Public Discussion - Friday, November 4 2011

Friday, November 4
Facilitator: Marty Facilitator: Forest Minutes: Mallory Stack Taker: None

The discussion followed this format:


 * Introduction (10 minutes)
 * Breakout Group Formation (individuals on stack) (20 minutes)
 * Group Discussions (45 minutes)
 * Group Stack/Presentations (10 minutes per group x 3 groups = 30 minutes)
 * Conclusion/Summary

Breakout groups were formed after an opening discussion about what people wanted to talk about. The three breakout groups were:


 * Local Issues
 * Occupy as Paradigm Shift
 * Functional divisions in the movement and occupy boston (i.e. offline/online, onsite/offsite)

Some noted questions/comments that resulted at the end of discussion:


 * How does occupy reach into rural areas? Also, what about occupy gardens/farms?
 * How to include people whose time is filled with work obligations (i.e. how to occupy time the same way we are currently occupying space)?
 * "laboratory space" to describe our ideas discussions.

Two functional issues with discussion format identified by facilitator (Forest) were:


 * Breakout groups for the most part lacked facilitation, stack taker, timekeepers, or minute recorders. In the future groups should ideally follow an established process for discussion.


 * People who tended to agree seemed to clump together in the smaller groups. Maybe experimenting with starting groups with members randomly assigned and *then* applying law of two feet would be worthwhile? Also, instructing group initiators to make sure their group has someone taking stack?