[SIGCIS-Members] Thanks to everyone -- the SIGCIS lunch at SHOT was a big success

[Thomas Haigh]

Hello everyone,

I had a great time at SHOT in Pittsburgh last weekend, and hope you did too.
It was a very important meeting for SIGCIS as we successfully held our first
annual one day workshop, sponsored two sessions on the main program, and
presented the Computer History Museum book prize
(http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node/56) for the first time. Look for separate
reports on those activities soon.

However I have been getting some messages from people eager to know how what
the final tally was from our official lunch meeting. 

For those of you who have not yet been able to attend one, our annual lunch
meetings at the main SHOT conference are a combination of informal mingling,
announcements, introductions of new members, presentation of prizes and
grants and annual general meeting. SIGCIS has no dues, so we rely on
donations made at the lunch and the proceeds from our auction of donated
history of computing books to cover our annual operating expenses.

We had 53 registered guests for the lunch. They set a new fundraising record
for SIGCIS (and I suspect for any SHOT SIG). This was thanks in large part
to the energy and enthusiasm of David Anderson as auctioneer and the
generosity of MIT Press (in the person of Margurite Avery) in providing a
large consignment of books to supplement those carried by our individual
members). The auction is great fun, helps make people aware of new titles,
and sometimes offers some bargains. The out of print CBI/MIT reprint edition
of Wilkes, Wheeler and Gill, which is unavailable via Amazon for any price,
sold for just $35! (The only option Amazon does have right now is $400 for
the first edition).

MONEY RAISED from the 2009 MEETING:

We raised a total of $1,117. That handsomely beat our target of $1,000 and
was a significant advance over previous years (approx $830 in 2008, $360 in
2007, and $150 in 2006). Of that total about $350 was placed into the money
cup as general donations, and the remainder came from the book auction. SHOT
matches the first $300 of expenditure by the SIGs, which gives us a total
income regular income of $1,417 (not counting capital contributions to the
Mahoney Fund).

MONEY SPENT for the 2009 MEETING:

This year we have spent:

. $800 on making four MIT Press/Michael S. Mahoney supplemental travel
grants (http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node/55) of $200 each to graduate students
and other needy scholars (Stephen Patnode, Evan Koblentz, Christopher
McDonald, Hansen Hsu).
. $400 on coffee for the SIGCIS workshop (two coffee breaks x 40 people x $5
a person!). 
. $35 to print the poster we were asked to display at the new "Meet the
SIGs" coffee break
. $150 (estimate - we didn't get the total yet) to subsidize graduate
student registration for the SIGCIS lunch

So we spent about $1,385 total. The great thing about being part of SHOT is
that we did not have to pay for the meeting rooms or projectors we used for
the workshop, or to invest the time needed to handle the logistics for a
free standing meeting. So we can accomplish a great deal on a financial base
that, while growing, is still negligible. Your money goes further with
SIGCIS! 

SUMMARY:

Our income covered the outgoings with a few dollars left to add to the
account. So we successfully executed our plans for the workshop, book prize,
and travel grants without having to dip into the Mahoney Fund ($2,550 as of
September) to support the workshop or use up the surplus ($1,600) we'd saved
in our operating account from previous years. As Mr Micawber memorably
observed in David Copperfield: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual
expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual
income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result
misery."

If you were not able to attend the meeting but would like to ensure the
SIG's continuing happiness in years to come, you might consider making an
online donation to the Mahoney Fund. http://www.sigcis.org/?q=mahoney. If
you were at the meeting then my thanks again for making it another record
breaking year. 

Best wishes,

Tom Haigh
www.tomandmaria.com/tom