12-2-25 Spokescouncil Planning Meeting

Agenda 

6:30-8:30 pm

check ins (5 min)

Roles: fac, notes, timer (5 min)

Review action Items from spokes meeting (10 min)

• Proposal voting - asynch - iris 

• Update explainer, add documentation as needed - Paul

• Figure out meeting cadence with writers group - iris

• Breakout chat for General Assembly - proposal - post into announcements chat - ash/shannon -Suggestions for groups to have in chat asynch votes for proposals in WGs 

• SNACK ROLE for next meeting - shea will coordinate to find someone

• “A day in the life of an admin committee” template - shea

• “Chore wheel”  for randomized roles online for spokescouncil planning chat  - Ash asks LP

• make an account with the wiki - Help with authenticating accounts first - Everyone, Paul

• Posts to make:

  • we are opening up for observers to attend spokescouncil meetings + post to community - add to agenda as announcement and make a post  

  • Announcement for spokescouncil planning needing help - add to agenda and invitation flyer/post

Spokescouncil meeting overhead tasks (20 min):

• Agenda for next meeting - need volunteer to do this and highlights for the agenda asynchronous

• voting delegate for our group
• visuals for RC orientation intro, need someone to make these and project laptop

• Brief discussion on how meetings have been going and any notes on how to make them better and what’s working well already

• facilitator for next meeting
• FOOD 
  

Steering/strategy discussion Part 1 (30 min) :

• in what ways are the admin committees actually held accountable to the spokescouncil (10 min)

• absentee voting idea

• name of this group and differentiate it from spokescouncil meetings + invitation 

• Rewriting charter to be more open 

• Facilitator training/skillshare

Break (5 min)

Steering/strategy discussion Part 2 (30 min) :

• How to revoke point person process  

• Hang outs /social time 

• Internal calendar to coordinate tasks for regular admin tasks  

• Collective agenda writing  for big meetings-  submissions model OR cryptpad

How can we share the labor of this group more fairly? Task assigner working? People are not volunteering for offline work... (10 min)

Discuss and vote on proposal: https://wiki.commons.nyc/books/spokescouncil-proposals/page/proposal-to-change-spokescouncil-meeting-dates (10 min)

action item roundup (5 min)

------------------------------------------------------------

Notes: 

Last meeting action Items- completed:

• Proposal voting - asynch - iris 
  

• Figure out meeting cadence with writers group - iris
  

• SNACK ROLE for next meeting - shea will coordinate to find someone
  

• “Chore wheel” for randomized roles online for spokescouncil planning chat  - Ash asks LP

• make an account with the wiki - Help with authenticating accounts first - Everyone, Paul

• Posts to make:

  • we are opening up for observers to attend spokescouncil meetings + post to community - add to agenda as announcement and make a post  

  • Announcement for spokescouncil planning needing help - add to agenda and invitation flyer/post

Spokescouncil meeting overhead tasks (20 min):

• Agenda for next meeting - need volunteer to do this and highlights for the agenda asynchronous- Ash to bottomline. Shea and Iris shadow 

• voting delegate for our group- Iris 
• visuals for RC orientation intro, need someone to make these and project laptop- doc is empty, needs to be repopulated- Paul?

• Brief discussion on how meetings have been going and any notes on how to make them better and what’s working well already

  • general feeling that last spokescouncil went well
  • observers came after the open call
  • group discussion and resulting differing opinions (healthy conflict!) around how open spokescouncil meetings should be were encouraging, not the same voices participating- let's add this topic to next agenda and keep discussion going
  • Caroline was an excellent facilitator! People seem intimidated by this role, keep soliciting folx to shadow, organize facilitation workshop
    • we may need to "voluntell" someone for this mtg- candidates? 
    • LP- designing a game to teach facilitation 
    • Shea- will reach out to a friend who's done non-profit work/ diversity trainings re: capacity to speak
  • vibes were good but larger questions are still not being answered
  • graphics presentation feedback was confusing- group clapped and seemed favorable to material presented during the meeting but individual feedback after meeting was largely unfavorable- presentation vs proposal mindset?
    • would a straw poll here have given more reliable feedback?
    • reminder these materials can/ should be rolled into the larger design library 
• LP- mailing list is functional!
• facilitator for next meeting- open call in spokeschat and possible voluntell
• FOOD- Shea will bottomline for 12/11- vegan and GF menu underway
  • larger discussion around writing proposal / creating budget for food for these meetings as a way to strengthen community bonds and make spokescouncil attendance more appealing 
    • create RSVP system via WF or other to get a rough headcount?- LP
    • Iris- nominate Food Czar (monthly rotation) and allocate budget, compile list of budget and diet friendly vendors to order from to streamline process and relieve labor burden- this should be a proposal
    • include headcount in meeting agenda

Steering/strategy discussion Part 1 (30 min) :

• in what ways are the admin committees actually held accountable to the spokescouncil 

  • via updates and announcements (in practice) 
  • via Report Back form (not in practice- created not shared, ready for 12/11 meeting) 
  • via internal SOPs (not in practice- need template to facilitate creation, aim for Jan spokescouncil roll out)
    • LP- to encourage autonomous action and completion of nonsensitive tasks we could create a task tracker/ progress board to display in space- needs done/ doing/ done 

• absentee voting idea continue convo in next meeting 

  • prefer idea of using other WG delegates as proxy 
  • worry this option will negatively impact in person attendance and RT discussion/ collaboration if it's seen as an easy opt out
    • Iris- we can post in spokescouncil WG chat ahead of meeting to get a head count and call out any groups who aren't represented to hopefully mitigate this impact

• name of this group and differentiate it from spokescouncil meetings + invitation 

  • not sure name is the issue but agree we need more draw
  • what's in a name, anyway?
  • asynch name proposal in chat?

• Rewriting charter to be more open, make group more approachable- we have fun!
  

  • talk to members of WGs- communicate better about what we're doing/ vision/ longer term goals for space
    • more community outreach + programming ie CPR trainings, blood drives
    • playing with structure, form, procedure 
    • bring us your big ideas!

Steering/strategy discussion Part 2 (30 min) :

• How to revoke point person process continue convo in next meeting 

  • use proposal template to initiate process?
  • quorum vote?
    • larger discussion around why PP is being removed- are they causing harm or overwhelmed? permanent vs temporary removal and paths to each
      • we need a list of non-negotiables to point to for immediate/ emergency expulsion situations- better to have a policy in place beforehand than create ad hoc in the moment
        • still need Points of Unity doc- would tie in here!
      • larger discussion around that individual's responsibilities and whether other participants will step up to absorb them vs committee cohesion- is this person easy to work with? would more people participate if they weren't involved?
      • Ask: this WG's admin committee members reach out to their admin committees and ask them to make space for this conversation
        • LP- there was a suggestion last admin mtg to make Sunday admin committee meetings more focused to specific committees to encourage attendance on days relevant to individual committee members- can be included in agendas

• Hang outs /social time continue convo in next meeting- come w ideas!

  • we're all tired/ overburdened but social time is important for mental health and fighting burnout!
  • asynch note from Shea: I can host next planning meeting (potentially 1/6) at my apartment if the group is down! I live alone so we wouldn't have outside distractions. this would also guarantee Meatballs presence :) 
    • of note: I live ~20min walk from RC and the Jefferson L, this may be a barrier to attendance

• Internal calendar to coordinate tasks for regular admin tasks

  • calendar dom assigned via random task wheel- role is responsible for keeping track of dates and posting reminders in chats 
  • can post upcoming spokescouncil meeting dates once proposal has been voted on in 12/11 spokescoucil meeting 
    • proposed Jan dates- 1/6 planning meeting; 1/10 spokescouncil meeting 
• Collective agenda writing  for big meetings-  submissions model OR cryptpad
  • consensus around crypt pad for ease of use- post link in group description
  • agenda writer will triage 
• How can we share the labor of this group more fairly?
  • by bringing in new people- check in with Frankie- do they still want to be in this group?
  • LP needs to take a step back, not available for assigned roles 
• Task assigner working?
  •  yes! we have a smaller pool of members to assign tasks to, tho
• People are not volunteering for offline work... (10 min)
  • call back to recruiting- members of this working group are strongly encouraged to reach out to people in other working groups re: joining the planning group- we have fun!!
• Discuss and vote on proposal: https://wiki.commons.nyc/books/spokescouncil-proposals/page/proposal-to-change-spokescouncil-meeting-dates (10 min)
  • Friendly Amendment- in the event that the proposed spokescouncil meeting cadence falls on a holiday or is in conflict with a scheduled rental, the spokescouncil planning working group is empowered to use its best judgement in selecting an alternative date that does not conflict with regularly scheduled programming (ie writers workshop or other) 

Action Item Round Up:

Assigned- 

• Task assigner- Ash
• Planning group's turn to clean the bathroom this week- Ash
• Post admin committee report back form in admin committee chat- committees to have ready for spokes meeting- Shea
• Create programming committee SOP ("a day in the life") + share w programming for approval; use to create SOP template across admin committees- Shea  
• Update explainer, add documentation as needed and more visuals for easier digestion (prev. version has been deleted?) - Paul?
• Create breakout chat for General Assembly - proposal - post into announcements chat - Ash/ Shannon -Suggestions for groups to have in chat asynch votes for proposals in WGs Ash has volunteered to start the process if Shannon needs to step back 
• Agenda for Spokescouncil meeting- Ash

  • Announcement for spokescouncil planning needing help - add to agenda 

  • Announcement for spokescouncil planning needing help - add to agenda
  • continue debate around HOW open Spokescouncil should be to the larger community- add to agenda
  • include request for questions/ comments/ feedback to be answered asynchronously- add to agenda
  • add headcount to agenda
• Agenda writing skillshare- Ash, Shea, Iris 
• Design feedback container for asynchronous response- LP
• Food for Spokescouncil meeting- Shea
• facilitation game- LP
• reach out to friend for facilitation workshop- Shea
• facilitator candidate identification for "voluntell" shortlist- ALL
• Group poll: do we want to have the next planning meeting at Shea's apt?- Shea
• Vote on next mtg location poll- ALL
• Temp check w Frankie on planning meeting participation- Shea
• Post notes from this meeting in wiki and link in group chat- Shea
• Post meeting action items in chat- Shea
  • call out unassigned action items + request volunteers

Unassigned- 

• Posts to include in Spokescouncil + WG chat as reminders moving forward/ until planning attendance is better:

  • we are opening up for observers to attend spokescouncil meetings (also post to RC community chat) 

  • Announcement for spokescouncil planning needing help 

  • open call for 12/11 facilitator 
• Post in Spokescouncil WG Chat- delegates should stay in chat after serving their role as notetaker/ voter to stay in the loop on spokescouncil related comms vs leaving chat; please still add any new delegates from your WG to the chat!
• Rewrite charter to make the planning group more approachable/ open to new members