The Penguicon Board of Directors sounds like a consistent source of frustration. I'd be surprised if the AASFA Board were, because prior to the past 4-5 years, it didn't do anything except approve the ConFusion budget annually and decide how much to donate to Clarion. All of the other stuff AASFA does, apart from the annual picnic? Is completely new stuff. And guess what -- we came up with it at board meetings.
Boards of Directors have to exist if the con, or the organization behind it, is incorporated. If you don't incorporate, then the individuals running the event have personal legal liability for debts it incurs, or lawsuits filed against it. If you ever decide to spin up an event that doesn't protect the organizers that way (or something similar, like going under another larger organization), no knowledgeable person will be willing to be an organizer of it unless they're so broke that they just don't care what happens to them. No way I'm putting my personal resources on the line. (Yes, I might put up some of my own money, but I want to limit the risk to what I decide I'm putting up, rather than having some random attendee hurt themselves and try to take my house away.)
no subject
Boards of Directors have to exist if the con, or the organization behind it, is incorporated. If you don't incorporate, then the individuals running the event have personal legal liability for debts it incurs, or lawsuits filed against it. If you ever decide to spin up an event that doesn't protect the organizers that way (or something similar, like going under another larger organization), no knowledgeable person will be willing to be an organizer of it unless they're so broke that they just don't care what happens to them. No way I'm putting my personal resources on the line. (Yes, I might put up some of my own money, but I want to limit the risk to what I decide I'm putting up, rather than having some random attendee hurt themselves and try to take my house away.)