[IMC-Boston-Discuss] Proposed meeting Agenda

[Pete Stidman]

Thanks for this Andrew, I have a couple ideas for
slight improvements.  

Not having been at very many general meetings, you may
not know that there have been several debates in the
past about stack vs. free talking.  (your proposal to
"raise hands, stay in order')  These discussions
generally take over a half an hour and have mostly
resulted in the idea that we will take stack only when
needed.  At other times we allow people to freely
discuss.  generally we all know each other and this
works well.  When it doesnt we take stack.  A good
thing for the facilitator to do is make sure quiet
folks get a chance to talk by asking em what they
think.  

There is also a conflict between those two here:
6.          Decisions are based on consensus
7.          Don't take it personal if an effort is
made to keep the group focused on the agenda.

I just want to be sure that when the meeting takes a
turn it is the group who decides the turn it takes and
not the facilitator.  SOmetimes the agenda gets
altered by the group or the group wants to go in a new
direction.  ANd that is generally considered ok.  When
a fork in the road appears it's general practice in
our meetings to take the temperature and see if people
want to continue or get back on track, or go a new
way.  

Two other things; 

The agenda you have is a little confusing to me. 
headings are kinda- vague or philosophical I think. 
To make it clearer and more familiar to us old timers-
maybe we can split it up by specific topic rather than
broad areas like goals and stuff.  I'm not opposed to
changing this in the future but this is an important
meeting with the benefit and all.

At the last few meetings we eliminated reportbacks,
they take up too much time.  Instead, working groups
are able to put their own items on the agenda when
they have a real need to talk to the bigger group. 
It's been amazing how much that has cut our meeting
time and allowed us to get more work done.
 
Here are some things I'd like to add as their own
stand alone topic. 

All IMC Benefit/Party- 20-30 minutes (first on agenda)

New Financial set up- 5 minutes (only if John G or Rob
B are there)
  
What's Up Announcement- 5 minutes

Outreach (presentation of a proposal)- 15 minutes
(this one should be last because it could wait)


Boston.Indymedia.org

July General Meeting

Location MIT, Stratton Student Center, ROOM: Stratton
Lounge, W20 - Second Floor

Time:  7:00PM-8:30PM

***PLEASE RESPECT EACH OTHER’S TIME AND BE THERE ON
TIME***

 

Goal of Meeting:  To inform and update members and
newcomers on boston.indymedia.org. at this monthly
standing meeting.  To help insure upcoming fundraiser
goes smoothly.  To consider what steps are next in the
planning process.

 

Meeting Agenda:

 

5 Minutes:                                Ask for
someone to facilitate meeting

                                                Ask
for someone to be the time keeper

                                                Ask
for someone to write the meeting minutes

 

Introductions—Please tell everyone your name and why
you are here

 

5-10 Minutes                            Review Agenda
and ask for revisions, additions, changes

 

5 Minutes                                 Go over and
agree on ground rules 

                                                      
     1.     Raise Hands - Stay in Order

                                                      
                 except for:       point of
clarification

                                                      
                                         point of
process

2.     Don’t Interrupt who is speaking

3.     Stay on Subject

4.     Be Concise, Don’t Repeat Others

5.          Be Respectful, Be Polite.

6.          Decisions are based on consensus

7.          Don’t take it personal if an effort is
made to keep the group focused on the agenda.

 

 

15 Minutes                               Reports from
various projects

                                                      
     Office operations

                                                      
     Website/Online reporting

                                                      
     Upcoming Fundraiser

                                                      
     Multimedia Project—Radio/Video

                                                      
     Other groups or projects?

 

10-15 Minutes                              
Fundraising Brainstorming Session

Determine what is needed to make this event a success?

                                                      
     List specific tasks that are needed to be done

Ask for commitments by people to do tasks with
timeline

 

20 Minutes                               Analyze and
Plan our groups next steps

                                                      
     Prioritizing goals

                                                      
     Categorizing current group activities

                                                      
     List current and potential subgroups

Example of current subgroup—Editorial Group

Example of potential subgroup—Research and Review
Team or Workshop Training Team

                                                      
     Identify tasks

 

5 Minutes                                 Review of
Action Items

                                                      
     Who is going to do what by when?

Meeting minutes sent out by certain date to what
lists?

What else?

                                                      
     Set next meeting date and time.

Agenda is sent out by certain date to what lists?

 

5 Minutes:                                Conclusion
and Round Robin

A round robin at the end where each person in turn
gets to share their feelings about the meeting and the
decisions that were made.  Celebrate success!


		
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