I’m pleased to report that the IGDA has enacted Bylaw amendments that I helped recommend as part of the task force I belonged to back in August.

Essentially the changes mean that the process of removing a Board member is clearer and easier. It requires a smaller quorum to occur (5% instead of 10%), and a Special Meeting of the members is now more clearly defined to be an asynchronous event happening over the Internet.

There’s more detail in the blog post, and of course you can always read the Bylaws.

The Special Member Meeting Task Force, which was convened on August 5 to come up with a set of recommendations for how the IGDA should carry out Special Meetings, submitted its recommendations to the Board of Directors on Friday. As Executive Director Joshua Caulfield said in an email to members today, the general outline of the process we recommended is an asynchronous meeting (meaning: moderated online discussions followed by an online vote). The reason we chose this format is that it seemed like the most inclusive format for members who cannot make it to a specific place at a specific time for a physical meeting.

There’s a whole lot more to it, but the bottom line is that I feel like we put together a good set of recommendations. I hope the Board acts quickly in accepting our recommendations and commences the upcoming Special Meeting as soon as possible.

In an email that went out this morning to IGDA members, it was announced that I am on a Task Force to determine how to hold special member meetings. While this Task Force was put together in response to the upcoming meeting to vote on the removal of Tim Langdell from the IGDA Board of Directors, I want to clarify that our purpose and goal as a Task Force is to come up with a set of guidelines for running all future special membership meetings, not just this one.

I’m delighted to be working with a great group of people on this. In less than 48 hours we’ve already had substantive and productive discussion on the matter. I think we’re going to move very quickly on coming up with a set of recommendations to the Board.

If you have questions about how things are proceeding, do not hesitate to contact me. Leaving comments on this blog post is probably the best method as I can collect everthing in one place. I will do my best to respond, and I will relay any concerns of members to the Task Force itself. Sadly, I cannot comment on the specifics of our deliberations until we release our report publicly — this confidentiality was not my decision, but I have agreed to it because I feel that it is in the best interest of the IGDA to get this done as quickly and fairly as possible so that we can hold the special meeting itself.

Since the email system still seems broken (I am not receiving any of the emails sent to all IGDA members), I am reproducing this morning’s email below:

Dear IGDA Members,

As many of you are aware, the IGDA website was recently exploited to send emails to members. This use of private data occurred in the context of a group’s efforts to gain signatures for a petition. The day after the exploit we received the petition with signatures. The method used to gain these signatures has complicated an already complex situation. We have heard from those who feel they were justified in taking such measures, those who are concerned their privacy was violated, and many other perspectives, opinions, and concerns.

The debate over the issues at hand has had a negative impact on the association, and our ability to move forward on member programs and initiatives. Rather than continue a public and internal discourse on the circumstances and validity of the petition, Bob Bates and I have decided that the least damaging approach for the organization is to call a special membership meeting, as the co-Chairs may do as per the by-laws.

Since the IGDA does not yet have a policy for how to hold special membership meetings, at our Aug 5th meeting the Board chartered a Task Force comprised of IGDA Board members Tom Buscaglia and Coray Seifert, and at large members Darius Kazemi, Dustin Clingman and Brian Robbins, with the Executive Director acting in an advisory role to the Taskforce. The Taskforce will evaluate and recommend a policy regarding the methodology and procedures for holding special meetings of the membership of the IGDA, that serves the intent of the by-laws.

Once this course of action is established, it will be possible to fix the other details of the meeting, which needs to occur at least 35 days after the date is announced. We all share the goals of a fair and professional process that can let our organization move beyond this controversy, and I appreciate your patience as we work out the details.

Thank you,
Tobi Saulnier
Co-Chair
IGDA