Meeting Notes 2025-09-14
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Sudo Room Meeting - 14 September 2025 7pm-9pm
Meeting Details
Roles
- Facilitator/s: Christine
- Stacktaker: Ivan
- Notetaker/s: Paige
Attendees
- Paige
- ivan
- Peter
- Imogen
- 🐻
- Erin
- William (remote)
- Michael
- jake
Agenda
chromebook idea
- :) - we want to make chromebooks ready for the CSC (Cal Sailing Club)
- Peter - people show up to the CSC open house, we have them go to their phones, better to have the chromebooks there
- Michael - I think fixit is doing plenty with chromebooks. Should we have a wiki page
Card reader / side door
- Jake - the card reader was taken off the front door. CALLI put its own system. We were allowed to put the old system on the side door. Pipe run from the inside out for the doorbell and the card reader. As soon as I get the official okay from Valerie, I will set up the card reader and doorbell. Doorbell will send info over the internet so people can check doorbell on their device. Also have a door opening motor so that the door can be automatically opened. I'm always looking for people to help out with it.
- Erin - is the idea that old credentials wont work?
- Jake - I will put old credentials back on that door unless asked otherwise.
- Jake - Restoring old card system is pretty easy. But we could also put in a NFC reader, but more work. My feeling is that the phone activation is the easiest, but the card reader is there for the older CCL and FNB members who do not want to use their phone.
- Peter - makes me think about the curb appeal of that side entrance overall. Over time we need to make that entrance on the side seem more appealing. I cleaned it out last sunday. Reeked of pee. People gravitate towards that front door, and now we need to have them walk down the dark street.
(Consider positively referring to it as a speakeasy door?)
- William - can we put up a sign?
- Paige - yes, Kent was designing one. Would need to talk with CALLI about it.
What is our budget?
-Grants -Membership Dues -Donations (Paypal, cash)
Expenses: -Rent -Fiscal Sponsorship Fee -Insurance
- Jake - so if you can pay more in dues please do. We should use a spreadsheet to split up job of emailing people, asking them to come back to donating to sudo room. Maybe 5 at a time.
- William - I think we should strategize for a short list
- Leah - I made a short list of people who's credit card expired. But I would like someone who's been here longer to go over it to make sure they are still involved
- Leah - also every month, we could track how many people have accounts set up, to keep an eye on if someone cancels their membership
- Jake - we are moving from sudohumans to membermatters. It's 95% of the way done, just waiting on juul (who is very busy right now) to transfer the stripe info over. Once that's done, that system has better notifications, i.e. when someone stops payment, or credit card expires.
update on membership
How many members do we have?
- Ivan - how do we members do we have? I see on sudohumans it says we have 102. Are those paying?
- Jake - number is probably between 60-70. Question of who is a member is difficult. Recording of who is a member was spotty. Difficult to answer accurately, except for the people who were approved through the standard email process. It's something we need to work on.
- Michael - for sudo room, can you donate without being a member?
- Jake - yes. Some people have been paying money and never applied. If someone was a member 5 years ago and stopped paying - are they a member? I can't answer that
- Ivan - I think we need a good number of who is a paying member, since that is all of our income. Say we have 100 members, and they pay $20, we have $2000. I pay sudo room more than my other subscriptions, like public radio, public library.
- about 70 paying members
- Michael - I think we should send notifications to whoever has their card expired.
- Peter - lets say we get the $400, we will be here in another 30 days having same conversation. I think better question - what is the value proposition for sudo room membership. Why are people paying to sudo room? At some point, Sudo Room may want more time than money.
- Leah - I think we should prioritize who we contact
- Peter - we are still in structural deficent. Not about squeezing more money out of who we have, but thinking about how many members can we support
- Leah - I think we should also cross reference the 100 members with who is paying. I think also we should do more talking on Tuesday nights - a lot of people come who do not pay. They have something to lose because they use the space now.
- Erin - I didn't know until coming to the meeting we were in danger of eviction. I think knowing the size of deficit is very useful. Making that known
- Christine - I only heard about it from talking to people
- Leah - no orientation or welcome packet, unless you are very forward you wont know what is going on. Maybe some committees like fundraising, cleaning, admissions, could direct people to get involved.
- Erin - I'm volunteering to help with working on the membership process. It was confusing, and it's able to stall.
- Jake - when I encourage people to become members, I prioritize them paying, then giving door access. Value proposition of getting access to the building is there.
- Michael - I agree with Jake that if they pay they should get door access. Membership is form of recognition since it requires endorsements. But I think the problem with the existing process is who has access is unstructured and unofficial while membership is displayed on mailing list etc. I think we should the tier of "membership" who is paying and has access but didn't gone through the full process.
- Peter - I'm concerned with building ownership change, owners do not want 24/7. Historical reasons, every makerspace has problem with members coming and moving in. I'm concerned about the unfettered access to the door.
- Erin - I don't want to speak out against a system that is working, but seems strange to get door access before the rest of the process
- Leah - I think it could be a discretionary thing.
- Jake - when somebody comes and it sounds like a good fit, I onboard them immediately. The door access is big brother trackable - it can be removed easily.
- William - you could also have transparency when it happens, everyone gets notified when somebody gets access.
- Leah - I think that's a good idea. I don't think photo should be verified. But that could foster more community and familiarity.
- Peter - I would like to respect anonymity. But sometimes I come in here and there are sketchy people and I don't feel comfortable confronting them
- Jake - why not just ask them their name?
- Peter - in the value proposition - what is the implicit social contract between people in this space?
- Peter - maybe you sus up the person
- Erin - what are the endorsements? Door access is serious
- Erin - I think its worth thinking about - what level of trust to provide physical access.
- Michael - my understanding is sudo room has doacracy - like organizing a work party. But bigger questions there is consensus. Comment on membership vs access - I think fundamentally access is more economical: using the space and resources. So it makes sense to associate with dues. But the fundamental point of membership: you have decision making / voting power - you are owning the space.
- Jake - I want to speak directly to Michael's point - I think getting monthly payments to sudo room is important. When people are excited and first here - it is important to get them paying asap. By giving them door access, they get something for that thing. If we had to change to wait til after 3 week application, I dont think it would work as well. Also giving someone door access - if we see a problem we can take it away right away. We can afford to lose that money, even if its not the ideal way
- Peter - thats like a gym club value membership. Hope people pay but they dont show up. I haven't ever paid to be a member because its not clear of what the social contract. I am not a member because through the years I've watched, I see a certain toxicity creep in. I've tried to bring in new people, but we need to have the marketing funnel. They should want access to the people - the community - the knowledge. You shouldn't be a member if you just want to come sit on a wednesday afternoon
- Leah - that's exactly why I want to come. I'm in school - I can come here when the library is closed. I really value being able to come as a third space. So I think that's a selling point.
- Erin - Michael mentioned doacracy and consensus. I would describe those as governance at Noisebridge. Does that apply here?
- Paige - now changed to majority voting. Do-acracy is accurate. I have qualms with that doacracy.
- Christine - I have a history of community organizing. Would like to help making work load
- Paige - events, need for more hosts.
- Michael - I want to support space and community because I like this community.
- Peter - my broader vision for sudo room as the locus for projects. Wasn't clear when we were going to lose building that we would survive as a community. I think we may put too much emphasis on the phyical space, as opposed to the
- Christine - happy to be included membership action items or finance items
Peter’s Sudo Room Practise Areas and Special Interest Groups Google Sheet;
Please contact me if you want to have edit access to this sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LbKmBgVaT_m_vnPFZGeWW0B-lttX_2iETEZ-qOjvHzM/edit?usp=sharing
How do we raise money?
- Michael - get more people to come to sudo room and make those who come donate. I think it would be a good idea to send out the message that each member/donation make a difference since we are small on member and budget.
Grants: Ham radio society has grants for sudomesh-like activities Stopwaste has given Stopwaste Grants in the past https://www.metlife.com/sustainability/MetLife-Foundation/resources/#2025CIGP
events/classes
-bring a friend to sudo day -open house night -
- Erin - whenever there is an event at noisebridge, organizers are asked to ask for donations given it is a community run space. RPS collective does the same.
- William - I think we have a vague script for people to onboard others. Also the process is not very intuitive.
- Christine - at some place I go to, they will do an announcement during the event to give a spiel about donating. That could be a rotating role.
- Peter - we have that moment when we ring the bell at Sudo Room. At that moment we can announce that we need money to pay rent.
- Ivan - can we get a group to do grant writing? Sell stuff
- William - crazy that we don't have merch
- Erin - as a makerspace, we could make merch. I.e. laser cut keychains
- Leah - I think events should all be suggested donation, instead of free
- Erin - I'm much less likely to come to an event that has a suggested donation.
- Christine - I am overcommitted, but can do some help in fundraising. This is something I use to do for work.
- Erin - visual thermometer for rent.
- Imogen - going to run a dark mode and touch designer classes, with suggested donations
- Peter - grants are a great way to get a lot of money. fixit clinic has gotten grants for SR in the past. But we have to have a non-profit status to receive grant
- William - I am down to meet you to work on that.
=== Grant writing === Selling?? === Visible donation box === Better marketing === Merchandise, made at sudo, drop/ship, laser, pcbs, === Fundraise thermometer === Coin operated massage chair
member applications
=== Go over new member applications -Christine-member (tomorrow) -Michael-member -Aaron-member -Marvin? (was helping Marvin solder a 16TB hard drive board) Ask on Tuesday -Layla?? -Sylvia (was helping Marvin solder a 16TB hard drive board) -Angela-member === check on whether these people have enough endorsements and look for more
- patrick clawson
- calvin H
- andrew
- zyeet
1- Fill out membership,received on member emails 2- Get three endorsements 3- Sign up for paying dues 4- Get door access 5- Join members mailing list 6- Join Discord server 7- ??
wheelchair access
- Christine - I am a wheelchair user, and want to access the space. I am asking for the entry way up to the space where the lockers are accessible. Thursday and Friday evenings work well for me. The cart with food items limits evacuation status for me. Generally turning radius is 5 feet.
- Christine - would also like Tuesday people to remember not block area with bike
- Leah - maybe we have them put the bikes in the entrance hall
- Peter - once that front space is activated, we wont have access to it, so need to make the outdoor safe for bike locking
Action items
- email those who have their card expired
- Leah + Jake
- remind people to donate on Tuesday
- Peter will do when ringing the bell
- Draft onboarding flyer(spell out value proposition)
- Ivan
- Design merch
- William, and Erin
- Dark mode and classes
- Imogen
- Grant-writing pitch
- Peter, William
- Create flyers to ask for donation/patron
- Michael
- Thursday - membership work party 7:30PM in person (remote option later)
- Christine e proposition)
- Ivan
- Design merch
- William, and Erin
- Dark mode and classes
- Imogen
- Grant-writing pitch
- Peter, William
- Create flyers to ask for donation/patron
- Michael
- Thursday - membership work party 7:30PM in person (remote option later)
- Christine