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Apple II convention – July 15–20, 2025

CONTACT

Committee Meeting Minutes

Beginning in March 2025, the Planning Committee and Board committed to publishing meeting minutes. Contact us if you have questions.

6/4/25

Attendees: Martin, Jay, Sean, Chris, Ron

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Venue search
    • Checklist and directions posted. Monitor Discord for discussion.
    • Consider having a town hall meeting for people who are interested in submitting venues
    • Some possibilities:
      • Univ of Pittsburgh (Jay)
      • Colorado School of Mines – Golden, Colorado (Chris)
      • Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) (Ron)
      • University of Missouri–St. Louis (Ron)
  • Sessions
    • Need to send acceptances with tentative date & time for person’s session
    • Need to create a draft schedule. It’s okay to drop and trim Peter’s personal session.
    • Do we need Friday night?
      • KFest rewind videos?
        • Greatest hits
        • Roger Wagner keynote
        • Randy Wiggington (2013)
        • Also link on our website
    • Bumper videos
      • Brian Wiser (Call-APPLE)
      • KFest gratefully acknowledges vendor for donating prize, etc…
      • Show old Apple II commercials from youtube
      • Who else?
    • Ron is willing to work with people to do prerecorded videos via Streamyard
  • Prize donation from Ken Gagne – subscription to Juiced.GS
  • Care Packages – Are we doing them? (Peter)
    • If so, we need pins and stickers ASAP.
    • Do the limited edition large enamel pin (Jay’s daughter’s artwork) with no year, put for sale in the store
    • Chris will reach out to subject of artwork to ask permission
    • Maybe have a coupon code for limited edition pin for KFest 2025 attendees
    • Do regular plank pin and send out in care packages
      • Don’t worry too much about getting it out before KFest
  • Artwork – Jay will get an update
  • Have a KFest town hall in a few weeks time, before KFest, using Streamyard, tell people what we’ve been up to, answer questions.
    • June 30?
    • Spokesperson – probably Peter
  • Roger Wagner (Chris)
    • Is wondering about donating his HyperStudio archives to KansasFest – is this something that KansasFest wants and could preserve long term?
    • What about an “endowment fund” to support long-term storage for the museum?
  • Next meeting – June 11, 2025

5/28/25

Attendees: Martin, Jay, Sean, Javier, Chris, Peter, Ron

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Sessions and Schedule  (Chris Torrence and Martin Doherty and Ron)
    • Martin Doherty will e-mail submitters.
    • Peter Neubauer will write last call for sessions to e-mail, Slack, and Discord.
    • Jeff Mazur: So I’ve got an outline for the virtual conference. Not sure if anyone else has used this title (seems very possible) but I’ll call it “How the Apple II changed my life.” It’s divided into 3 periods: Before Apple, After Apple Part I (original involvement), and After Apple Part II (retro stage). I guess 30-40 minutes with time for Q&A. How do I present – Zoom etc with screen share? Any other requirements?So I’ve got an outline for the virtual conference. Not sure if anyone else has used this this. From Jeff Mazur
    • Schedule 2025.xlsx
  • Artwork
    • Shirts – Javier Rivera and Chris Torrence will work on it this week – instead, will use Jordan’s artwork
    • Poster from Jordan? – 3 day turn-around, color, could use for shirt, pin, and artwork
      • Yes, $200
      • Add  “2025” at bottom
      • No glasses
    • Pins
    • Juiced.GS ad (Friday, Jun 13, 2025)
  • Venue checklist draft review (Jay Graham):
    • KansasFest 2026 Venue Scouting Checklist.docx
    • INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE CHECKLIST.docx
    • Next actions:
      • All to review and comment on the checklist by Sunday, June 1.
      • Write press release and post next Monday, June 2. (Peter Neubauer)
        • Ask people to contact us before scouting.
        • Let people know about upcoming town hall.
      • Create new Discord channel #venue-2026 for this. (Chris Torrence)
      • Schedule “town hall” meeting for people interested in scouting.
  • Apple II Forever awards
    • Agreed on recipients
  • Prizes
    • Award for:
      • HackFest entries
      • Random selection
    • Apple2Online Systemsaver II
    • Apple2Online Disk Notcher
    • Apple2Online Apple II Fan card
    • Apple2Online Apple mouse pad (x 2)
    • Tangy Pack
    • 2 Blue SCSIs
  • Next meeting: Jun 4, 2025

5/14/25

Attendees: Martin, Sean, Peter, Ron

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Bookkeeping, business registration updates, and bank signature card updates (Peter Neubauer)
  • Session and schedule (Chris Torrence and Martin Doherty and Ron)
    • Martin reviewed the draft schedule at Schedule 2025.xlsx. Martin will thank everybody and let them know that we’re working on scheduling with a date for final acceptance. We potentially have a full schedule of excellent presentations with current session submissions.
  • Venue checklist draft review (Jay Graham)
    • KansasFest 2026 Venue Scouting Checklist.docx
    • Wrap up by next Friday (5/23).
    • We will distribute (website and press release) as soon as possible. Ideally, we’ll have venue candidates ready to discuss at the July event.
    • Consider hosting a “town hall” meeting in June to discuss venue search with interested contributors.
    • The committee will lead cost and financial discussions.
  • Artwork drafts (Javier Rivera and Chris Torrence) – No update. Neither in attendance, and Peter will follow up with email.
    • Are we doing pins? Stickers? “Feelie packages”? Ask Chris if he’s willing to mail stuff. Ron is also willing and able to help.
  • Minutes approved. Peter Neubauer will post minutes and add link to minutes from Committee page.
  • Next meeting: 5/28

4/23/25

Attendees: Peter, Jay, Sean, Martin, Chris

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Peter Neubauer will send standing meeting invitation to Ron.
  • Sessions
    • 12 submissions to date, need to count duration but could use more
    • Advertised deadline for submissions is May 1. (https://www.kansasfest.org/2025/03/call-for-sessions-2025/)
    • Peter will submit a round table discussion topic about goals for and future of KansasFest. Include call for volunteers and update on venue search.
  • Reactions to leadership changes. – No concern or irritation observed.
  • Venue checklist draft review (Jay Graham)
    • Jay will need a day or two to clean it up. He will post it for final review on Friday. 
    • Anyone volunteering to help with research will need to accurately represent their status (not an official event representative) if they communicate with any venues
    • Create a “packet” that volunteers can use with talking points and also something that can be given to potential venues
      • Mention 501(c)(3)
  • Vendor Feedback (Jay Graham)
    • Jay sent 30 emails and got 4 back. Eight prizes 
  • Artwork drafts (Javier Rivera and Chris Torrence) – have done nothing yet…
    • Sean suggests a need for a theme. 
    • Brainstormed ideas that nobody especially liked: “Apple II Alive” “Apple II Thrive” “Still alive in 2025” “2025 Alive & Kicking”
  • Next meeting: May 7, 2025

4/9/25

Attendees: Jay, Kirk, Sean, Javier, Chris, Peter, Martin

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Review and approve minutes from prior meeting. (Kirk)
    • No action. Last minutes approved.
    • Peter will add minutes to website menu.
  • Leadership change press release.
    • All reviewed and approved statement. Peter will post Thursday.
  • Venue checklist finalization.
    • Jay will accept comments and incorporate edits.
    • Committee prefers submissions of venues that don’t meet criteria too so we have more knowledge.
    • Jay intends to finish form this week. We’ll try to complete venue research by July and present results at the event.
  • Virtual event planning
    • About 10 speakers so far, plus featured speakers
    • Featured speaker updates
    • Vendor reachout – Status and next steps?
      • Jay sent e-mail to many potential vendors. We have prize donations.
    • Captioning
      • First, ask Ron since he knows more about StreamYard. Then, ask for community help.
    • Hide health policy on our website since it isn’t relevant.
    • Chris and Javier will begin iterating on artwork.
  • Future of storage, garage giveaway, and museum. Defer topic to another meeting. Sean volunteers to maintain our current location for at least a year.
  • Next meeting
    • Move to meetings every other week. Next April 23.
    • Issue a standing invitation to Ron.

4/2/25

Attendees: Jay, Sean, Peter, Vince, Chris, Martin, Javier

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Review and approve minutes from prior meeting. (Kirk)
    • Martin moves to approve minutes from 3/26. All approve.
    • Will post to our website then link.
  • Review nominations for president and voting process. Vote. (Sean)
    • When will new president take effect? Immediately, and Sean will remain in an advisory role until summer event.
      • Need to do paperwork – amendment with Sec of State, signature for bank, may need to amend the 501c3 with new board members
      • Announcement
      • What to do about garage giveaway (eventually) 
    • Two nominees: Peter, Chris – Peter got 5 votes. Chris got 1 vote. Remaining people abstained.
    • Peter accepts and reaffirms commitment to the in-person event and earning back the trust of the community through transparency. Sean will remain long enough to complete the leadership transition and to act as an advisor.
    • Peter proposes electing a new vice president and treasurer.
      • Chris nominated for vice president. Accepted with no objections.
      • Jay nominated for treasurer. Accepted with no objections.
    • Martin moves that all funny hats be at individual expense. No objections.
  • What’s needed to open registration?
    • Done, except perhaps need new artwork.
    • We need somebody with a passion for publicity and media.
    • Do we need a theme? Artwork? Shirt? Pins? We’ll brainstorm ideas and post internally.
    • We’ve started reaching out to vendors. Work is in progress.
  • All need to review venue checklist.
  • Next meeting: 4/9/2025

3/26/25

Attendees: Jay, Peter, Ron, Chris, Martin, Sean

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Ron demonstrates StreamYard.
    • Seems like a good choice, just go for it.
    • Setup a new coordination channel on Discord.
  • StreamYard
    • Bumpers during event with info on KFest, donation QR code
    • Play old KFest videos during breaks “Classic KFest Rewind” – someone to review
  • Planning to open registration on April 1.
    • Charge $20 just like other years
    • “Your registration helps us cover these expenses”
      • Streamyard, business, website, ads, storage rental, rescue of collections
    • Push to get more vendors, could publish coupon codes. Pursue vendors. Ask for prizes. Jay will contact vendors if we find the vendor list: BlueSCSI, FujiNet, Courbis, Call-APPLE, Plamen, MFA2 Workshop (via Chris)
    • Do t-shirts in a couple of weeks, chance to do another post
  • Consider doing posts on some of the YouTube videos from last year
  • Kirk presents minutes from the last meeting for review and approval. Where are minutes getting published?
    • Kirk was not present. Peter will post this question to mailing list.
  • Succession for president
    • Consider revising the by-laws, making more formal
    • Who has voting privileges
    • Term limits
    • Near-term we need a president to carry us forward.
      • Everyone has a week to submit a name if they want.
      • Organize an e-mail vote.
      • First vote is for president. Other positions will follow.
      • Sean will send request for nominations to kfest-admin. Vote next Wednesday.
  • Next meeting? April 2.

3/19/25

Attendees: James, Ron McAdams, Javier, Kirk, Jay, Chris, Sean, Vince, Peter

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Kirk presents minutes from last meeting for review and approval. Confirm location and process for publishing minutes.
    • All approve.
    • Single page of minutes on our website.
    • Direct people to our mailing list or Discord.
  • Call for sessions published. Discuss response to the call.
    • Peter Neubauer will make sure Jay Graham has access to session submissions.
    • Submission deadline is May 1.
    • Time limit extended to 60 minutes.
    • Chris will work with Ron on the session schedule
  • Begin virtual event planning. Identify a lead for the virtual event. Will we change anything compared to prior virtual events?
    • Ron the virtual event lead for 2025.
    • Make sure presenters are clear on their presentation time and their question time.
    • Ron suggests StreamYard (https://streamyard.com/), not Zoom. Ron requests a time to demo StreamYard – next Wednesday.
    • Can make the YouTube link unpublished so we can give to paid attendees.
  • Discuss selection of keynote/featured speaker.
  • We still need to prepare guidance for venue research. Who wants to lead this?
    • Sean and Jay have ideas and will post to kfest-admin list. Jay will take lead on organizing input.
  • Ron’s video with 2024 new attendees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT7OQB9wfvs
  • Sean offers to remain as local custodian of garage giveaway collection.
    • Consider paring down the collection, maybe partnering with other organizations
    • Have a lot of Tony’s laserdiscs with Apple material. Steve M. has laserdisc equipment for possible archiving
  • Delayed to a future meeting
    • Discussion for planning committee and board succession given Sean’s intent to resign by July 31. Who will fill his role?
    • Are other members planning to resign?
    • Are term limits a good idea? Elections?
  • Next meeting: 3/26

3/12/25

Attendees: Kirk, Jay, Chris, Javier, Sean, James, Peter

Meeting brought to order by Sean at 7:00 pm

Agenda:

  • Sean intends to resign from the planning committee and board by July 31 or perhaps earlier.
  • Kate and others are starting an Apple II conference. https://init-hello.org/
  • The committee discussed approaches for soliciting venue recommendations from community members. The committee will provide guidance and required data.
  • Also discussed ways to increase transparency and reconciliation.
  • The Wichita venue has officially been cancelled. There are no complications.
  • Call for sessions as soon as possible.
  • Registration for virtual event opens April 1.

Meeting adjourned at 8:14 pm