CONTACT

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.

11/13/25

Attendees: Jay, Ron, Peter, Martin

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Venue search town hall roles
    • Jay: SIU-E
    • Chris: UIS
    • Martin: UMSL
    • Peter: Intro/conclusion
    • Ron: MC
  • To do:
    • Peter will add voting form, slides, and stream links to https://www.kansasfest.org/venue-search/
    • Peter will generate Discord link.
    • Ron will post reminders.
    • Peter will do Mailchimp newsletter.
    • Upload score card as separate document. 
    • Copy useful links to website.

11/6/25

Attendees: Jay, Ron, Peter, Martin, Chris

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Venue search
    • Review, update, and finalize venue summary forms
      • SIUE (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) – Common area’s floor space similar to UIS, but split across two rooms.
      • All three venues provide breakfast and lunch in their dining hall. We could likely bring in our own food for other meals, but we’d need to negotiate with dining services.
      • UMSL (University of Missouri–St. Louis) conference space is 0.25 mile from dorm.
      • SIU-E and UIS (University of Illinois Springfield) have conference space in same building as rooms, which is better for our traditional “feel”. SIU-E is older/less modern than UIS but likely nicer than Rockhurst.
      • SIU-E is setting its 2026 prices in a meeting prior to Thanksgiving.
      • For town hall, create a summary slide show:
        • For each venue
          • Registration cost (single, double)
          • Photos
          • How is the “KansasFest vibe”?
          • Accessibility
          • Food – Breakfast and lunch not included
          • Rooms
          • Conference space
          • Distance from airport
          • Distance from dining hall
          • Distance between rooms and conference
        • Pro/con summary
      • UIS responded on 11/5, we can lock in the 2025 rates if they can start entering a contract into the system during the 1st week of December, and it appears likely we can get Lincoln Hall if our dates work within their maintenance schedule… need to confirm our dates to them to confirm it.
      • Announce town hall meeting
        • Announce on 11/7, Ron will build Streamyard/Youtube
        • Town hall, Nov 14, 7:30pm CT
        • Post slides immediately after town hall
      • Need to
        • Done: Cross-check pricing with underlying documents
        • Ron – Check with SIU-E about 2026 pricing.
          • “What does your conference pricing for 2026 look like?”
        • Ron – Check with SIU-E and UMSL about our ability to bring in food on days when dining is closed.
          • “Will your dining hall be open in Summer 2026? Do we need a contract to ensure you’re open? For those meals when you’re closed, are we able to bring in food from local restaurants?”
        • Martin – Ask UIS about conference space fee and parking fee. Ask dining service about summer opening.
          • “What’s your price for the Great Room?” “Has parking price changed?” 
          • “Which meals will your dining hall be open for in Summer 2026? Will you be open on weekends or only weekdays?”
        • Jay – Prepare presentation.
      • Dates: Week of 7/13/2026 or 7/20/2026, prefer 7/13 but depends on venue availability, also need to plan extra time for garage giveaway coordination
      • Organize venue voting.
        • Google Form
        • Name and e-mail address
        • Rank choice
        • One comment box
      • If possible, at KFest 2026, can we set up workstations for disk & document imaging, to crowd-source a lot of backlogged work?

10/16/25

Attendees: Peter, Martin, Chris

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Venue search
    • Is building availability at UIS workable for us?
    • We’re running out of time to sign for a venue this calendar year, and we’ll need to expedite our efforts. Committing this year remains a goal but may not be achievable. To expedite, we need to complete the long form checklists, present at a town hall, and collect community votes.
    • We’ll split up and assign long form checklists for SIUE, UIS, and UMSL (https://www.kansasfest.org/venue-search/).
      • UIS (University of Illinois Springfield) – Martin
      • SIUE (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) – Chris
      • UMSL (University of Missouri–St. Louis) – Ron
    • Timeline for next “fireside chat”
      • Complete draft check-lists. Meet October 29, 2025  and Nov 6, 2025.
      • Post long-form checklists about a week beforehand. November 7, 2025
      • Present venues in a fireside chat. Nov 14, 2025 (or maybe 15/16)
      • Open vote on November 14, 2025 closing Nov 21, 2025, announce prior to Thanksgiving
        • How do we collect votes?
          • Likely open vote to everybody because we cannot effectively verify past or future attendees.
          • Require name and e-mail address.
          • Likely not require Google Account to avoid tech issues blocking people.
          • Ranked choice voting.
          • We can do some spot checking to verify votes
  • Reorganized internal Drive.
  • Discussed the papers currently doing the rounds via snail mail for signatures (for bank account authority).
  • Martin will post minutes.
  • Featured speaker updates/contacts – delay discussion until after venue selection
    • J. M. – 
    • Randy Hyde – Jay
    • John Calhoun – Ron has contact.
  • Apple II Software Library
    • Press release not done – Peter will find pictures
  • Next meeting: 29 Oct 2025 (cancelled), then 6 Nov 2025

10/2/25

Attendees: Peter, Jay, Chris, Martin

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Peter will coordinate bank paperwork with Chris, Jay, and Martin.
  • Venue search – Next step is to complete long form checklist for each candidate (https://www.kansasfest.org/venue-search/). We’ll create copies of the checklist and collectively fill-in. We’ll host another “fireside chat” after completing checklists.
    • SIUE (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)
    • UIS (University of Illinois Springfield)
    • University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) – Ron visited campus and had initial discussions.
  • Featured speaker updates/contacts
    • J. M. – Ask Sean to make an introduction.
    • Randy Hyde – Jay will contact.
    • John Calhoun – Ron has contact.
  • Apple II Software Library
    • Any news or updates from Sean? No updates.
    • Press release
  • We need to review KansasFest possessions, such as trailer, golf cart, and storage. Maintaining these is expensive, and we don’t have anybody passionate about maintenance. We will need volunteers mid-Summer 2026 to sort storage contents.

Next meeting: Oct 16, 2025

9/17/25

Attendees: Peter, Jay, Chris, Peter, Ron (joined late)

  • Jay reported on VCF Midwest.
    • Ron shared feedback he heard about KFest while at VCF. Most were supportive and looking forward to getting KansasFest back together in-person. 
    • Somebody asked about rebranding KansasFest when it isn’t in Kansas City. We’re unlikely to change the branding.
  • Apple II Software Library
    • From Sean:
      • A community member took in a large collection of Apple II educational material. A LOT. He said he’d prefer it if it all went to KansasFest. Most of it came from the Gravenstein User Group and other library sources. He’s working on repacking it and is willing to get USPS media mail rates. It would be several boxes.
      • Rather than lose the chance to take in the library J. took in… I have committed to accepting it. Whether KFest decides helps with media postage or not, I am going to be scanning and uploading. Ron is likely to be helping. We have a plan for him to visit in October.
      • J. has shipped 150lbs of disks in (4) 14x14x14 boxes. There will be much more.
      • Estimated shipping costs to date $100-$200 with more coming.
    • KansasFest will support this collection with Sean as the point person. We’ll finance shipping the collection to Sean. We’ll consider other expenses as they occur. We need collaborators to organize and archive.
  • Featured speaker
  • Peter shared educational software titles:
  • Venue search
    • SIUE
      • SIUE staff are busy with the start of semester, and we’ll reconnect in about 2 weeks.
    • UIS
      • Martin will ask UIS about availability and pricing for 2026. (pending task assigned on 9/4/25)
    • University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL)
      • Ron has established contact and will organize a visit next Tuesday.
    • We’ll offer to reimburse Ron for travel expenses since he’s closest to most of the current venue candidates. Ron declined but the offer stands.
    • The documentation prior to moving to UIS is a good reference material we’ll need to prepare for each venue. Each venue needs fair treatment and presentation.

Next meeting: Oct 2, 2025(Thursday, two weeks)

9/4/25

Attendees: Jay, Peter, Chris, Martin

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Venue search – Venue Questionnaire Results 2026.docx
    • Review/release survey results. All approve publication.
    • SIUE investigation
      • 2025 Activity Wing Space Request.docx
      • 2025 Request for Conference Housing.docx
      • Virtual campus tour: https://tours.vntpoint.com/siue/#/stop/1
    • UIS investigation
      • Martin Doherty will ask UIS about availability and pricing for 2026.
    • We need at least a third option if not more.
      • Among all regions, more prefer midwest. All other things being equal, we ought to prefer midwest.
      • Martin Doherty will ask people to help with venue research.
      • Consider:
        • University of Missouri
        • Oakland University in Michigan
        • Spring Arbor in Michigan
        • University of Illinois Champaign Urbana – Likely too far from airports in Chicago or St. Louis
    • All need to think about how we’ll conduct the venue vote. Who is eligible to vote? How do we collect votes?
  • Next meeting – 2 weeks, Wednesday 9/17

8/21/25

Attendees: Chris, Ron, Jay, Martin, Peter

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Review feedback from last town hall meeting.
    • 240 views on stream.
  • Review venue survey results. Are there any themes or new considerations to discuss? What’s needed to publish these results? What’s our timeframe and plan for selecting a venue?
    • Venue Questionnaire Summary 2026.docx
    • UIS and SIUE are leading options, per the above survey. We’d like three good candidates for further investigation and eventual community review.
    • Next steps:
  • Release results and Jay’s summary on Monday.
    • The planning committee will review the survey and identify three leading candidates. We (or community members) will investigate and collect information based on our published venue criteria.
    • Planning committee will present to community and put to a community vote.
  • Do we want to continue selling shirts through Javier or move to our own store?
    • We’ll move all KansasFest shirts to the KansasFest managed store.

8/8/25

Attendees: Peter, Chris, Ron, Martin

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Town hall meeting preparation: Town Hall Notes – Post KFest – August 2025
  • Venue selection survey will close August 17 to allow selection process and investigation to proceed.

7/23/25

Attendees: Jay, Javier, Ron, Peter

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Ron is uploading presentations now. They’re unlisted and ready for review.
  • The #suggestions channel needs attention, and some unkind things were said. Committee members should review comments. Chris is privately responding to concerns and moderation requests.
  • Javier is stepping down from KansasFest committee.
  • Jay reposted call for venue.
  • Next meeting in 2 weeks.

7/16/25

Attendees: Peter, Ron, Martin, Jay, Chris

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Sessions
    • Review and adjust schedule
      • Jozaitis had to cancel. Just move up the last session on Sunday.
    • Do we have contact with all presenters? Do we have the expected media?
      • Just missing a couple
    • Are bumpers/shorts/vendor slides ready?
      • We need an “intro” video.
    • Roles during event
      • Question Moderator: (Chris and Peter) Monitor Discord and copy questions to the YT stream. Moderate YT stream comments.
      • Emcee: (Jay) Introduce presenters. Enforce schedule. Tag and read questions for presenter within StreamYard. Moderate YT stream comments.
      • StreamYard Master: (Ron) Start/stop videos. Manage presenters joining/leaving the stream. Manage hot mics. Tag questions for presenters within StreamYard.
      • Discord Moderator (committee): Step in if conversations on Discord become inappropriate or off-topic.
      • Free Range Wrangler (Martin): 
      • Presenter: StreamYard during your presentation. The moderator delivers questions to you through StreamYard. The moderator manages playing pre-recorded videos unless you ask otherwise.
      • Attendee: Watch on a YouTube livestream. For the sake of simplicity and ensure that questions are preserved for review of the presenter, all questions will need to be made via Discord.
  • Peter Neubauer will send Chris Torrence the pin pictures.
  • HackFest – Is it going well? Any support needed? Seems to be going well.
    • Judges – Mark Long, Akshay Gupta, Forrest Lowe
  • Introduction (each day) – Who’s doing it? What are the topics?
    • Committee Member Introductions
    • Highlights of the Day
    • Join Discord. Submit questions in Discord.
    • Code of Conduct
    • Schedule location
    • Attendee count and location summary
    • Presenters must join StreamYard 15 minutes before your scheduled time. DM us on Discord or e-mail if you have trouble.
    • Pin discount code.
    • HackFest reminder on Friday night
  • Peter Neubauer will send daily reminder e-mails with stream links.
  • State of KansasFest – Peter will lead, but all committee members should be in StreamYard and ready to respond.
    • Outline:
      • Review current committee membership. Invite anybody interested in joining to contact us.
      • Commitment on return to in-person
        • Show venue submission
        • Link to venue form and criteria
        • Highlight inclusive location and dedicated event space as priorities
        • Discuss selected results from last year’s community survey, but we are now focusing on building the future.
      • Commitment on continued virtual event
      • Museum and Archiving are secondary goals but remain part of our mission. We need partners.
      • Ongoing town halls as topics and dictate.
      • Financial overview – profit and loss
  • Next meeting – Jul 23, 2025
  • Approve minutes – approved

7/9/25

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

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Sessions
    • Review/update schedule.
    • Chris Torrence is checking with Kindig on Mauro interview readiness and duration.
    • Some presenters have not confirmed. Martin Doherty is continuing the check and asked for anybody with existing contact.
    • David Schmenk will run his own video, so he can start/stop it.
    • We need a committee only test beforehand. We need to verify maximum video duration – it looks like 10 minutes/video unless we get the Business Plan (price unknown). Ask Ron if we’re missing something or need something else. Committee practice session at 8pm ET Jul 10, 2025.
    • When is our practice session for presenters? Who’s available to support?
      • Martin will coordinate with Ron for a couple of one-hour sessions next week
    • We need a list of bumpers/shorts for filling breaks. Adds tabs to track this in the Schedule 2025.
  • Peter has nominated Martin for the Secretary position.
    • Other nominees?
    • Vote – All present voted for Martin.
  • HackFest
    • Who will run? – Chris will put out call for judges. Prefer a lead judge who has a programming background and possibly has done HackFest in the past
    • How many prizes? – Look through past minutes for prize list.
    • When does it start? – Wednesday morning (8am CT?) thru Saturday afternoon (5pm CT?)
  • Emails to attendees – Peter must not forget to cross-post to e-mail and Facebook
    • HackFest – public
    • YouTube links – email with all links, per day emails
    • Chris marked all attendee orders as “completed”, so we don’t forget til next year
    • Pins – $5/each plus shipping, $5 coupon code
    • Presenter test session and StreamYard links
  • Think about getting more committee members
  • Next meeting – Jul 16, 2025
  • Approve minutes – approved

7/2/25

Attendees: Jay, Chris, Martin

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Followup from Town Hall 
  • Received the Woz stickers – Chris will work on KFest 2025 store page
  • Woz artwork on other items like posters, mouse pads, etc. – put up in KFest store – yes, Jordan is good with this
  • HackFest contest (Probably need to post ASAP)
    • Who will run?
    • How many prizes?
    • When does it start?
  • Discord
    • Need to send out the Discord invite to attendees
    • Need to add new channels – Chris will do
    • Send out invite – do we need people to agree to code of conduct via the discord key, and how do we set up? Chris will see about this
  • Other prizes & contests during KFest
    • Jay will give out his prize during his talk
  • All need to select things for the Classic Rewind playlist
  • Need to post schedule soon – Posted
    • One talk cancelled on Sunday afternoon, bumped up the other talks
    • Martin has been sending out tickle emails to speakers to confirm date/times
  • Consider releasing old survey results after KFest 2025
  • Already have 15 responses to our short venue survey
  • Next meeting – Jul 9, 2025
  • Approve minutes – approved

6/25/25

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

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Sessions
    • D.B. interview recorded! He may or may not be available for questions.
    • Calendar
      • Peter will update website with calendar.
      • Martin will e-mail attendees with their time slots.
    • All need to select things for the Classic Rewind playlist.
    • Bumpers/Ads
    • Need to publish Discord invitation
  • Artwork
    • Peter submitted for pin quotes and is awaiting reply from the vendor (https://lapelpins.com/).
    • Javier – Is the shirt available for purchase? – https://www.8bittees.com/product/i-need-you-for-kansasfest-2025-the-virtual-apple-ii-convention/
      • Chris will order t-shirts for Woz (who gave permission for the design).
      • Chris has updated the link on our website.
      • Acknowledge Jordan Graham. (“commission”)
    • Are stickers taken care of? Chris will order tonight – done
    • Peter still needs to order plaques.
  • Town Hall Prep
    • Need to publicize town hall. Ron will setup art and generate link. Peter will send it out.
    • Peter will turn on YouTube “subscribed for at least 5 minutes to comment”. 
  • Roger Wagner (Chris) – Delayed again to next meeting.
    • 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 – Jul 2, 2025
  • Approve minutes – approved

6/18/25

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

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Peter Neubauer will reach out to Kirk, James, and Vince about their absence from recent meetings.
  • INIT.HELLO posted a nice interview promoting their event: Let’s talk about INIT HELLO w/ Cat and Paul (July 26–27, 2025)!
  • Artwork
    • Chris is waiting for a courtesy reply about the artwork.
    • Chris Torrence will post artwork to our Drive. – Done
    • Shirts – Javier Rivera will release shirt on his website.
    • Stickers
      • Chris will order. Consider https://www.standoutstickers.com/ or StickerGiant.
    • Pins
      • Peter Neubauer will get quote for pin with Woz artwork.
      • Peter Neubauer will get quote for pin with Chris’s artwork and year.
    • Plaques – Peter Neubauer will order with Woz artwork.
    • Ron and Javier Rivera will setup StreamYard artwork.
    • Feelie packages with 2025 pin and sticker will be available in our store. Offer coupon code to attendees, probably $5. Price to be determined based on pin cost.
  • Public engagements
    • Update posts leading up to event (Peter Neubauer)
      • Featured speakers
      • Sessions highlights
      • Shirts
      • Practical login details
    • Moderated town hall meeting –  scheduled Friday, June 27 at 7pm CT (Peter Neubauer)
      • Accept video, audio, and questions live. We don’t have to answer all the questions during mtg, and we can address other questions later. Set tone for a productive and positive discussion.
      • We’ll need publicity.
      • Ron and Javier will setup session and branding on KFest Streamyard.
    • Reviewed venue search “pre-survey”. Looks good for release. (Jay Graham)
  • Sessions
    • Review draft schedule from Martin Doherty. All need to review order of speakers.
    • What’s happening on Friday? “Rewind” replaying old recordings? Roundtable?
    • Peter Neubauer setup StreamYard account. When would we like to schedule practice sessions for both ourselves and presenters?
    • We’ll meet Sunday 2pm CT for a StreamYard internal test.
  • Roger Wagner (Chris) – Delayed again to next meeting.
    • 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 – Jun 25, 2025
  • Approve minutes – Approved – yes! ?

6/11/25

Attendees: Peter, Ron, Martin, Jay, Chris

Agenda and Minutes:

  • Public engagements
    • Update posts leading up to event
    • Moderated town hall meeting – tentatively scheduled June 30
    • Venue search channel on Discord
    • Venue search town hall meeting –  probably after event, likely leading to venue poll later among top candidates
      • Ron recommends a shorter “pre-survey” Google Form with an easy way for submit venue candidates. Form should include name, past attendance at KFest to understand culture, venue name, and a paragraph level detail about a proposal. (Jay Graham will make first pass with Google Forms.)
  • Artwork
    • Update from Jordan – Yes. Jay shared and it looks great.
    • Need to get permission (Chris has sent email)
    • Shirts, posters, pins, stickers
      • Do we like Chris pin artwork? – Yes. Chris Torrence will send artwork to Peter Neubauer, and Peter Neubauer will order.
    • Juiced.GS ad (Friday, Jun 13, 2025 – Chris can put together if we have hi-res artwork)
      • Questions for Jay – will artwork already have text? – yes
      • Can we get artwork as a photoshop file with separate layers for text, in case we need to edit or move around stuff? – yes, Jay 
      • Peter Neubauer will pay Ken.
  • Sessions
    • Draft text of email to notify session acceptance
    • Have acceptance notices been sent?
      • No … tonight if possible
    • Review draft schedule?
    • Who’s planning Friday night “Rewind”?
    • Practice sessions for presenters with StreamYard. We accept questions via Discord and copy to YouTube. StreamYard then permits organizing/starring questions from YouTube.
    • Peter Neubauer will sign up KansasFest for StreamYard. 
  • Roger Wagner (Chris) – Delay until next meeting.
    • 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
  • Approve minutes

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