Facilitators Working Group - November 20

Notes taken by hand, with varying levels of detail, all dialogue is paraphrased -- MH

Introductions

[Daniel is facilitating]

[Agenda items are proposed and prioritized by straw poll]

Announcements

Public speaking course, tomorrow (November 21) at 8PM in Dewey Square

Non-violence workshop, tomorrow (November 21) from 6 - 8PM, led by Cathy Hoffman

First Priority Process Proposal, tonight (November 20), Non-Violence Working Group Proposal

[Jorge explains PPP requirements]

Main agenda

Reporting back from the Friday night Consensus Process workshop

Greg: spirit and design of new process is good, though not necessarily a more efficient process -- this is not necessarily a problem

Daniel: perhaps elements of this process, if not whole process can be brought into the current consensus model

[Daniel discusses means of altering concerns and amendments portion of his proposal]

[Jorge concurs that it isn't more efficient]

[Sue, Bobby, Suzanne ask questions about how recent GAs have gone


 * number of attendees
 * quorum
 * number of facilitators used

Exporting facilitation practices to other occupations

Sue from Occupy Salem: I've tried to get facilitators to show up or help from OB

G: I would be interested in helping

B: Are there electronic, online resources we could use for things at BU, etc.? We have a pretty consistent attendance at our meetings of about 15 people.

Noah: Here at OB we have good small-group models but bigger groups are hairier

Anna's proposals [see email to FWG]

Announcing the proposals agenda the night before (by midnight)

G: I support this, let's also put it in the Info Tent, a calendar on the wiki would be useful, in conjunction with Priority Process Proposal

Alex: This could be put on current OB calendar

[Greg gets clarification from Daniel that Anna suggests only that group proposing and a summary of the proposal are posted]

N: For this, we need calendar access and dedicated whiteboard

A: Onsite campers are hard-pressed to access phone or internet quickly and thus pursue a proposal immediately

J: Some great proposals have been written right before a GA

A: Some poeple have trouble holding onto an idea for very long, we shouldn't exclude them

D: Only the bare-bones description is necessary

N: This can work in tandem with the Priority Process Proposal

[Disruption: "FIFO LIFO - First In First Out, Last In Last Out" the group is told by someone passing through]

N: What happens to bumped proposals?

G: Before Priority Proposals [?]

D: What about stack online? This is just putting stack online ahead of time.

B: This is just a way to provide more info about the General Assembly beforehand

General question discussed: Is it really a benefit for the GA if someone can decide whether or not he or she wants to show up based on interest in the proposals?

Secondary question: Does it lead to "gaming" the system?

Proposal: To request that proposals be added to an agenda whiteboard, and that these proposals be


 * 1) sent to facilitation by 8AM same day of GA
 * 2) include contact info of proposers
 * 3) include summary of content of proposal
 * 4) include copy of proposal if available

Proposals will be posted on whiteboard and online

G: What about priority?

All: Just like stack

D: Let's make a proposals stack whiteboard

G: We need both whiteboard and a digital stack

[General discussion]

Amended proposal: Contacts onsite will be made available to put things on whiteboard; at 8AM an onsite member of Facilitation copies whiteboard content to online, public location; Stack Aide that night will begin with whiteboard stack; PPProposals have priority; then proposals on the stack that have rolled over from the previous evening

[Lots of discussion on how to make this work, do we like whiteboards or paper, who will handle onsite whiteboard, do we need to police it, how do keep a place online to add proposals to stack, how would we manage the priority of both online and whiteboard additions simultaneously?]

[Proposal is offered for consensus, is blocked]

Roles for the night's GA:

[Noah chosen as facilitator, Pattie is stack aide]