When your membership at BMS is accepted, you become a formal member of an incorproated association called Meanjin Makerspace. We normally use the public trading name Brisbane Makerspace or BMS for short.
You are automatically accepted as a standard member. This means you get full access to everything at BMS (in accordance with our policies). You are also welcome to attend general meetings, but you don't get voting rights straight away.
We use a voting system called consensus decision making. This means a single member can block a motion from passing. This has the potential to be misused and also takes a while to get used to. This means you need to meet a few requirements before you can become a voting member.
The requirements to become a voting member are set out in our constitution and summarised below. Members with voting rights are called a Volunteer Member in the constitution.
You must meet all of the requirements below to apply for voting rights.
Once you meet the requirements above, you can apply to become a voting member. A motion just needs to be passed at a meeting to make you a voting member and that's it! This can be done at a committee meeting or a general meeting.
The general best practice is to ask a voting member to do this for you at a general meeting. You don't need to be present, but it's highly encouraged! If you don't know anyone well enough to do this, we recommend coming along to some of our events like our open nights.
If you can't get someone to raise a motion at a general meeting, you can also ask someone on the committee to do it at the next committee meeting.
If you need help or are confused about what to do, please ask in Discord or get in touch with the head maker.