon (subject to (2) since this would presumably require it to be a wholly online meeting). 

For each topic, any recommendations made by the Study Group should include a clear assessment of the consequences, benefits and drawbacks of the proposed approach compared to the existing approach. Note from Business Meeting staff: When a committee is created, if the membership of the committee, or a process for electing the membership, is not specified in the motion, it is the custom of the Business Meeting that the Presiding Officer selects a chairperson (normally the proposer of the motion, if they are interested) and the committee membership is constituted of anyone who expresses interest in joining. 

Discussion: The Business Meeting (BM) appears to many observers as a closed shop, dominated by a core of regular participants and governed through a byzantine set of debating rules. The fact that regular BM attendees, and other individuals who are experienced with formal parliamentary protocols, find the rules navigable does not invalidate this perception. The Constitution fundamentally enshrines the principle that WSFS is a participatory rather than a representative democracy. 

The adoption of participatory democracy in turn implies that we trust our membership to inform themselves and to make sensible decisions on the issues which are put before them. If we are to respect these principles then it is incumbent on us to ensure that participation is easy, convenient, and accessible to all WSFS members. A more open and accessible process will enhance the credibility of WSFS and the robustness of its governance at a time when the broader reputation of Worldcon has taken significant damage. 

Further to this, WSFS governance in particular has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. It is unhelpful when BM attendees are perceived to enjoy “Robert’s Rules – the RPG” as an end in itself. And the argument that “everyone’s welcome to participate – they just need to put the work in to understand the process” has appalling optics. 

These perceptions of Worldcon has taken significant damage. Further to this, WSFS governance in particular has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. It is unhelpful when BM attendees are perceived to enjoy “Robert’s Rules – the RPG” as an end in itself. And the argument that “everyone’s welcome to participate – they just need to put the work in to understand the process” has appalling optics. 

These 2024 WSFS Business Meeting Minutes Page 17 of 100 perceptions speak to exclusion and barriers at a time when Worldcon needs to strive for inclusion and transparency. We believe that a Study Group is the best way to consider alternative approaches with the thoroughness that is needed and to properly reflect on the benefits and drawbacks of changes. The overriding aim will be to ensure we govern ourselves in a way that is fit for purpose for the Worldcons of this decade and beyond. 

● We will review the governing Rules. Whilst Clause 5.1.4 of the Constitution already enables individual Worldcons to adopt something other than RONR, we believe that a more fundamental review is needed. If nothing else, such a review will enable us to reflect on the implications of our current approach. For instance, RONR is fundamentally based on adversarial debate, as opposed to consensus building alternatives such as Martha’s Rules. 

● We will assess options for optimizing our use of RONR if it is retained, to minimize barriers to understanding and participation. 

● We will review the potential for remote participation particularly in terms of the need to give all WSFS Members the option to participate. The recent changes to the definition of WSFS Membership make it more anomalous than ever to exclude those without an Attending Supplement from participation. 

● We will review the option to decouple the Business Meeting from the five days of Worldcon. We understand the argument that “if people care enough about the issue they should be willing to invest the time to attend” but believe that we have created a structure which, ironically, makes it difficult for many people to attend and volunteer for the Worldcon and still be involved in its governance. 

We believe that the current conduct of and participation in the Business Meeting is at odds with the progressive steps being taken in other aspects of Worldcon. In areas such as member recruitment and programme participation we see active and successful initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion and to remove barriers and gatekeeping. It is time for our governing institutions to embrace and reflect this progress.

Postponed to Saturday: The proposers of this item were not present and the Chair proposed a delay in the vote until Saturday. Hearing no objections, the proposal was scheduled for the next day.

Debate time: The final item of the Preliminary Business Meeting, D. 10,  had a debate of six minutes set: 

D. 10 Hugo Process Study Committee

Resolved, that there be a Hugo Process Study Committee that shall report back to the 2025 Business Meeting with recommendations and proposed amendments. The remit of this committee shall include, but not be limited to: employing third parties to administer, oversee, and/or audit the Hugo Awards and the financial implications thereof; other options for independent oversight of the Hugo Awards; creation of a whistleblower process and protections; and how such processes might affect the site selection process. The leadership and membership of this committee will be determined by the Presiding Officer. 

Proposed by: James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Randall Shepard, Ian Stockdale, Sara Felix, Marguerite Smith

Vote: After a six minute debate, the proposed committee’s approval was passed by a more than 2/3rd showing of the member’s hand. Worldcon Member Bree Reeves volunteered to head the committee, was appointed by the Chair. Ms. Reeves consulted with one of the proposers, James Bacon in the rear of the room as the meeting was coming to an end.

Conclusion of Preliminary Meeting: The time at that point of the meeting was 2:53 GMT.

And with little remaining time for the next agenda item, Chairperson Lipp announced that the Main Business Meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow [Saturday]. They also said that the next three items on the Agenda, D 11 (Statement of Values For Transparency and Fair Treatment), D 12 (Chengdu Censure),will be discussed in an Executive Session, and that video, closed captioning and audio recording will not be permitted by the staff or by attending members. 

 D 13 (Apology) and D 14 (Make Them Finalists!) and D.8 would be taken up afterwards.

The Chair announced that it was decided to hold the Mark Protection election at the Sunday morning session.

With that Chairperson Jessi Lipp closed the 2024 Preliminary Business Meeting Session.

After starting at 11:34 a.m., there were breaks at 12:15 p.m. for lunch, reconvening at 1:00 p.m. for the second session, another break at 2:00 p.m., and the final session starting at 2:15 p.m.

Attendance count: Total Attendance in the audience at its peak was 90 people.  

All Photos by Chris M. Barkley