The GAMA meeting that happened yesterday - Does anyone know hints or rumors of what happened there yesterday?
Gamer friends on Facebook are chatting about some unidentified 'bad thing' that happened at a 5 hour GAMA meeting yesterday.
Anyone have details?
- Ed C.
Only thing I could find online was in this article (https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/41228/gama-board-calls-membership-meeting) from August:
QuoteThe GAMA Board of Directors has called for a Special Membership Meeting after narrowly voting to oust Executive Director John Ward at the end of his current contract in February. The vote was to not renew Ward's contract when it expires.
The special meeting was called "to get the input and feedback of the membership in deciding the path forward, whether that is a new contract, or a new ED," according to GAMA board member and Secretary Brian Dalrymple. "The vote was against," Dalrymple told ICv2, "but it was a narrow decision and this board likes to operate with consensus," so is seeking additional feedback. The Special Membership Meeting will be held on September 24 at 1 ET in Columbus, Ohio. Members may also attend by teleconference.
Ward was hired as Executive Director in 2009 (see "GAMA Goes Outside for New ED"), at a time when the organization's shows and finances were in decline.
There is an article on ICv2 from today: https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/41442/gama-executive-director-john-ward-gets-vote-confidence
Also a second article: https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/41431/rolling-initiative-some-thoughts-gama-ed-john-ward-todays-membership-meeting
Seems like typical petty politics. The only area it would even quasi-fit into the power politics bracket would be in the second article Ras linked with the mention of a member's "business being threatened" -- at that point, you're getting into "really think before you pull the trigger" turf and I doubt the people on this trade board are the types to think like that, which is why all this fucking drama is also linked to in that same article.
Ahhh, petty politics. For people who have no real money and no real power in real life!
Quote from: Spinachcat;1057829Five hour meeting and no witch hunt or meltdowns! FAIL!
Ya, there was a meltdown. Mike Webb from Alliance resigned from the Board of Directors, and at the special Board meeting there was a non-binding vote of confidence from the membership of GAMA FOR renewing John Ward's contract. Clearly the Board of Directors of GAMA and the rank and file are not seeing eye-to-eye.
Ima speculate here and say that John is being punitively punished by the Board for his decision to remove the Writer of Guest of Honor
Larry Correia back in June. I don't know if they are related however Ms. Angela Ward was ousted in July from her position as Deputy Director of GAMA by the Board of Directors.
In any typical American corporate organization, you have the Board of Directors, and the rank & file of stockholders otherwise known as members. In order to have a vote be binding the stockholders holding the majority of stock or ownership in a company need to vote in the majority for a motion (such as providing John Ward with a new contract). In this case, that clearly did not happen. What did happen was the majority of GAMA members present at the meeting yesterday voted 65%-35% to retain John Ward. That would be the majority of members (but not the majority of stockholders) voting against the Board of Directors to retain him or offer him a new contract. The Board may win the battle, and oust John Ward, but they will lose the support of the rank and file of their membership, who just happens to consist of all those warm bodies that fill up retail booths at the GAMA trade shows.
Under his leadership, Origins has grown to see an average annual attendance of 10-13,000 to well over 30,000, almost triple in the last decade. He was selected from outside of the gamer community (he is an ex-cop) to run GAMA when Origins was in a steep decline of attendance after GenCon moved to Indianapolis in 2003. Origins is stable, and by all acoounts a great mid-sized gaming convention, large enough to be interesting, but small enough to really avoid the worst problems of the monster conventions like GenCon, DragonCon, Spiel, and San Diego Comic Con.
My recommendation is that they offer John a new contract, and reinstate Angela unless there is some overriding legal concern which would prohibit them from doing so, a concern such as a pending criminal or civil matter either of the two might possibly face that would impact GAMA or Origins.
Also secret Board meetings are bullshit and should be outlawed from corporate politics, Corporations should conduct business transparently to foster trust and goodwill amongst the rank and file members. This last comment is just my opinion. Also glad at the moment about my decision, that I did not choose to join GAMA, since they are obviously being railroaded by a Board of Directors that don't care.
Also, the President, Brissaud, should totally be immediately fired for stepping on a lowly security guard who was just doing their job properly, ensuring that no one without a show badge got into the dealer hall. You can always tell the quality of a leader by how they treat the little people, and in this case he deserves the exact same treatment that he gave to the guard. If I was still a security chief at the stadium/event venue, I would have had him arrested for assault. I'm in complete agreement with Mike Webb on this...
It's the same as fitness and martial arts. It's hilarious.