Welcome the New PrimetimeATX Foundation!

We’ve been busy.

Over the last two months we have been finalizing several long-term initiatives for Primetime, and I’m happy to say we are mostly finished. Most importantly, we have formalized our organization into the PrimetimeATX Foundation, a Texas-based 501(c)(7) non-profit member supported corporation that will better allow us a structure and run such a large group.

For membership and most of you, these changes will be invisible. We will continue to schedule and hold events using Meetup with the same incredible cast of crazy and dedicated Event Hosts you have all come to know and love. Therefore most of the changes will be in the background, but in the long run will give us much more flexibility as to funding our events when needed. It will also give us a flexible and sustainable leadership structure that will be answerable to you, our members. More on that in the months to come.

But first, I’d like to introduce our new structure and your first PrimetimeATX Foundation Leadership Board. This board is similar to what we used to just called Leadership, but with a few significant differences in the way things will be handled. These changes are mostly designed to bring us more in line with other large non-profit social groups, and to give both leadership and members an understanding of who they need to contact with questions, suggestions, and concerns about our group.

Chances are even if you’ve never had anything to do with corporate structure, you’ve seen enough TV shows (Succession anyone?) to understand that most organizations have an overall “Board”, usually volunteers, elected by stakeholders such as members or shareholders. The function of this body is to infrequently meet (often just once or twice a year) to decide overall policy matters and initiatives and to select organizational “directors” or “officers” to handle various aspects of running the day-to-day functions of the organization.

We’re going to call these day-to-day officers “Directors”.

Here at the beginning, this “Leadership Board” and the individual “Directors” will be the same people, and you will recognize most of them as the fine folks we used to just call “Leadership” or “Co-Organizers”. However, as things go forward, you as the members of Primetime will have the opportunity to elect, through a formalized voting process, the five members of the Leadership Board for the PrimetimeATX Foundation.

Despite our recent experience in other areas of life, I’m a big believer in democracy, as imperfect as it is. I consider this organization to be your organization. I and the Leadership Board believe you deserve a voice into who leads it. Chances are it will still be the same people who have always led the group, and that’s great. But this way you all will have a say and hopefully feel that you have more of a stake.

With all that said, we needed to start somewhere, so it made sense to just make the old “Leadership” the first “Leadership Board” and to give them all starting positions as Directors for various functions. In the future the five member Leadership Board and the various Directors may be different people, and chances are we will add several more “Director” positions to handlke various functions who would not be on the Leadership Board.

All you really need to take out of this is that you will elect the five member leadership board during a voting process once each year. The Leadership Board will then appoint the various Directors as they see fit.

This starting Leadership Board will officially serve until the end of May 2025, when the membership will have the opportunity to vote on five permanent board member positions, staggered into one and two year terms at the beginning so the entire board is not having to be re-elected each year. This ensures that there is both experience and an opportunity for new ideas each year.

By the way–while we will set up an online voting process for Leadership Board positions each year, my hope is that anyone who wants can attend a “Annual Retreat and Picnic” and elect that Board in person. Our first Annual Retreat is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 17 out at a large lakehouse and property my family owns on the water on Lake LBJ. It’s a little over an hour drive, but we’ll have a picnic, swimming, and games on the lawn. Inside there’s a large game room where we can relax, shoot pool, play darts, or just get out of the heat. It should be a fun way to start the summer and get a little business done at the same time. The event is on the calendar right now, but it is still subject to change, and it won’t take RSVP’s until the middle of April.

But for now–here’s your starting Leadership Board.

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I’m a Florida native transplanted to our fair city since 1984, and have recently retired! I enjoy all the quirky things Austin has to offer (e.g. Tuba Christmas), and all the varied activities we get in PrimeTime. I’ve been a PrimeTime member since it’s inception, and have occasionally helped the leadership team, and I look forward to giving back to a group that has given so much to me. I also like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain … oh, wait, that’s an old song that got stuck in my head …

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Patty, a native Texan with a love for adventure, has hosted unforgettable one-of-a-kind events for us. She thrives on exploring new places, making new friends, and discovering scenic hiking trails. A live music enthusiast, she’s always ready for an exciting road trip. Her passion for adventure and connecting with people brings energy and joy to everything she does. Patty is ready to help you make your PrimeTime event the best one yet!

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Tom’s been too busy answering your members questions to get me a bio, but he’s been with Leadership since October and has already made a mark on Primetime. His primary function as Membership Director will be to recruit new members and answer your questions.

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Hi, I’ve been in Austin since ’94, semi-retired (occasionally teach at ACC), and enjoy visiting new places and meeting new people. Austin is such a great city and I’m hoping that as PrimeTime members we can give back to our community through volunteering activities.

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And that’s your initial Leadership Board, at least until May and our annual meeting/picnic/retreat. Be sure to thank these guys when you see them. This is all volunteer.

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Speaking of volunteering…

When Primetime first began one of the things that set us apart was the willingness of our members to help both our other members and others in our community. Somewhere along the way we got away from this initiative, and one of the reasons I asked Frank to join the Board was that he has tried to keep one of those initiatives alive all this time. I’ve asked him to help resuscitate this effort and expand it to other volunteer opportunities. Here is how Frank sees it:

On the PrimeTime website there is an Event called “PrimeTime Helpers”, with an Event date of Dec. 31, 2025.

As many of us progress through our “Golden Years” there may be occasions when we might need some short term help. It might be needing a ride to or from a doctor’s office, or walking the dog when we might be able to. This is where “PrimeTime Helpers” might help.

How this works:
If you are willing to occasionally help a fellow PrimeTime member with a favor, then sign up for this event. If you think you may need such a favor in the future, then sign up for this event.

If a member would like to make a favor request, they would specify what they need in the Comments section of this event. They would specify what is needed and where they live (N. Austin, Lakeway, etc.)

Only those who have signed up for this event would get notice that a new comment has been posted. If they can provide this assistance, they would then contact the requestor directly to make arrangements. This way only those who have signed up for this Event would get the notice, and not the entire PrimeTime community.

So far there are 28 PrimeTime members signed up. But with over 750 PrimeTime members there’s room for more.

Kindly consider this event to see if it is something suitable for you.

Event link: https://www.meetup.com/primetimeatx/events/291755833/

Volunteer Events

 In the past PrimeTime has had events where members volunteered their time to support organizations such as the Central Texas Food Bank, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the Dream a Dream horse ranch. Going forward, Frank Tantillo has offered to organize these type of events as a way for PrimeTime to give back to our community. If you have any suggestions for volunteering type of events please pass your idea onto Frank. His email address is frankpetert@yahoo.com.

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New Meetup Imposed Procedures

Many of you may have noticed some changes to the Meetup site, especially since January. Not only has the fee that we pay to Meetup to host the Primetime group gone up considerably, Meetup has initiated multiple tiers of fees for both groups and members. I’d like to talk about their new membership structure and what it means for us.

Starting late last year and especially noticeable in January, you may have seen that many traditional features of the Meetup platform have become hidden except to their paying “Meetup Plus” members. Although Meetup + has been around for awhile, the fees for this membership have increased significantly. and unlike before, many features that our members have come to know and appreciate are now hidden behind this paywall. This includes the ability to send private messages to other members and to even see who is attending an event. Honestly at first I didn’t notice this as group organizers still have most of the features available to them, at least for their own groups. However, it is clear many of you have seen some of the changes and are not happy about them.

I feel for you. Meetup for the most part didn’t really announce any of these changes until they were upon us, and like I said, as an organizer, they didn’t affect me as much.

Just know that I have no control over these changes or the features they now hide. I have expressed my displeasure to Meetup, although I suspect they will give it little attention. We have long known that Meetup as a platform has been financially troubled since the WeWork days, and there is no a somewhat understandable need to raise cash. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the way to do it. Honestly, I would pay even more as an Organizer in yearly group fees just to have the option to turn this crap off, but alas that is not what they have chosen to do.

Let me just state that as far as I and the current Leadership Board is concerned, we will do everything we can to keep PrimetimeATX open and inclusive to all, no matter what our member’s financial circumstances may be.

The Announcements and Waiting List Problem

One of the biggest changes I saw since January is the way Meetup now handles event announcements and event waiting lists. Now, if you are one of their paying members, you automatically receive new event announcements before non-paying members. The period of delay is uncertain right now, but I’m trying to find out. If an event fills up and a waiting list is started, paying members on the waiting list automatically get moved to the front of the line when spots open up and ahead of non-paying members, regardless of when they RSVP.

Both of these changes upset me greatly, as I consider them the antithesis of what our group is supposed to be about. Unfortunately, and as I said, I can’t turn this off for now.

In reality, we don’t really have that many events that become completely full, which is why some of you may not have noticed. However, for events like my movie nights and a few of our other popular events, this is a real problem.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know some things I am trying to do to get around some of these new rules. I cannot do anything about the waiting list issue, so I just need our wonderful Event Hosts to know what is happening and encourage them to open up their event numbers as much as they can to try and prevent waiting lists from forming.

As for the early announcement issue, on my events I have started to go against our tradition of not announcing our events until, as a maximum, three weeks before the event. Now I will post and announce as much as a month in advance. However, I will set the event so that no one is allowed to RSVP for the event until at least a week after the event is posted and announced. Theoretically, that would mean that everyone (paying and non-paying) should have the event announcements before they actually have a chance to RSVP.

This is at best a band-aid, and I assure you we will continue to try and work with Meetup to get this policy reversed of at least modified. But for now, we are stuck with it. As a backup, we are looking into Meetup alternatives, but for now, we have not found any platform that gives us the feature base, website traffic (important for new members), and ease that Meetup provides. Should that change (and should Meetup not)we may have to consider those other alternatives.

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I think I have managed to throw enough new information at you for this month. Just know there are many, many initiatives in the works that we hope will take our vibrant and wonderful community to the next level while still maintaining our roots. So keep reading these newsletters. I’ll let you know more next month.

Keep on truckin’, Primetimers.

Gregg, on behalf of Andy, Patty, Tom, and Frank