Attendees: Kendall, Oracle, Deb, Kari, Jason, Judy, John, Martin, Lindy, Mellen, Kellie, Matthew
Meeting Start: In gathering by Martin
Roles:
- Vibe Keeper: Jason + Matthew
- Time Keeper: Lindy
- Facilitator: Deb
- Door-Keeper: Oracle
- IN-Gathering: Martin
Agenda:
1. In gathering - Martin (cont.) - 10 min
a. Proposal
2. How we roll (cont) - 5 min
a. Proposal v2, a working draft
b. Includes Advocate role proposal, see specific proposal here - 15 min
3. Capacity planning (cont.) - 15 min
a. Proposal, from last meeting
4. Wiz report out about process for insuring committee has presence at Sunday dance - Lindy - 5 min
5. Wiz report on welcoming newcomers: Wiz member - 5 min
6. Poster Board project - Jason - 5 min
7. PCD survey proposal - Deb (cont.) - 10
a. Proposal
8. Racial equity (cont.) - 5 min
a. Reference doc / initial proposal
9. Spring retreat update - 5 min
10. Advocate Roll / Process Proposal - 20 min
1. In gathering - Martin (cont.) - 10 min
a. Proposal
2. How we roll (cont) - 5 min
a. Proposal v2, a working draft
b. Includes Advocate role proposal, see specific proposal here - 15 min
3. Capacity planning (cont.) - 15 min
a. Proposal, from last meeting
4. Wiz report out about process for insuring committee has presence at Sunday dance - Lindy - 5 min
5. Wiz report on welcoming newcomers: Wiz member - 5 min
6. Poster Board project - Jason - 5 min
7. PCD survey proposal - Deb (cont.) - 10
a. Proposal
8. Racial equity (cont.) - 5 min
a. Reference doc / initial proposal
9. Spring retreat update - 5 min
10. Advocate Roll / Process Proposal - 20 min
Share out of legal update - Mellen - tabled
Lighting output from WIZ and DJ committee - tabled
Meeting
IN-Gathering by Martin
Deb summarized How We Roll doc for newcomer, Matt
Oracle presents education piece about the importance of evaluations and dissonance.
Kendall summarized last meeting’s notes and agenda; Deb facilitated assigning times for each item
1. IN-Gathering
Martin shared Proposal; would be nice if other volunteers stepped forward after Martin leads this for the first few months
Mellen asked about what happens after Martin is coordinator for a few months; Martin says we can review at that time
Oracle echoed that this is just to get us in the flow of things
John concerned that there is a lot of structure around this
Jason wonders if it could be a part of who facilitates; concerned that it requires too many roles
Martin wants to be coordinator because he doesn’t want it to be burden on facilitator; has sense of how to do it
Deb concerned it seems like a lot of work, but if Martin is willing, she is ok with it
John & Mellen expressed concern about it being hard to let go, Martin agreed
John: don’t want to see it curated to a particular standard; everything else we do here is potluck - some will be great, some will be not so great, I think we should be open to what is in the room
Mellen echoes this sentiment; maybe it is too formalized; would be better to be organic thing
Martin responded: doesnt mean for it to be such a high standard, sees as opportunity for himself and others desired to create a moment
Deb: if someone wants to do an in-gathering but doesn’t want to share with you, will you be ok with that?
Martin says yes
All agree in-gathering is important
Most agree with proposal; all of us agree to the 4-month time period.
APPROVED!
2. How We Roll
John proposed that we change “read” how we roll to “summarize” how we roll
Proposal APPROVED
3. Capacity
- Keep accurate count (the Wiz) - Agreed upon as priority is happening
- Get feedback about numbers - feedback from 20 people over a period of time, and ongoing - proposal to have everyone on Meraki to note how it felt - collect notes in the book, or in your phone -- make mental note of what you felt was your experience at dance relative to density: did you have any feelings of crowdedness? Vs being too many people - Agreed that we wanted to get this feedback
- Closing entrance to dance 11am Sunday / 8pm Thursday -- turns out, overall is not something that the majority of people embrace - dead, in shadow for now
- Approval - in principal - considering a second dance, either another Thursday per month - logistics around another dance - separate dance on Sunday
Jason called Maplewood, sounded strange got weird feeling (person who built it passed away, didn’t seem receptive), but he is willing to try again
Deb concerned that taking notes will be too subjective… we need a scale. Make it clear what we are asking people to do. Idea of google poll
Mellen suggested getting younger people, cross-section of demographic
Jason agrees.
Capacity committee to take responsibility for selecting 20 people to take notes.
Add to agenda for next month: Second Sunday Dance and/or Second Thursday Dance
Oracle brings up container dialogue - wants to put this on agenda for next mtg - about sacred space
John suggests he isn’t looking for a sacred space
4. Sunday Coverage
Kari explains we talked a bunch about coverage for what Wiz provides
Compiling a list of all the things that needs to happen from time we open to time we close, there will be contact information of Wiz people, so that people can step in in the unlikely event that no Wiz person is there; additionally there would be 5 extra people that would know what to do closing up
Mellen, Judy, Jason, John, Matthew volunteered to be the extra people
Jason echoes sheet is great idea; wants it laminated
Martin pointed out that for safety reason, it is a good reason to have Wiz member there
5. Newcomers
Do we formalize welcoming newcomers; instead, we remind Meraki that we want to help newcomers feel welcome?
We are making this a responsibility explicitly of the larger community
John: we have to balance this with the individual right to be left alone
Martin: that feels like an individual sensitivity, how do we know that?
Deb: we care about what newcomers think; we don’t know what they feel - lets be careful to suggest that we have a problem on our hands because we might not… segway to survey
Kari: we’ve been talking about it for months; we can’t seem to nail it down, maybe there isn’t really a problem
Jason: maybe it isn’t a problem; its about the engagement, something we can touch back to often
Judy; talking about it raises consciousness
Deb wants to suggest: we have talked about newcomers enough; we can come back to it if it is a problem, and it is no longer necessary to be an agenda item
6. Posterboard
30 second recognition for new poster boards! Thank you Jason!!
John felt last one was more clear than new one, but this concern is tabled until a future draft and he can live with it
7. Survey Proposal
John: what is the reason for the survey, what problem is it aiming to solve?
Deb: informs discussion of container; in the process of making it we might discover what we want to know; in process of reviewing, we can review results; topically it could cover lots of different experiences; it would be interesting to hear from our community - purpose is not to decide something, but to know to what degree are there questions and concerns from our community
Judy: likes it because often Meraki pulls from subjective details
Concerns mentioned of lenght, if people will fill it out
Kendall: wants to see presentation and announcements during each dance
8. Racial Equity
Racial Equity group is continuing to meet. More details to come!
9. Spring Retreat
Kari: things moving along, 3 new people (Nicole, Natasha, Amanda) will be visiting venue this week; still moving forward with May 5th potluck, but not sure Nicole has called Paulina, so Kari will follow up with Paulina about potluck
10. Process Discussion
Oracle pointed out that it felt crappy to shut down Martin last week because he wanted to see more preparation; Oracle instead wanted to meet with Martin outside of meeting to help pull together preparedness; Oracle presents proposal for advocate position.
Kendall asked if he would do it for a certain amount of time; he says a few months
Lindy realized we never actually approved the proposal structure - what part of this do we like, what part of this do we want to carry forward
Jason likes formality of it; a little strict but keeps us efficient; wonders about clarity between discussion and proposal, and report from various committees -- should be time for everything, but clear with what the structure is
John is concerned that raising bar may forestall input from community with this higher level structure
Mellen wonders what is the formal structure? Oracle says: who / what / where / when / why
Jason asks Matthew what is input is
Matthew shares its very interesting that art people trying to be formal / business-like -- why don’t people just get to present and be who they are, and just let that be? We’re all just practicing being with one another, whether we get it done this week or next week, seems arbitrary to this process; about being fully here
Martin liked Advocate role, seemed helpful to him
Approved to keep using proprosals
Jason clarifies proposal is about a conclusion, something to be voted on
Judy likes that there is a responsibility that people have to take, have to articulate it, etc.
Mellen wants to clarify what a proposal is - is it the initial offering? Is it a voting item? A reporting in of committees is a different thing altogether
Deb suggestions: what if the next month’s new item is clarification on the difference between proposal, update, etc. soon want a template and an advocate
Next time we make some decisions around this - Judy & Oracle are going to update us on functionality, bring templates for the various items people may bring to Meraki (Voting Proposal, Initiating New Item Proposal, Newcomer Agenda Item, Committee Update, Discussion, etc.)
Next Agenda:
- Second Sunday Dance / Thursday Dance (Capacity Committee)
- What Is Our Container? (Oracle / Jason)
- Judy & Oracle present templates for proposal structure
Evaluations:
Mellen: enjoyed Deb’s facilitation
Matthew: felt very welcomed without being put on the spot
Lindy: sometimes feels uncomfortable when people say judgmental things or being called out by name
Kellie: Nice to re-engage with this process; came back because wanted to be prepared for proposals in the future; felt much more cohesive than last meeting
Oracle: Been in a difficult place pushing process so hard; it just seems right, thanked group; feels badly about cutting off Martin last meeting
Martin: (responded) appreciated the opportunity to learn, was a positive choice; appreciated facilitator for keeping us on track, keeping us in sync
Jason: this was smoother than the last meeting; as uncomfortable as it may seem to new people, may be good - benefiting from growing pains of structure change; creating the blueprint structure as others inherit these roles; this feels right
Judy: this is a dance group, and I never want to be in meetings ever, and I’m reminded that 97% of communication is body language; appreciates struggle to come to meeting like this
Deb: values Judy’s shares; enjoyed facilitating; notices our faces are different in this meeting than at dance - faces that are not engaged, enjoys trusting anyway but doesn’t get facial feedback
Jason: can we move next time?
Kendall: fascinated by portal opening; sees form and growing pains as ultimately useful
Kari: would love to offer levity in meetings; feels like this (gesturing to meeting) is a dance
Martin does closing
Finished at 7 minutes early!
