Join us for our 43rd Anniversary!

It's KaCSFFS's birthday! 
WHAT: Monthly open Board of Directors and General Membership Meetings
WHERE: The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64111
WHEN: This Saturday, July 19, 2014.
BoD: 5:30 p.m., Regular meeting: 7:00 p.m.
Appropriately for an organization that has endured this long, our program is a mixture of past and future!

Let us Eat Cake!
The July meeting is our 43rd anniversary meeting. Thus, the food theme is birthday cake!  Please coordinate on KAXFEN if you're planning to bring a birthday cake for KaCSFFS, smaller cakes, or that other longtime birthday staple, ice cream.  If it's ice cream, might want to pack it in ice and bring it in a cooler, because freezer space in the Writers Place's kitchen is really limited.

The Yahoo-to-Google Migration

We keep promising, and this month it looks as if the move from the KAXFEN list on Yahoo to a dedicated KaCSFFS Google Group is really going to happen! We will take some time before the regular business meeting for an orientation.

Ty Gephardt and Kristina Hiner have spearheaded the effort, and will give a how-to-interface presentation on a decision we voted for in May.

43rd Anniversary Retrospective
After the business meeting, Ken Keller also will give a short presentation of some images from 1971, the first year the club was in existence, along with commentary and background.  As one of the Founders and the current President, it would be hard to find a more ideal person to do this.  Many thanks to Terry Matz, who also contributed to this event!

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to the "Females' Corner" website for the birthday candles image, and to the blog "Work it out Bitch" for the ice cream and cake image. The Google Groups logo is from an article on how to create a Google Group from the All India Daily website.

Annual KaCSFFS (Indoor) Picnic June 21!

Summertime, and the Picnic is Indoors . . . 
Who: All KaCSFFS Members and Friends are invited!
What: Annual KaCSFFS Picnic meeting
When: Saturday, June 21, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. (Setup starts 6:00)
Where: Indoors at The Writers Place
Why: Because we like to party together!
How: With good food, drink, and friends.

The 2013 picnic's theme was "Camp KaCSFFS," held at The Writers Place.

The KaCSFFS Picnic tradition goes back decades. When the club and all its members were young fen just starting out (and when air conditioning was not as ubiquitous as it is today), we often went to local parks for food, fun, and our June meeting.

Now that we are a multi-generational group, however, we've moved the party indoors so everyone can freely attend without adverse health consequences. 

The food is pot-luck: everyone brings some kind of "picnic-appropriate" food.  KaCSFFS club funds go for the meat (usually hot dogs and hamburgers) and buns, plus paper plates, cups, tableware, and napkins. If you have special needs, let us know or feel free to bring your own.  We can set up grills outside, either on the front porch or on the lawn.

Don Mull and Kristina Hiner talk near one of the 2013 food tables.

Members bring everything else: side dishes, desserts, condiments, drinks, chips--we need it all!  Coordinating the picnic this year is President Ken Keller. Please let him know what food you want/plan to bring, before we have everyone show up and discover we all brought nothing but pie or potato salad.

Going Google!
Learn about our new Google Group in June!  We have been promised an orientation presentation, so all members present will know about the features and possibilities of our new members-only organizational group. This blog recently posted an overview with an informational video.

IMAGE CREDITS: The "Picnic" lettering is from RH Events "Company Picnic Themes" page.  The photos from the 2013 Picnic meeting are by Jan S. Gephardt.

KaCSFFS will move to Google from Yahoo

Stand by for the move to Google Groups!

A quorum of current members showed up at the May KaCSFFS meeting to consider, discuss, and vote on the question of whether to migrate our main organizational information from the KAXFEN group on Yahoo Groups a new list on Google Groups.

Ultimately, the vote was overwhelmingly in favor. The changeover will happen after we've had a chance to get an orientation about how the listserv works.

Here is a video on the various functions of Google Groups:

Come to the June meeting, June 21, 2014, for a complete orientation presentation!

IMAGE CREDITS: The Google Groups logo is from the "Art for Obama" website. The YouTube video is courtesy of Art House Groups.

May 17, 2014 KaCSFFS Meeting!

May Meeting

What:
May KaCSFFS Meeting
Where:

The Writers Place, 

3607 Pennsylvania Ave.

Kansas City, MO 64111

When: 
Saturday, May 17, 2014 

No Board meeting!!!!!
Business meeting: 7:00 p.m. (Pre-meeting at 6:30pm)
Food Theme:Samples of Memorial Day food. What brings back those old family memories?
Be thinking of what you want to bring to the June Picnic!

ConQuesT 45 is little over a week away!
If you haven't registered, please ACT NOW! 
Cut off is, TODAY! May 15 at 11:59pm for both Pre-Reg and Room Reservations!
The Room rate is $109/night + tax. The block dates run from Thursday, May 22nd through Monday, May 26th 2014.

Current Pre-reg stands at:

• $50 - 3 day Adult
• $45 - 3 day Military (with military id)
• $20 - 3 day child (6-12 years old)
• Prices will increase after tonight by $10! Register Now!

Don't forget to volunteer! It helps the convention and you get a chance to see the convention like most never have or will.

MAIN PROGRAMMING: Interview with Bryan Thomas Schmidt!

Our May meeting program will have a literary flare: Newly elected president of KaCSFFS, Ken Keller, will be interviewing science fiction editor, anthologist, and writer (ed: KaCSFFS member and contributor of this blog.) Bryan Thomas Schmidt! Learn what it takes to be a writer and editor in today's digital age.

Go check out BTS's website and blog at bryanthomasschmidt.net, and make sure to see what he's selling at Amazon.

Business Meeting!
There will be a normal business meeting following this month's main programming. 

It is highly recommended that all paid dues members attend this meeting. We will be considering the future of online club communications by voting on leaving YahooGroups for Google Groups.

Please discuss this topic on the current (and still active) KAXFEN Yahoo Group. Things to consider:

• Ramifications of the move
• Viability of the move
• What will be gained
• What will be lost
• Share personal experiences with both systems 
• Person impressions of Google Groups? 

The business meeting will include our usual monthly updates and announcements session. Please stick around to see what the club is up to and what cool things members are working on!



Plan now to attend the June Picnic Meeting!
Please be thinking of food to bring and fun activities. There will be presentation on the move to Google (if approved in the May meeting) and what is to be expected once the proposed move happens.

Please note that the June meeting is once again on our regular day, the third Saturday of the month (in this case June 21, 2014), full club meeting at 7:00 p.m.

IMAGE CREDITS: The image of The Writers Place is from the Writers Place website. The photo of Bryan Thomas Schmidt is from his website Bryanthomasschmidt.net. All reproductions of the above photos are © their respective owners and should not be reproduced without their permission.