1. Welcome and Apologies

DK welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Nikki Howard (NH).

2. Approval of Minutes of Meeting of Directors 12/06/2023

Approved as read.

3. WOC 2024

IOF

DK had circulated email received from IOF which had suggested that they were not willing to reduce any fees and wanted to discuss the matter further at end of June (Aron Less). Email copied to Event Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council with view to setting up Steering Group meeting as soon as possible. IOF suggested that sponsorship should be investigated.

SOA

Richard Oxlade indicated that the SOA Board thinks a decision should be made before Bulletin 2 is issued (1st week of July). SOA Board think it would be appropriate for 6-Day Board as the company responsible and the entity bearing the financial risk to prepare a proposal whether the event should proceed or not and bring it forward to the SOA Board.

Sponsorship

Paul McGreal had indicated that he was not hopeful that sufficient sponsorship would be found to bridge the gap in the budget.

Budget Version 11A

There was discussion regarding uncertainties/best estimates in the budget and potential methods of reducing costs in respect of shared arenas/arena management, investigations of sponsorship and the potential for professionals to see whether sponsorship was a realistic possibility even if sponsorship cannot be found before end of June. It was agreed that DK would contact sponsorship professionals and discuss probability but even if there was still a probability this would lead to exposure to more risk by relying on potential sponsorship.

The concern that Event Scotland/ City of Edinburgh Council were not willing to put anything in writing about further contribution was discussed. Concern was raised that there was a lack of certainty without anything in writing and whether there was potential risk of their budgets/ personnel changing. At present the risk still remains with the 6-Days whatever their further contribution and the sharing of risk should be discussed with them.

Any further call on 6-Day funds, beyond what KR estimated was affordable, would impact on our ability to hold an event in 2025 and the grant contributions to SOA in future. This would in turn impact on SOA sustainability.

It was agreed that the 6-Day Board would not be in a position to prepare a proposal for Thursday but need to be in that position by this time next week. KR will in the interim prepare a discussion paper on finances for the SOA meeting on Thursday which could also be taken to the next Steering Group meeting.

It was noted that up until now there had been reasons for keeping the discussions confidential. The organising committee should however be made aware of concerns regarding the current budget position. In respect of the wider community it was agreed that matters should not be too widely discussed but DK would prepare a potential statement which could be issued. It was agreed the statement would provide that financial issues are a real challenge but we are working hard to try and resolve them.

It was noted that DK would be unable to attend in person (but could via Zoom) a possible meeting with IOF during the SEA visit at the end of June. KR was available if required.

4. Date of Next Meeting

27 June at 8pm online.