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2026/27 Annual General Meeting Minutes

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held online on Monday 20th July at 8pm.

Committee Members

POSITIONAPPOINTEE
PresidentChris Ingold
Vice-PresidentFrancois Grobler
SecretaryStuart Bettiss
TreasurerMathew Utting
General MemberSonika Balyan
General MemberRodney Jones

Draft meeting minutes are below.

  1. Welcome
  2. Attendance, Apologies and Proxies

—————————————-

Attendees – Chris Ingold, Francois Grobler, Matthew Utting, Stuart Bettiss, Rodney Jones, Sonika Balyan, Jo Ingold.

Apologies – None

Proxies – None

  1. Quorum Check – 10% of members

Quorum is 10% of members – quorum was present – 7 of 43 current members attended.

  1. Acceptance of the previous AGM Minutes:

Previous  Melbourne Meeples AGM 2025-26 – Minutes from 21st July 2025 were read/presented:

  • Motion – Acceptance of the last AGM minutes held on 21st July 2025.

Moved by Chris Ingold and seconded by Francois Grobler. Motion passed.

  1. Ordinary Business
    1. 2025-2026 Committee Reports
      1. Presidents Report 2025/26

Chris Ingold presented the highlights of the President’s Report, noting that this had been issued in a recent newsletter to all members.

Main highlights of the year were:

  • Collaboration with other gaming groups around Melbourne to help deliver such events as the BGNO at Fed Square and the RU OK 2 Play day at Tatterson Pavillion, Keysborough.
  • Chris noted that the BGNO will not be taking place this year due to budget constraints, and that ACMI will advise if an alternative event will be run – but this means that there will be a financial hit to the Melbourne Meeples this year, however all of our other events will be stable.
  • Chris expressed a huge thank you to all current committee members and volunteers/event organisers such as Dani Solomon, Jen and Rod Florez, Jo Ingold, Sonika Balyan, Anneke Grobler, Chriss.O for their help and support throughout the year.
  1. Melbourne Meeples 2025-2026 Secretary’s Report

Stuart Bettiss presented the Secretary’s Report, with the key highlight’s being:

  • Memberships were stable, with only a drop of 2No – down from 108 to 106No in the 2025/26 membership year. Membership was made up of 6 Life members, 58 renewing members from 2024/25, 1 member renewing from prior years, 39 new members, and 2 memberships won as raffle prizes at our events.
  • Regular and annual events continue to be a success/well attended, with the BGNO and RU OK  2 Play events being a highlight, as well as some additional community/charity based events such as the Disability Expo in Werribee and the 300 Blankets event for people experiencing the risks of homelessness. 
  • We also introduced digital membership cards via FrontCover, which has been successful.
  • Stuart confirmed that currently 43 members have signed up for the 2026/27 membership year.
  1.  Melbourne Meeples Financial Statement 2026

Matthew Utting presented the 2026 Financial Statement as detailed in

the attached link/shown below:

Summary 

The 2025/26 period saw growth in Membership and Regular Events, but lower income from Annual Events due to moving from May in 2025 to August in 2026.

The association has cash reserves of $40,936.66 (up $5,792.24 as at 30 June 2025) with $0 liabilities.  

Meeples 2027/26 income and expenditure numbers

Notes: 

  • Annual Events includes flea markets (MBGM 2025 and MeepleCon). 
  • Annual Events are down in 2025/6 due to MBGM moving to August 2026 (rather than the previous May in 2025)
  • Charity includes all amounts collected for Evergreen Games. 
  • All fees (eg Square payment fees) are included in Other Expenditure. 
  • Storage for 2024/2025 was only for part of the year, for 2025/2026 was the full year
  • Games were valued using http://bgg.jsmackin.co.uk/ in AUD, using median method

Income from Membership has stayed stable from year to year.

This year saw Melbourne Meeples charitable contributions continue to increase. These amounts were to the Mind Australia, Good Friday Appeal and Cure Brain Cancer Foundation thanks to donations from attendees at MeepleCon, OzBunnyCon and Evergreen Games and supported by our retail, publishing and distributing partners.

The game library has grown to over 300 titles via donations and purchases.

Appendix A Assets

In main bank account as at 30 June 2026 was $38,311.75 (with secondary bank account holding $48.03), $2,029.47 (paypal) and $150.01 (square) with $397.40 cash in hand.

NB: Correction for 2024/2025 Financial Statement. Cash Asset in the I/E were listed as $35,241.42, which included some amounts from early July 2025. The amount should have read $35,144.42 in line with Appendix A from that Statement.

  1. Acceptance of the association’s financial statements for 2025-2026
  • Motion – Acceptance of committee reports and Financial Statement

Moved by Chris Ingold and seconded by Matthew Utting. Motion passed.

  1. Election of Committee
    Expectations of the Melbourne Meeples Committee can be found here.
  1. Election of President
  • Chris Ingold nominated for the position of President by Francois Grobler, seconded by Rodney Jones.

Chris Ingold was elected unopposed

  1. Election of Vice President
  • Francois Grobler nominated for the position of Vice-President by Rodney Jones, seconded by Stuart Bettiss.

Francois Grobler was elected unopposed.

  1. Election of Secretary
  • Stuart Bettiss nominated for the position of Secretary by Francois Grobler, seconded by Chris Ingold.

Stuart Bettiss was elected unopposed.

  1. Election of Treasurer
  • Matthew Utting nominated for the position of Treasurer by Chris Ingold, seconded by Francois Grobler.

Matthew Utting was elected unopposed

  1. Election of other Committee Member(s) (if approved)
  • Sonika Balyan nominated for a General Committee Member position, seconded by Chris Ingold.

Sonika Balyan was elected unopposed.

  • Rodney Jones nominated for a General Committee Member position, seconded by Francois Grobler.

Rodney Jones was elected unopposed.

  1. Membership Fee
    1. Fee for 2027/2028 Year
      1. Proposed fees are:
Membership Fee
Full 2027/2028 year$60
Post MeepleCon 2027/2028$35
  • Motion – Fees for 2027/28 as proposed in the table above.

Moved by Chris Ingold and seconded by Matthew Utting. Motion passed.

  1. General Business
  1. Rodney Jones expressed his and his wife’s (Jodie) thanks for another very enjoyable year, in particular at the BGNO, Meeplecon and OzBunnyCon events

9.2 Chris Ingold advised that Meeplecon 2026 will be in collaboration with the Ringwood and Knox Gaming Groups, as well as the Mornington D&D group, and will be held at the Box Hill Town Hall.

Planning of this event will commence in the next week, with the aim of getting tickets launched in August with a potential “Early Bird” offer.

Sonika Balyan raised the issue of the venue’s location and potential parking issues, however it was agreed that an area plan should be generated to show all parking, eating, public transport etc options prior to the event, and that other potential venues for both Meeplecon and a “West” convention for future years, can be investigated/discussed by the committee during the 2026/27 year.

  1. Closure 

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