Board Meeting Report and General Assembly News

By: Peter Proell

Branding guidelines, newsletter, moving of TYPO3.org mail server, inactive T3A members, TYPO3 relaunch, new board positions, new T3A structure, BCC, honorary president, upcoming

Hey everybody,

after a pause here in the „boarding, please!“ blog in February (because there was nothing new to report) we have quite some news this time. Besides that we had a board meeting this Friday, we also had the question & answer session on Friday afternoon, a combined steering committee and board conference (my favorite “Booskop”) on Saturday morning and finally the annual general assembly in the afternoon. You can tell that there must be some news ;-).

Branding guidelines

after we had the first drafts end of last year and gathered quite some feedback we are currently working on the second draft of the branding guidelines. These shall help to protect the brand and tell how to use it in a way that it is good for the users and for the project. So work in progress. The second draft is planned to be done by the April board conference and will than be presented there for a second feedback loop.

Newsletter

Finally the T3A newsletter is about to be ready. The first issue has to be filled with news now. So if your team has something T3A or TYPO3 related that might fit in there, please contact Soeren (press(at)typo3.org). Soeren also is looking for volunteers that help writing press releases. If you feel save in the English language and if you have some press experience, please also contact Soeren.

Moving of TYPO3.org mail server

In the very near future we will move the @typo3.org mailing addresses to a new server and a new provider. So if you are a holder of an @typo3.org mail address, Gina might contact you the next few weeks to tell you a new password and some details about the moving procedure. Also we are cleaning up the address database as many people that have worked in T3A positions but do no longer still hold a @typo3.org address. As these addresses are only meant to be for T3A official use we will revoke old addresses. If you are a holder of an official address but not in an official position anymore, Gina will also contact you about the closing of your account. If you have further questions, please contact me (info(at)typo3.org).

Inactive T3A members

Our current system for members is outdated and somewhat complicated in terms of the annual renewal of the membership. Because of this many members got inactive. We already followed up on a lot of these inactive members in 2009 and also in 2010 Gina will follow up these inactive members to reactivate them again. Additionally the modus of the annual renewal procedure will change when we launch the new TYPO3 site this year. The renewal will take place automatically and the invoice will be sent to you via email automatically, too. More details about these changes will follow.

TYPO3 relaunch

The launch of the new TYPO3 website is getting closer. The design is about to be ready and the final prove by the board will take place in the next board meeting. After that the implementation of content will start. The relaunch should be done during the second/third quarter of this year.

So far from the board meeting and these are the breaking news from the CoSCoB and the general assembly:

New board positions

This year three of the six board positions have to be voted upon. That was the chairman, the vice-chairman and the secretary. Kasper, who was chairman up to now resigned as he concentrates on his university studies. Jürgen Egeling the former vice chairman was elected as the new chairman. The new vice chair(wo)man is Gina Steiner (she was the former secretary) and the new guy on board is Mario Rimann. He is voted as our new secretary. Concrats to all of you and I am looking forward to working with you throughout the next year!

New T3A structure

In the CoSCoB session we discussed a lot the current structure and the working processes in the board as well as the steering committee and especially in the cooperation of these two bodies. The outcome is a modified structure and modified voting rights. The new structure now has to find it's way to the bylaws and details have to be fixed. Count on a detailed report after the May CoSCoB which will take place in Munich.

BCC

The most thrilling changes in the T3A structure are not made within the board or the steering committee but by creating a new official body. The BCC, that is the business control committee. This will be elected by all supporting members of the T3A and will control and check the work and finances of the board and steering committee as well as of all other official bodies of the T3A. Lots of details still have to be fixed but the BCC will be voted in 2010 the first time. More news to come after the May CoSCoB.

Honorary president

As Kasper resigned from his positions in the board and the steering committee he was elected to be our first and only honorary president of the TYPO3 Association. He will still be around, visiting the events like T3DD and T3CON, presenting the Kasper's podKasts and doing the video recordings and therefore stay in touch with the TYPO3 community and the project.

Upcoming?

Lots of work is right in front of us. Relaunch, new T3A bylaws to integrate the structural changes as well as the new BCC, the second draft of the branding guidelines and moving of the mailing server, just to name some view tasks. There are a lot more and we really need some help here. If you are willing to help you are invited to get in touch with me at info(at)typo3.org: "Boarding, please!"

All the best and greetings from Hamburg (actually from an ICE train on my way to Munich)

Peter