Members’ Meeting - WEDNESDAY 6th May 2026 - HYBRID In-Person / Video Call 7-9pm

Discussion
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Members’ Meeting - WEDNESDAY, 6th May 2026 - HYBRID In-Person / Video Call 7-9pm

SLMS Members’ Meeting

Hybrid In-Person / Video Call

** ADJUSTED DATE**
Date: WEDNESDAY, 6th May 2026 - (15 days from first posting)
Time: 7-9PM

Join us for our next members meeting – in-person in the clean room, or via. video call - your choice - all members are welcome! @members

To join the video meeting, click this link:

Please join in, question, raise issues, suggest ideas, be heard, listen to others, and find out how to get involved with running and furthering the Makerspace - or just come along and say hi – our meetings are held in a supportive, respectful and positive environment. We try to keep meetings efficient and not get into intractable arguments.

Running Agenda:

  • SLMS Growth / Finance Update
    How we are doing re. growth and financially? - Directors
  • Area Updates
    Techs opportunity to give updates on each area

Carry over items from previous meeting:

  • SLMS moving house
    General progress updates. Have we taken financial advice on feasibility, ie. costings, deposit required? Have there been inquiries made to properties so far?
  • Communication and transparency with directors
    Opportunity for directors and members to review changes.
  • Representative usernames and profiles
    Moved to next meeting
  • Dealing with Mess, Breakages
    Moved to next meeting

Fresh Agenda Items

  • Chemicals in the space
    Vote re. Safety, particularly members bringing chemicals to the space.
  • Cameras in the space
    In light of recent safety issues, should there be cameras inside or outside the space? If so, what would the policy for access be?
  • New members
    Possible new members induction to the space to avoid and preempt security and safety issues. What should this look like?
  • ** Shutter access granting**
    Should there be more requirements for receiving shutter access? Possibly a minimum membership length.
  • Possible ‘People’ role
    Would SLMS benefit from a new role, looking at conflict resolution and communication?
  • Snug storage
    Discussing project storage and possible changes.

Any further items will be in AOB (Any Other Business)

Take a look at the Previous Members Meeting Minutes
https://discourse.southlondonmakerspace.org/t/minutes-of-members-meeting-tuesday-24th-feb-2026/47723

Meeting Details:
MAY Members Meeting
WEDNESDAY, 6th MAY 2026 · 19:00 – 21:00
Time zone: Europe/London

Next members meeting in w/c 6th August, likely Monday, tbc

For Techs who will be unable to attend, please add a message below to relay any news.

As usual please add anything you’d like to discuss in a brief post below this one. If you want to start a discussion on that topic, then please start a new thread and link to it - this helps to keep this thread readable. Please leave space for others, as we want as many voices heard as possible. If you are not comfortable raising an issue publicly then DM @directors or ask a trusted fellow member to raise it.

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As far as I am concerned, this matter does not need to be included on the agenda. From my perspective, the directors have dealt with this matter appropriately. :heart_exclamation:

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Could I propose a vote, current wording:
Wrt chemicals in the space

Updated 28/4/26

Happy to discuss further/refine in the linked thread

4

Please can someone pin this?

Thank you

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Just going to point out that this meeting is on election day, not really great timing if we want to encourage our members to vote for candidates that support Makerspace’s agenda.

That said, regardless I won’t be able to attend as I’m getting married on the 7th.

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Going to add something to discuss here that came up at the techs meeting, which was looking at how we grant shutter access. Given how many more members we have and the recent incident it seems like it might currently be too easy to get access without being aware of the responsibilities involved.

Can we consider adding a requirement for more members vouching for someone before they get shutter access, more explanation as to what is involved in closing up and possibly a minimum length of time they have been a member before access can be granted (e.g. 6 months)?

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This was originally scheduled for Wednesday 6th May. The original date is probably better as it’s not election day.

We all had three months notice of the 6th May, I hope there was a really good reason to change it.

5 Likes
9

I’d like to add an agenda item proposing interior cameras in the space, albeit with very clear rules surrounding who can access them & when, and rules for announcing when it’s been looked at

Basis for this is that we’ve already had expensive machinery stolen in the past year (the janome sewing machine) and it could easily happen again, along with all sorts of other issues where reliable records could help

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Hi all. Thanks @Jem and @unknowndomain .

I agree, let’s move the meeting to Wednesday 6th May.

I totally appreciate this is frustrating to not know further in advance, but I’d like to point out that I am a volunteer secretary. As much as it is important to ensure the day of the meeting is appropriate and works for others, the required notice period for a members meeting is 2 weeks, not 3 months. The primary reason we set the meeting so far in advance, as discussed personally with the directors was to ensure that it happens, not to give a huge notice period.
We have now moved the meeting to Wednesday 6th May, and thanks again for pointing out the election.

Also, Tommie, huge congratulations!

See you all on Wednesday week (6th)

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@members ADJUSTED DATE for next members meeting - Wednesday 6th May, 7pm, 2026

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Also the running agenda needs updating, there are lots of topics that need adding..

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Proposal: Compulsory, minimal, fully automated member induction as pre-condition for access
My gym did this when I joined

Reason:

  • Lots of evidence that people don’t know how the space operates and what is expected from members
  • The “formal” tours on open evenings may be slightly inconsistent and cover a lot of information for people to hold and process
  • Informal tours when someone just knocks on the door are even more random in terms of content covered
  • Some people join without ever doing a tour
  • Some of our members don’t use discourse and miss all the messaging around these topics
  • We need a defensible position on misconduct/inappropriate use - nothing better than “you read the content and completed a quiz on it” instead of “there is a policy somewhere on Discourse”
  • For minor problems, we can request people to go through the induction slideshow
  • For significant problems, we can require people to do the induction again in order to regain door access

Further details:

  • A careful selection of the most critical information - this is not meant to be onerous for new members
  • A PowerPoint slideshow or equivalent (easy to keep updated)
  • An online quiz with automatic marking
  • Door tool control access requires passing the quiz
  • In-person presentation and alternative assessment process available on request (to ensure full inclusivity)

Extension/Phase 2:

  • Install LearnDash Learning Management system on the Wordpress site and standardise its use for many or all inductions
  • We could do a shutter access induction this way as well.

I am willing to facilitate the collation of the content and preparation of the quiz.
I have experience in online course development.

Remaining question:

Do all or some of existing members need to take it and are we going to block access for those that don’t take it by a cut-off date? I think the answer should be yes, with a generous cut-off date and LOTS of communication.

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Thanks Andy, will try to do tomorrow.

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London Hackspace does this - they double up the formal inductions with open evenings. If I remember correctly, their tour has a fixed start time, includes a formal induction and they sign people off at the end of it.

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Etherpad for minutes:

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I like the freedom that fully automated option, rather than linking it to the tour.
Many people come to a tour and don’t sign up.
We have 40 or more people coming to a tour, so pairing it with an induction would be challenging.

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In my mind, as I was discussing with @Riggerz , a cheat sheet with a quiz could be just as helpful. I think the less barriers between signing up and being able to be in the space the better. Id suggest we want new members to feel welcome and not intimidated by rules. I think this should really be a discussion in a separate thread though :smiley:

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Are we going to insist on wording for votes and use some kind of electronic vote this time?

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I’m for highly structured, mandatory and with consequence. However, that doesn’t have to mean onerous. Content should be just the essentials.

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