Business Meetings
of the
Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
[Posted on 20 May 2017, with updates]
Besides its Meetings of Committees and of the Board of Trustees, the Research Group holds its Business Meetings frequently at the Annual International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), which takes place in May at Kalamazoo, where various of our Trustees, Associates, Advisors, and Volunteers customarily gather. The blog for our Activities at the ICMS cites these Business Meetings for individual years.
These annual Open Business Meetings generally occur at the Congress, thus known also as Congress Business Meetings, but on special circumstances there take place Pre-Congress Business Meetings, either instead of (once) or in addition to (thrice) those held at the Congress.
In sum, we hold
- Open Business Meetings, whether Pre-Congress or Congress (April–May)
These Meetings have published 1-page Agendas, sometimes also accompanied by or combined with Business Meeting Reports.
Congress Business Meetings (May)
and
Pre-Congress Business Meetings (April or May)
2017 Business Meeting Agenda
Our practice has expanded to hold Open Business Meetings at the Congress (2015–). They have a booked room, with lunch provided, and a place in the published Congress Program. Customarily, these Meetings are announced by Posters set in our copyright font RGME Bembino. The Meetings are introduced and accompanied by their one-page Agendas (also set in Bembino), available both at the Meetings and as downloads on this website.
In 2020 and 2021, several of these traditions shifted, as we adapted to the cancellation of the Congress altogether in 2020 and the requirement to hold the 2021 Congress in virtual form. Although scheduled in the Congress Programs, the Business Meetings for those 2 years have no companion Posters. The 2020 Agenda circulated on its own, pending the next Meeting.
In 2021, the scheduling conflict in the assigned Congress Program between our Business Meeting and that of the Societas Magica, our customary co-sponsor for some Congress Sessions, led us to hold not only the Business Meeting as scheduled at the Congress, but also a Pre-Congress Business Meeting. The Congress Business Meeting took place as planned, as part of the Congress proceedings, albeit online and without an actual room and catering. It was available only to Registrants of the Congress. The Pre-Congress Business Meeting, arranged at short notice, took place online via Zoom on 1 May. It was thus able to gather people familiar with Research Group activities at the Congress and/or elsewhere, in a promising and refreshing development for our planning.
With these changes, the customary 1-page Agenda turned into the 2021 Agenda Report, and each Business Meeting had its own Agenda, for both the Congress and Pre-Congress Meetings.
The habit of Pre-Congress as well as Congress Business Meetings in a given year changed in 2024, when the 2024 RGME Spring Symposium at Vassar College — returning to our In-Person Events after a hiatus since 2020 — gave the occasion to hold a Planning Luncheon there in April instead of a Pre-Congress Business Meeting, while the Congress Business Meeting in early May took place as usual.
For convenience and concision, starting with 2023, we adopted the practice of producing a companion list of the Activities which the RGME was undertaking for the year and the next. This practice served a double purpose, to supplement the Agendas for Business Meetings and the Appeals for Donations for a given year, occasion, or function. See also:
“Writing on the Wall” at the 2017 Congress. Photography by Mildred Budny.
Concise Agenda & Record
2017 Business Meeting Invitation
These Open Business Meetings, open to all, are accompanied by a one-page Agenda, which reports our current accomplishments, aims, needs, and wishes, with invitations to contribute to our activities, mission, and further planning.
Our practice has been to “unveil” the Agenda at its Meeting, use its plan as a guide or touchstone for the reports and discussions, and then circulate the Agenda more widely afterward, both in printed form and in downloadable form on our website. Thus they continue to serve as records, reports, and models well after the events.
There have been a few experiments with the genres of Agendas and Reports, responding to developments in our practices for meetings, our range of activities, and the sharing of responsibilities for our work and its results.
In 2021, for the Congress which resumed only in Virtual Format that year after the cancelled 2020 Congress (intended to be In-Person as always before), we circulated ahead of time the customary 1-page Agenda, but called it instead the 2021 Agenda Report, and produced a companion 1-page 2021 Congress Business Meeting Agenda to focus upon the items for specific discussion. Complementing the Business Meeting Agenda, the 2021 Agenda Report resembles the Agendas of earlier years, as it combines the elements of multiple Reports with a view to plans and potential. This new version of the genre, the Agenda Report, has a companion Agenda, which focuses upon the items for specific discussion at the Meeting.
Sometimes, along with the Reports serving for them both, we issued Agendas separately for the Pre-Congress and Congress Meetings, to reflect the developments from the Pre-Congress Meeting as we next turned to the Congress Meeting.
RGME Activities and Planned Activities
From 2023, we returned to a condensed 1-page Agenda which also functioned as a Report. It was supplemented by a new prospectus of RGME Activities, as we described (with updates as they emerged) the activities in course for the given year and the proposed activities for the next. For example:
These developments co-ordinated with the new, focused approach to RGME Fund-Raising, with the emergence of the RGME Fund-Raising Committee through the 2023 Congress Business Meeting.
Available Here
The Agendas (and, from 2021–2023, the Agenda Report) for our Open Business Meetings remain available for consultation and inspiration.
You can download the one-page Agenda and its companion (when applicable) Agenda Report here:
- 2024 Open Business Meeting Agenda
- RGME Activities for 2024 and 2025
- See also 2024 Open Business Meeting
- 2023 Business Meeting Agenda
- 2023 Pre-Congress Business Meeting Agenda
- 2023 Report for Business Meetings
- 2022 RGME Congress Meeting Agenda
- 2022 RGME Congress Business Meeting Report
- 2022 RGME Tasks / To-Do List
How these Meetings stand within the Programs of our Congress Activities overall for each of these years is reported, and sometimes illustrated, in the Congress Reports or Announcements. Examples are:
- 2021 Congress Program Announced
- 2020 Congress Program Announced
- 2019 Congress Report
- 2018 Congress Report
- 2017 Congress Report
- 2016 Congress Report
- 2015 Congress Report
Now, as the active functions of the Open Business Meetings gather momentum, we open this Page dedicated to them.
If you see more ways that the Meetings and their Page might be helpful, please let us know. After all, their momentum encourages a continuing interaction, which does not depend upon the Annual Meeting alone as a spur for suggestions, discussion, and action.
2015
2015 Business Meeting
2017
At the 2017 RGME Business Meeting. Photography © Mildred Budny.
2018
2018 Business Meeting
2019
It turns out that we don’t have photographs from the 2019 Business Meeting, although there are many photographs from the 2019 Reception, to which came most of the attendees for the Meeting. Have a look at our 2019 Congress Behind the Scenes Report.
2019 Reception and Business Meeting Invitations.
2020
In that year, the Congress was cancelled. (See 2020 Congress Program Announced.) However, we circulated the Agenda for the Business Meeting, which had to be postponed.
2021
With a Congress held wholly online, the Business Meeting took place as planned, as part of the scheduled Congress events. However, because of scheduling conflicts in the 2021 Congress Program (page 99) between the Business Meetings of the Research Group and the Societas Magica — our customary co-sponsor for some Congress Sessions — we sought better to prepare for the expected overlap in discussions about planning for the 2022 Congress by holding also a Pre-Congress Business Meeting. That approach enabled participation directly by some of our Associates who would have to attend the Societas’s Business Meeting at the Congress. It also opened the way for a new form of Business Meeting, to complement the customary Congress Business Meeting, open to all.
Therefore, both our 2021 Business Meetings have the 2021 Agenda Report as well as an Agenda specifically for the Pre-Congress and the Congress Business Meetings. Each presents a 1-page outline reporting our achievements for 2020 and 2021, and listing work-in-progress, future activities or projects, wishes, and aims.
The Agenda Report stands in the tradition of our Agendas in previous years (see above), while the Agenda in its new, 2021, form focuses upon the Items for consideration, feedback, discussion, suggestions, and advice.
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2022
With the Congress wholly online, the Business Meeting took place as part of the scheduled Congress events. However, the success of the Pre-Congress Business Meeting in 2021, bringing together people who attend the Congress and those who do not, with helpful suggestions and encouraging feedback, led us to hold the Second Annual Pre-Congress Business Meeting about a fortnight before the Congress.
Both 2022 Business Meetings have a Report and Agenda. Each presents a 1-page outline reporting our achievements and work-in progress for 2021 and 2022, and listing future activities, projects, wishes, and aims.
Pre-Congress Business Meeting (30 April 2022)
Congress Business Meeting (11 May 2022)
2023
2023 Congress Business Meeting Poster
As before, we prepare both forms of Business Meeting, Pre-Congress and Congress. This year, the Congress Business Meeting will take place in person at the International Congress on Medieval Studies. The Pre-Congress Business Meeting takes place online by Zoom.
2023 Report for Business Meetings. For both Meetings, there is a Report of our activities, needs, and wishes. This year we combine the Reports for both Meetings into one.
2023 Pre-Congress Business Meeting (Wednesday 19 April 2023 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 by Zoom)
Registration through this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2023-pre-congress-business-meeting-tickets-594039507157
- 2023 Pre-Congress Business Meeting Agenda (by 17 April)
- 2023 Pre-Congress Business Meeting Updated Agenda (on the day, 19 April)
2023 Congress Business Meeting (Thursday 11 May 2023 in person, with lunch provided by donation)
Open to registrants for the Congress. See Medieval Congress.
Notebook of “Recettes” in French, open at the front with inserted slips. Photography from Private Collection by Mildred Budny. The Illustrated Handlist, Number 5.
Note on the Image: See The Illustrated Handlist, Number 5.
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Please Contact Us and leave your Comments here.
Please join our Business Meetings, as your time permits, or visit them through our Agendas, available for download, as described above.
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