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
- sent to facilitation by 8AM same day of GA
- include contact info of proposers
- include summary of content of proposal
- 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]