Minutes of the Open General Meeting of the BCTCS

The meeting opened at 17:30.

Quorum: The meeting was recognised as quorate, there being present the President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the BCTCS, the Local Organiser for BCTCS 15, and at least ten other members of the BCTCS.

Previous minutes: The minutes of the Open General Meeting held at BCTCS 15 were approved.

President's report:

• Glasgow had confirmed that they would host BCTCS 17.
• The issue of JUCS associated with BCTCS 15 was scheduled to appear in May 2000. There had been 14 submissions, of which 6 were accepted. The President as editor thanked all the referees. Mike Paterson asked how the editors of BCTCS special issues were chosen: the President answered that the local organizers would be the editors.

Treasurer's report: The Colloquium currently had a balance of £2651, with a further £600 held as a float by Glasgow.

Elections to Organising Committee Posts:

• Postgraduate Student Representative. Paul Sant (proposed Martyn Amos, seconded Alan Gibbons) was elected unopposed.

EATCS subscriptions: There was a discussion about the inclusion of EATCS subscriptions in the BCTCS registration fee. Alan Gibbons presented arguments for this practice; although there had been administrative problems, we should continue it and commit ourselves once again. Paul Dunne said that the EATCS were concerned about the drop in subscriptions: only 15 were obtained at Keele. Julian Bradfield suggested that the fee could be replaced by a surcharge for non-EATCS members; Stephan Reiff said this would be too burdensome for local organizers. Rick Thomas urged that the EATCS should handle subscriptions accurately, and avoid the common problem of duplicated membership. After the discussion, the meeting resolved that the BCTCS would continue to include the EATCS subscription in its registration fee.

Report on arrangements for BCTCS 17, Glasgow 2001: Stephan Reiff reported that the meeting would be held 9-12 April 2001, in the Kelvin Conference Centre. Costs should be lower than this year; he anticipated a fee of around £120 for students and £200 for others; there would also be an option for en-suite accommodation, at a surcharge. The provisional list of invited speakers was: Alexander Razborov, Simon Peyton-Jones, Ursula Martin, Muffy Calder.

Choice of host for BCTCS 18: The President asked for expressions of interest. A tentative expression came from KCL, and Birmingham was also suggested as a possibility. The President would investigate the possibilities.

Any other business: Rick Thomas asked why abstracts of talks for the last BCTCS had not appeared in the EATCS bulletin. This was an oversight, and abstracts would continue to appear there.

Closure:The meeting closed at 18:15.

Julian Bradfield.
Secretary: BCTCS Organising Committee