CTUG Regular Executive Board Meeting

October 30, 2003 - Minutes

Attendees:

Javid Quadri
Randall Becker
Dick Bird
Philippe Olivieri
Marc Lafontaine
Alvin Wong
John Lee

Regrets:

Marlon Henry
Pio Gomes

Meeting Duration:

4:05PM – 5:15PM

Meeting Location:

Conference Call

Old Business:

1. Previous meeting approval
   • Approval moved by Dick, seconded by Philippe
2. Webmaster
   • Web master - handover to Randall Becker – in progress
   • ACTION ITEM: Randall to report on progress of website handover and updates
     • Randy and Joseph to get together when Randy is in town to discuss issues and officially hand over web site. This is an urgent requirement, as the web site content needs to be updated with session and registration information.
3.  ITUG Report
   • Randall and Dick attended the ITUG conference as representatives of CTUG.
   • Randall was asked to act as the official CTUG representative for ITUG. Among the things that have been requested of Randall during his attendance at ITUG are:
     • Ensure vendors are coming to the CTUG conference
     • Determine if there are any speakers that would be good as presenters at a technical session or key notes at the conference and see if we can interest them in presenting for us.
     • Determine if there are any topics that would be of particular interest to our members. We can use them in future sessions.
     • Make contact with members from Montreal, and determine if they have any issues or questions regarding our renewed presence in Montreal
     • Determine the interest level in Alberta. (Not that we necessarily will do anything about it at this time, being busy with Montreal, but it may be something where we get contacts and gauge interest for future reference.)
     • Generally see what other things are around that will help maintain and grow the organisation.
   • ACTION ITEM: Randall and Dick to report on ITUG.
     • There about 2000 people that attended ITUG, which is on the high end of usual.
     • The sessions were excellent, but there were fewer vendors and fewer giveaways.
     • Tom Perkins, as a co-founder of Tandem and current HP Board Member, gave a key note speech highlighting the history of Tandem and indicating that 20% of revenue from NonStop is directed to research on the R&D platform.
     • Among the notable presentations were the Commander of a Coast Guard vessel describing the actions during the Perfect Storm, the Mayo Clinic discussing their system of patent records, which is available to all departments. As this is the 25th anniversary of ITUG, a reception was held at the San Jose Art Gallery. James Treybig attended.
     • RUGS are getting together to form Road shows. Potential RUGs to leverage sessions include Denver group, and North Eastern U.S. group and the Detroit user group.
     • Another item was an idea on engaging executives. The notion would be for the RUG to hold a dinner, sponsored by the vendors for high level customers. HP would send a high level representative. Details on the logistics of this are to be worked out.
     • Notables in their absence were representatives from IBM, TD and Target.
     • A push by HP education to promote Certification brought about by Prometrics 420 – 430 tests. This process is quite comprehensive and covers both hardware and software concerns. This is a possible offering for the spring conference.
     • No members from Western Canada were met.
     • ACTION ITEM: Contact other RUGS for cooperation of future events.
4. November Technical Session
   1. Planning for session
      • ACTION ITEM: Subcommittee to report on session details
      • ACTION ITEM: Emails to start going out and website to be updated.
      • The session agenda was discussed. A desire to add a user presentation was expressed, however, a suitable presentation was not available.
      • Emails have been sent out, and are intended to go out once every 5 to 6 days.
      • Web site to be updated with session information and registration page.
   2. Date and Location
      • Toronto, Metro Hall, November 25th
      • Montreal, Institut international des télécommunications, November 26th.
      • Both venues are confirmed.
5. Financials
   • Accountant has been selected: Sims and Company, 346 Forman Avenue, Toronto, Ont. Contact: Steve Sims 416-481-9101x22.
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Address change to be done to CTUG Inc. c/o Dick Bird, HP Canada, 675 Cochrane Dr., Markham Ontario, L3R 0Y7.
     • Status: Defer to the accountant
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Alvin to contact Visa and Amex to change contact information.
     • Status: Alvin will verify by June 14th 2003
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Alvin to change address during business registration/GST processing.
   • Status: Defer to the accountant
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to complete report in the next meeting.
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to have cheques reprinted without addresses.
     • Nearly Complete: But questionable charges require Alvin to follow up.
       • Accountant has generated the financial statements. Alvin gave a summary as to the revenues and expenses as of the end of the fiscal year, April 30th, 2003.
       • Accountant has filed income tax forms.
       • Accountant has been paid.
       • Accountant is willing to have their address be the de-facto address for CTUG.
       • Questionable charges have been addressed.
6. Location for next Spring Conference
   • Javid and Pio to decide on a venue
   • ACTION ITEM: Continue investigating alternatives.
     • Javid reported that he has been in contact with the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The other venue that he looked at was the Ontario Bar Association, whose spaces was not quite adequate for our needs.
     • Pio hadn’t reported any contact with any other venues.
7. Non-Disclosure Agreements
   • Received so far: Dick, Alvin, John, Philippe
   • ACTION ITEM: Board members to return signed copy to Javid for filing.
     • Status: Ongoing
8. General Liability Insurance for board members
   • ACTION ITEM: Javid to follow up with KRG regarding quote.
   • ACTION ITEM: (Carry over) Randy to provide Javid with additional contact numbers for additional quotes.
     • Javid reported that this is still in progress.
9. Honoraria
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to purchase the honoraria and deliver to the eligible parties.
     • The honoraria have been purchased and are in the process of being delivered.
10. Ratification of ITUG Regional Agreement
    • ACTION ITEM: Javid to follow up and deliver signed agreement to ITUG.
      • Javid signed the agreement and sent it to Dick. Dick delivered the agreement to ITUG at the RUG luncheon at the ITUG Summit.

New Business

1. Next Meeting
   • November 14, 2003
   • Conference Call
2. Meeting Adjourned
   • Moved by Marc, seconded by Alvin
   • Adjourned at 5:15 PM
   • Minutes taken by: Javid Quadri