Event and Trade: January 5, 2024

Welcome, Introductions, and Announcements (5 minutes)
      Welcome to 2024 (an election year)!
1.   Old Business (45 minutes)
    1.   Membership Meeting (Confirming still 2/1/24) and February Day on the Hill (2/6/24)
    --   Update on logistics (Ross)
    --   Date is actually 2/1. There is an Exec meeting on Monday to confirm everything. Ross to send out official invites after that.
    --   Ross concerned about all of the things that need to get done to do votes, etc.
        Has meeting space downtown (HofD office). People can park there prior to going to Capitol. Ross can shuttle in his van or there is bus service.
        Ross has built database of legislators with cross reference to members so that they can talk to their specific reps. Needs help with setting up meetings, if that’s what we are going to do. Holly can help with this?
        Ross’s basic idea:
            Get people to Oly.
            Holly to do primer on how to talk to reps (this can happen at Sec Hobbs office)
            Then series of meetings with lawmakers (everyone’s got two reps and a senator!) Need to get these set up ASAP.
            Game night in capitol.5pm to 7pm
            Possible to have Membership meeting after and then have social time, or on hill?
        Proposed Message:
            We’re here, this is the industry
            Any policy initiatives? Ones that we support or are against?
            Come to our game night!
        Scheduling for Membership meeting is a bit of a challenge. How to maximize time?
            Do balloting online.
            Do announcements and appoint officers
            Keep it short
            Sec Hobbs office is available for a short membership meeting but no more than an hour.
        Invite coming from SoS office Friday or Monday for Day on Hill.
        <<Final-ish plan>>
            Briefing in morning at SoS office
            Meetings with legislators
            Lunch downtown (SoS office available for this)
            Meetings with legislators
            4pm Setup for Game Night
            5pm-7pm Game Night
    1.   Japan Trip:
    1.   Discussion/agreement on roles and responsibilities for trip (holdover from last meeting).
    2.   Update from workgroup (Mike)
        Many meetings with ArcLight.
        Issue of how to pay for booth? Stephanie is on it. Arclight is on holiday.
        Booth personnel
            Mike planning to bring Yvonne for demo-ing Lone Shark games.
            Shane from LS is coming to manage booth as per prior plan. Translators on site:
            Andy is willing to do some trafficking of issues with EN/JP.
            Stephanie has one additional person who can/will do this in exchange for dinner. : )
            Some games will be more challenging.
            Chris and Ross to connect on how to handle RPGs.
        STEP voucher program issues:
            Mike tried to submit on behalf of Lone Shark. Got approval for $2k, which isn’t enough to cover the booth management piece.
            The TGA needs to gather up a budget for itself and then submit a STEP grant app.
            Ross says TGA will submit STEP application and we can bundle together. This can fund Shane’s cost of travel. Ross will confirm with Exec Cmte and will have an answer by Monday.
            NOTE: STEP will only cover export of samples will not cover inventory for sales.
            ***Mike to create a budget for Shane and give to Ross and ***Ross will take it up to with the Exec Committee. Mike is happy to do the submission.
            Will STEP pay for lodging? No, but, they want to know your total expenses and they will only grant up to 75% of your total expenses. So be sure to put all expenses in! Mike is willing to help companies shepherd their apps through.
        Marketing Material: We’re going to need something for their program book. It is an important piece of work.
            What is our message?
            Sec. Hobbs’ office will approve and work with TGA to get messaging right.
            Stephanie to connect Mike/TGA Comms Team.
            There is a meeting with Patrick next week and this will come up.
        Visas: ***Mike to have a report for next meeting.
    3.   Update from Stephanie/Sec. Hobbs (if in attendance)
        Were still short two companies from the target of 6
        Some buttonholing opportunities at OrcaCon
        Flatout has not responded
        Ross feels Banana Chan and Flatout are the best targets.
        Violet Daisies hasn’t been contacted yet pending the others. ***Nicole to do some introductions.
        Mike: Submission site is still up, so any new applications can go through fast.
        Tentative calendar is created: ***Stephanie to share to the EAT channel.
        Stephanie requests help in setting up meetings. Embassy is expensive ($300/hr). Consensus that we can handle the setups within the game industry.
        ***Stephanie has connected with Michael Fowler (Tacoma WTC. Will be with on the entire trip) who can provide etiquette training. Hope to have a meeting with the traveling group in March in Tacoma.
    4.   Update on companies attending/committed (Nicole)
        Covered above ^
    5.   Update on cultural sensitivity training (Ross/Chris)
    6.   Sec. Hobbs Update:
        Make sure SOPs are written down so that we can do this again.
        ***Nicole to take this on. Ross asks that it be put into the Wiki. There is a section for this.
        Unity of Effort on the Gov’t side: If you need to talk to Commerce directly PLEASE go through Stephane. Don’t want to have mixed messaging/communications. SoS office is building out future missions and Steve wants the SoS office to be in the lead. (STEP grant process direct convos ok, but anything else with Commerce, SoS should be informed).
    7.   Next Steps
        See action items above ***^
1.   New Business (15 minutes)
1.   Trade Mission Meetings and Essen 2024 participation
    Ross planning to STEP application for Essen…BUT
    SoS is planning to create a Trade Mission for Essen, so we need to make sure that these efforts are coordinated. Steve notes there are some discussions already under way in Europe. Keep on simmer for now. Do not overwhelm Commerce.
GAMA: Mike is having some discussions with GAMA and they seem supportive of our work.
    Ross is willing to have the discussion, but it’s a little early. Ross wants to let the org form a bit more before starting these kinds of discussions. And get elected!
Commitments Review (5 minutes)
    Old Commitments Check:
    New Commitments Review:
Set Next Date (5 minutes)
    Calendar says January 19