GAMERT (Gaming) Round Table

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include :

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play
• Volunteer t-shirts
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

I am inclined towards first paying speakers and second for assisting smaller publishers in getting out to Annual.  A travel grant will have to go through ALA's whole process, and while A/V and food are nice, they're not essential.

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include :

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play
• Volunteer t-shirts
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include :

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play
• Volunteer t-shirts
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

Hi! Quick question. What exactly would the AV and food be for at ALA? For vendors? For volunteers? For the ALA play event?

LeeAnn McNabb

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include :

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play
• Volunteer t-shirts
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

AV and food would be for anyone attending ALA play. I'll edit above to add some clarification!

Hi! Quick question. What exactly would the AV and food be for at ALA? For vendors? For volunteers? For the ALA play event?

LeeAnn McNabb

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include :

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play
• Volunteer t-shirts
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

AV and food would be for anyone attending ALA play. I'll edit above to add some clarification!

Hi! Quick question. What exactly would the AV and food be for at ALA? For vendors? For volunteers? For the ALA play event?

LeeAnn McNabb

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include :

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play
• Volunteer t-shirts
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

Thinking on this further- the surplus is a short-term situation only for the FY26, not a regular thing. With that in mind I don't think it's worth putting in the work to establish additional processes- considering how (not) quickly ALA moves, we'll probably need to spend the money before we would even have the processes in place. It's only worth considering if we continued having a surplus beyond this year. Therefore my vote is:

1. covering AV/food at Play   OR
2. swag for volunteers. 

I'll note that the swag doesn't need to be only be for Annual volunteers- GNCRT made a pin for everyone who volunteered on a committee and mailed them out, we could do something similar. I think the totals for manufacturing and mailing (first year) were within the surplus we're looking at. 

All other options would require setting up procedures for application, selection, and pay out. Paying keynote speakers for Mini-con would be the least amount of work for us, so I'd be willing to consider it. I don't see the travel grant or small publisher funding being feasible without Big ALA approval / involvement, which I'm not inclined to take on at this point. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

Thinking on this further- the surplus is a short-term situation only for the FY26, not a regular thing. With that in mind I don't think it's worth putting in the work to establish additional processes- considering how (not) quickly ALA moves, we'll probably need to spend the money before we would even have the processes in place. It's only worth considering if we continued having a surplus beyond this year. Therefore my vote is:

1. covering AV/food at Play   OR
2. swag for volunteers. 

I'll note that the swag doesn't need to be only be for Annual volunteers- GNCRT made a pin for everyone who volunteered on a committee and mailed them out, we could do something similar. I think the totals for manufacturing and mailing (first year) were within the surplus we're looking at. 

All other options would require setting up procedures for application, selection, and pay out. Paying keynote speakers for Mini-con would be the least amount of work for us, so I'd be willing to consider it. I don't see the travel grant or small publisher funding being feasible without Big ALA approval / involvement, which I'm not inclined to take on at this point. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

Thinking on this further- the surplus is a short-term situation only for the FY26, not a regular thing. With that in mind I don't think it's worth putting in the work to establish additional processes- considering how (not) quickly ALA moves, we'll probably need to spend the money before we would even have the processes in place. It's only worth considering if we continued having a surplus beyond this year. Therefore my vote is:

1. covering AV/food at Play   OR
2. swag for volunteers. 

I'll note that the swag doesn't need to be only be for Annual volunteers- GNCRT made a pin for everyone who volunteered on a committee and mailed them out, we could do something similar. I think the totals for manufacturing and mailing (first year) were within the surplus we're looking at. 

All other options would require setting up procedures for application, selection, and pay out. Paying keynote speakers for Mini-con would be the least amount of work for us, so I'd be willing to consider it. I don't see the travel grant or small publisher funding being feasible without Big ALA approval / involvement, which I'm not inclined to take on at this point. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

GNCRT's enamel pins for ALL committee volunteers:

$818.25 to manufacture 300 pins with Minuteman Press (in 2022- expect some inflation)

Plus expenses to mail them to all members. I don't have access to that spreadsheet anymore, so Tina will have to look up how much that cost. (Estimate  $200 - $300, maybe ? USPS prices about $5.50 per package)

Thinking on this further- the surplus is a short-term situation only for the FY26, not a regular thing. With that in mind I don't think it's worth putting in the work to establish additional processes- considering how (not) quickly ALA moves, we'll probably need to spend the money before we would even have the processes in place. It's only worth considering if we continued having a surplus beyond this year. Therefore my vote is:

1. covering AV/food at Play   OR
2. swag for volunteers. 

I'll note that the swag doesn't need to be only be for Annual volunteers- GNCRT made a pin for everyone who volunteered on a committee and mailed them out, we could do something similar. I think the totals for manufacturing and mailing (first year) were within the surplus we're looking at. 

All other options would require setting up procedures for application, selection, and pay out. Paying keynote speakers for Mini-con would be the least amount of work for us, so I'd be willing to consider it. I don't see the travel grant or small publisher funding being feasible without Big ALA approval / involvement, which I'm not inclined to take on at this point. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

GNCRT's enamel pins for ALL committee volunteers:

$818.25 to manufacture 300 pins with Minuteman Press (in 2022- expect some inflation)

Plus expenses to mail them to all members. I don't have access to that spreadsheet anymore, so Tina will have to look up how much that cost. (Estimate  $200 - $300, maybe ? USPS prices about $5.50 per package)

Thinking on this further- the surplus is a short-term situation only for the FY26, not a regular thing. With that in mind I don't think it's worth putting in the work to establish additional processes- considering how (not) quickly ALA moves, we'll probably need to spend the money before we would even have the processes in place. It's only worth considering if we continued having a surplus beyond this year. Therefore my vote is:

1. covering AV/food at Play   OR
2. swag for volunteers. 

I'll note that the swag doesn't need to be only be for Annual volunteers- GNCRT made a pin for everyone who volunteered on a committee and mailed them out, we could do something similar. I think the totals for manufacturing and mailing (first year) were within the surplus we're looking at. 

All other options would require setting up procedures for application, selection, and pay out. Paying keynote speakers for Mini-con would be the least amount of work for us, so I'd be willing to consider it. I don't see the travel grant or small publisher funding being feasible without Big ALA approval / involvement, which I'm not inclined to take on at this point. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------

GNCRT's enamel pins for ALL committee volunteers:

$818.25 to manufacture 300 pins with Minuteman Press (in 2022- expect some inflation)

Plus expenses to mail them to all members. I don't have access to that spreadsheet anymore, so Tina will have to look up how much that cost. (Estimate  $200 - $300, maybe ? USPS prices about $5.50 per package)

Thinking on this further- the surplus is a short-term situation only for the FY26, not a regular thing. With that in mind I don't think it's worth putting in the work to establish additional processes- considering how (not) quickly ALA moves, we'll probably need to spend the money before we would even have the processes in place. It's only worth considering if we continued having a surplus beyond this year. Therefore my vote is:

1. covering AV/food at Play   OR
2. swag for volunteers. 

I'll note that the swag doesn't need to be only be for Annual volunteers- GNCRT made a pin for everyone who volunteered on a committee and mailed them out, we could do something similar. I think the totals for manufacturing and mailing (first year) were within the surplus we're looking at. 

All other options would require setting up procedures for application, selection, and pay out. Paying keynote speakers for Mini-con would be the least amount of work for us, so I'd be willing to consider it. I don't see the travel grant or small publisher funding being feasible without Big ALA approval / involvement, which I'm not inclined to take on at this point. 

This is a continuation from the board meeting to further discuss what to do with the $ 2,732 surplus we have for the 2026 budget year. 

Ideas include but can go beyond:

• Covering AV & food at ALA Play ( for anyone who attends the event)
• Volunteer t-shirts for members staffing GameRT booth at Annual 
• Paying keynote speakers
• Travel grant to attend Annual 
• Covering the cost of Annual for smaller publishers

Please discuss further and if we can reach a consensus we'll vote at Board next month. 

------------------------------
Danielle Costello
Research & Instruction
University of Georgia
She/Her/Hers
------------------------------