MERAKI NOTES - AUGUST 28, 2018

DATE:  8/28/18, 7-9 pm

LOCATION: Maine Center for Taijiquan and Qigong, 500 Forest Avenue

ATTENDEES:  Eva, John, Oracle, Lindy, Emily, Pika, Deb, Chloe, Neil, Martin, Dave, Judy

FACILATOR:  Deb

TIMEKEEPER:  Pika

MISSION STATEMENT:  Grounding/reading mission statement

JULY MEETING NOTES RECAP:  Judy

AGENDA ITEMS:

1 SPRING RETREAT: (5 min) 

Discussion tabled; no champions present.  Need volunteer lead & volunteers to carry it forward, otherwise if no committed volunteers it won’t happen. Chloe will poll members at closing circle, Sunday, September 2nd, requesting a show of hands for interest in a spring retreat and a show of hands of who will volunteer.  Judy is contact person for volunteers.

2 NEW YEARS EVE: (5 min) 

Discussion tabled, same as spring retreat topic above (i.e., Chloe to poll members, etc. etc.)

3 ANNUAL MEETING: (25 min)

PCD has (3) officer positions:  President, Treasurer and Secretary. There is nothing in PCD ByLaws about officer terms, but there was disagreement about whether or not it is good to change officers regularly (avoid being “stale”) or try to retain them (for continuity and stability). PCD ByLaws requires officers to meet once a quarter.

Does the board “like” working together?  Is that question relevant? Discussion about how Meraki and Officer positions in the past differ from the present. There has been change in the level of enthusiasm and participation.  The “chemistry” of the officers may have been important; now some view it as not important.

Right now may not be a good time to make any substantive changes to governance; but should be discussion for long term. 

Possible changes proposed include:

• Increase number of board of directors; increase number of officers
• Board and officers take a more active role in decision-making 

Officers present were polled about whether or not they were willing to continue for another year:  Pika (Pres) ~ Yes.   Judy (Sec) ~ No    Polly (Treas) ~  Not present

Pika and Judy have been officers 1 year; this is Polly’s 2nd year and she may consider staying on (she has two helpers ~ Oracle and Jimmy). 

It is important for officers to attend Meraki.  Polly has not attended Meraki in 2018; she has said that Tuesdays do not work for her and many of the scheduled dates this year have been on Tuesdays.

It’s a Meraki responsibility to insure the annual meeting happens and officer candidates are nominated and elected by PCD members. There was a suggestion that existing officers might stay on but move onto new roles, for example, Pika as Sec, Judy as Pres. 

John was acknowledged for the invaluable work he has done in the past and ongoing with PCD finances even though he is not formally an officer.  There was agreement at the suggestion that Meraki would welcome any formal role he might consider in the future. He has self-selected not to do so at this time (other than to maintain his “back-office geek” role.)

There needs to be involvement of full PCD membership in soliciting volunteer candidates for officers (and not from just within the Meraki group in attendance).  Some disagreement voiced between wanting more quantity of volunteers who might want to be officers versus those who already attend Meraki and understand how PCD runs. 

How do we go about getting nominations?  

• Call for nominations; inclusivity; raise awareness of members
• Need cohesive officers/board who work together; who show up at Meraki; generate energy together; no conflicts ~ fun vibe
• Not sure officers are responsible for “vibe’
• Emily, as a 1st time Meraki attendee, voiced she didn’t know anything about Officer/officer roles etc so raising awareness is important
• Can’t ask people who don’t come to Meraki to be board members
• Need to set a date now for the annual meeting so space is available after Sunday dance
• Does the annual meeting have to be in November?  Or can it be done in Jan/Feb?
• Need to have Officer Job Descriptions available to members; so roles and responsibilities are understood and some orientation as to what the role entails

Deb summarizes next steps:

• Date set:  November 4th after dance (Martin to check space availability post dance)
• Announcements @ meeting at circle after dance next (2) Sundays (Oracle volunteered to do this and have hand-out of officer descriptions; likely will new officer open if members are curious/interested)
• Neil suggests an online form (future date)
• Oracle to find out if Polly wants to continue as Treasurer
• Ask Jimmy if any interest in treasurer position (he’s been assisting)

4 CAPACITY (5 min)

Oracle suggested being proactive versus reactive if PCD reaches a threshold capacity for physical safety ~ as some of our Sunday dance have grown in attendance.  The new owner is changing the small (overflow) room so in the future it is uncertain as to whether it’s an option to use on Sunday. According to fire code capacity is 180 people so in that sense we are well within. Some people will self-select (not come Sunday) if they feel it is getting too crowded for their comfort level.

It’s not a bad idea to have a back up plan for when/if we can’t use the ballroom space due to changes by the new owner/manager. Oracle will call Reiche School to see if they are still amenable to using the gym as we did in the early PCD years. The Warren Avenue dance space was deemed unsuitable when contacted a while back.

5 CULTURE OF CONSENT (COC) (30 min —-we went over time)

Background:  At the July Meraki meeting, Meraki voted to allow a committee to form around this topic. Volunteers joined the subcommittee and met to discuss. The committee met and submitted a summary of the meeting which was included with the August meeting agenda to all members. In addition, Oracle offered an addendum/comment to the committee’s summary which was also included with the August agenda. 

Discussion highlights:

• Lindy initially not comfortable with committee’s recommendation to conduct 2 separate (gender-identified based) facilitated meetings/potluck/workshop. (After discussion and clarity, she is comfortable with cte going forward; can join cte as well)
• Perhaps one big meeting/separate break outs
• Confidentiality/privacy and communication issues (who is responsible to help or assist someone who is experiencing an individual issue? Everyone, the Wiz, anyone a person trusts or knows ~~ what’s the PCD process for monitoring issues (WIZ does this as well as individuals on a one on one basis, ex. Chloe and she has also brought individual situations to Blair/WIZ in the past) 
• Recommend that the proposed meeting/workshop be announced to membership as an open forum, to engage, discuss the topic as a positive & fun opportunity to listen, share and educate around safety, how to recognize consent on the dance floor and to come up with some ideas that can be recommended to Meraki and adopted.  The idea is to encourage community spirit and open dialogue versus “problem to solved”
• Neil’s initial email to male members was not just on the topic of COC, but his intent was to have a broader conversation and not just monitor safety
• Not just consent or safety but how to do a better job of welcoming someone into the space who is very new to PCD/dance etc. (striking a balance between welcome/offering info and respecting individual process)
• WIZ meets 1st Sunday and can begin some improvements even before COC committee meetings/recommendations are made to Meraki
• How to get the entire community involved (especially those who most need/want it) in the break outs? 

VOTE - FIRST PROPOSAL 

The COC committee has the power to move forward for a community event to open a discussion about consent education and have fun; then bring the ideas gleaned at the event back to Meraki with recommendations to be voted upon

Committee can decide if it is Meraki (Board would have to be there) sponsored or not

Other:

Oracle put his process hat on-  proposes members evaluate the Meraki meeting. Send it to Judy or Oracle (see below a definition of the evaluation process followed by individual evaluation sent via email post meeting as we ran out of time)

Evaluation provides a forum to address procedural flaws, inappropriate behaviour,

facilitation problems, logistical difficulties, overall tone, etc. Evaluation is

not a time to reopen discussion, make decisions or attempt to resolve problems,

but rather, to make statements, express feelings, highlight problems, and suggest

solutions in a spirit of cooperation and trust. To help foster communication, it

is better if each criticism is coupled with a specific suggestion for improvement.

Also, always speak for oneself. Do not attempt to represent anyone else.

...

Encourage everyone who participated in the meeting to take part in the evaluation.

Make comments on what worked and what did not.

Judy:

I was relieved and happy that we had some veteran Meraki folks attend, including prior

officers, at the meeting, especially appreciating their perspectives of “how it used to

be” and how it is evolving or is now. I’ve missed those presences as they’ve diminished

over time.  At the same time, it was wonderful to have a first timer there.  I was also

grateful to have Deb facilitating and navigating us through some of the areas of conflict

and disagreement and confusion. I am coming to an opinion that we need a committed group

of regular Meraki attendees, including those who are willing and skilled with facilation"

Martin:

I felt that getting the agenda plus the supplemental summaries ahead helped us begin on a clearer and better footing.  I, as well as my sense of everyone else, seemed to have a clearer vision of what we needed to accomplish during the meeting, how to order it and proceed.

The meeting went very well, not however, because of that structure so much as the

quality of each person’s participation. I was impressed and pleased by the quality

of everyone’s attention, that everyone listened well and sought to articulate their

own viewpoints with integrity. This was particularly valuable when people differed

and the respectful way they were able to voice their differences. People also

demonstrated restraint from speaking, which was part of the quality of the

listening, and which helps model for me better better group participation.

This has generally been my overall experience of Meraki meetings—(not withstanding

a number of them that were difficult and not to my liking)—and one of the reasons I

continue to participate.

Deb’s facilitation was exceptionally adept, agile, on mark and considerate and helped

keep us on mark.  Judy’s presentations also were so clear, helpful and contributed at the

outset to get us off on the right foot, focused on the agenda we had set ourselves. And

I’m always grateful for Oracle’s contributions, the way he makes them, even if I at

times don’t agree.

John:

Nor is it anything we formally decided as Meraki - we discussed at a

meeting at which we had no quorum to make decisions, or did I miss

something? I certainly don't remember to agreeing to move forward with a

formal consensus process.

Having to provide feedback raises the bar on effort required to participate

in Meraki. IMO, anything that asks more of Meraki meeting participants

inhibits participation. We should keep Meraki meetings as simple as needed

to get the business of PCD done, and the focus should be solely on what we

need to do to keep dance and the corporation going.

I don't know anything about Starhawk's "Fifth Sacred Thing", except what I

just read on Wikipedia. What does that have to do with consensus?

Lindy:

I thought Deb did a great job as facilitator with this new format even

though she hasn't been to Meraki during much of this process. Her call

for a "grounding" initially was timely. I appreciated that.

I hesitated initially when we were setting time limits for the agenda. I

knew that people were underestimating. I had reservations about saying

something b/c of the larger group last night and not wanting to speak

up. I think most people learned anyway.

I am also sensitive to withdrawing agenda items without a discussion. As

it worked out, we were full anyway, but I think in the future, that

needs to be played out more. I think that part could have been

"tighter", but I understand last night was the first time we did timing

and agenda together and so there was a lot processing.

I am interested in hearing from Judy, if she is doing the agenda solo or

with you or with the officers. I would like that process to be more

transparent. I think it makes a difference knowing how the agenda is

decided and I would like to consider time frames as part of that process

and something specific written or considered in determining how we a lot

time.

I think 10 min. at the end for an eval is too short. That gives less

than 1 min/person, which I think is unrealistic. B/C of the breath of

what we are working thru, and until we can get the timing right, I think

we should do the eval by email and vote on whether people want to add

this part in or not at the Meraki meeting.

Oracle:

Pleased that some of the grunt work seems to pay off, particularly around the

agenda and reports about what is to be discussed.

Not so pleased with how we handled stuff for which no one has yet taken

responsibility, eg New Year's Eve and Spring Retreat and to some degree

the annual meeting.  Feeling that if no one steps up for something, it's

not really Meraki's job to fill in and that project dies - annual meeting

aside!  We did come up with way - announcing at Sun dance - and we'll

figure that out.

Also thinking that where something is delegated to subcommittee, Meraki wants

to be careful about getting re-involved.

Pleased with mistakes from which we can learn.  ;^>

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 7-9 pm, Neil and Chloe’s, 147 Brackett Street, 2nd floor, Portland