Meraki Meeting Notes- March 19, 2019

PCD Meeting Topics for Agenda -  March 19, 2019

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

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

Jason presented Proposal, from last meeting, reiterated 4 points:

1. Keep accurate count (the Wiz) - Agreed upon as priority is happening
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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:

1. Second Sunday Dance / Thursday Dance (Capacity Committee)
2. What Is Our Container? (Oracle / Jason)
3. 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!

Meraki Meeting Notes- February 26, 2019

PCD Meeting Notes - February 26, 2019

Attendees: Kiara, Kendall, Oracle, Nicole, Diedre, Kellie, Deb, Jimmie, Kari, Sheila, Jason, Judy, Mellen, John, Martin, Lindy, Jenna

Meeting Start: In gathering by Kari

Roles:

• Vibe Keeper: Kiara

• Time Keeper: Jason

• Facilitator: Lindy

Agenda:  

1. How we roll
2. Capacity planning
3. Racial equity
4. In gathering for starting meetings
5. PCD survey proposal
6. Spring retreat
7. Evaluation

Refer to "Topics tabled for another time" @ the bottom

1. How We Roll

Proposal put together by John, Judy, Martin

Educational moment on how PCD Steering Committee is incorporating elements of consensus process. Will include a suggested process for the future

• Link to Proposal/Draft 

Discussion:

John: Living document, any time there are changes we can take up as a group and edit it
Deb: I love it
Sheila: Missing item to introduce that we’ll experiment or practice 1 item and see if it’s working well
Lindy: Doesn’t think we need “pls arrive early each time” , Sounds like someone from how we roll will start meeting and call for volunteers. 

Kendall: Can we give feedback directly to how we roll group.
Jason: 4a, add the part about where we update what we’re going to try
Martin: Call for volunteers: wanted to add another volunteer item

Conclusion:

This is a living document that will be read each time before meeting starts and will try to be concise. We will provide feedback after meeting and before. To be continued..  

References: Formal consensus process; previous Meraki meeting notes on consensus process from 2019 and 2018

2. Capacity Planning

Proposal for "How to start thinking about capacity" put together as an output from January meeting by Oracle, Jenna, Kendall, Jason, & Deirdre

• Link to Proposal and support docs

Discussion:

Jason: We talked about capacity, had agreement that there was potential problem. 

Conversation is really about Container , how it feels the vibe, in addition to sheer numbers

Data proves attendee count is growing.

Ideas for options to resolve:

• Move to diff place
• Another dance
• Actually determine what is the max capacity 

Idea to help determine: Get10-15 regulars at PCD dance, feel out what your max number would be. Personal, not necessarily for organization 

Deb: Didn’t feel that this proposal was a good way to help us discuss capacity

Jason: Feels that this help guide it, needs a subcommittee of course and is a very long detailed alignment 

Nicole: Wondering if we are going to require more effort for greeter to count.

Jason: Yes

John: Confirming that the data will be collected and stored

Jason: Wanted to propose that PCD establish reliable mechanism for counting attendance (to be handled by Wiz, capacity committee will add numbers)

Kari:  Idea: Since greeter leaves 15 min before 11, they sometimes count closing circle and add 20 people after.

John: Divide money by total and divide by $8 to get number of people

Lindy: First meeting this has been brought up, following formal consensus process, we can flesh out concerns 

Kiara: Capacity is important and she’s grateful for work we’re doing

Jason: Observation notebook will be valuable Could we do a proposal to setup that notebook and tap people to do it?

Deb: Wanted to do a workshop type activity to discuss capacity 

Martin: There is some concern about capacity and there could be a way for individuals to provide feedback on it.

Oracle/Lindy: Confirming this subgroup was helping to explain how to talk and think about capacity 

Proposal:

Continue to collect tally data to the best of our ability during Thursday and Sunday dance, (Wiz to help facilitate, how to be determined) 

 Approved! 

Proposal: 

Can we encourage Wiz to help and get feedback from 20 people each dance? 

 Approved! 

Nicole: Would like to have specific meeting to only discuss  capacity. 

Jason: If we do nothing, problem may resolve itself with less people attending who think it's too crowded.

Conclusion:

Approved proposals:

• Wiz to help get feedback on how capacity is feeling
• Continue to collect and tally data about attendees. This isn't and will never be perfect, that's fine. Wiz to help.

Continued discussion is required .. potentially start new committee to focus on this topic!

3. Racial Equity

Kellie sent in an initial draft proposal/document with status and update provided:  

• Link to Initial proposal

Discussion:

Kellie gave background and update:

What happened? Feedback for DJ on forum

Feedback was on a song played which seemed like a slave song and that felt inappropriate to the individual submitting the feedback 

Brought to DJs and this led to many emails with misunderstanding 

Which led to a need to talk about race

There was a meeting and subcommittee called to talk about how we might move racial equity forward in community. This was cleared with Board of Directors before meeting occurred. 

Main update: There’s a call among the DJs and the board to talk about how we move and find a proposal to bring to PCD to bring more racial equity to the community as a whole

Deb: Wanted to be transparent and something came up in DJ setting and will address there as well as Meraki. There is need to tune in race and situations where people feel marginalized 

If Safety is in our mission statement, we need to help that process

Deb: what is racial equity?

Deb / Kellie : Not sure, going to workshops soon!

Deb: read from proposal

    The focus group proposes that we continue to meet as a separate committee. Our objective is to submit a concrete and detailed proposal to bring training or facilitation to PCD leadership and the larger community as a way to become more actively aware of any existing or potential racial biases within the organization. To become effective in creating a shared language of social constructs around race, and sustaining a safe and inclusive space for all community members who in the dominant culture may feel marginalized ( by race ,gender, sexual orientation etc.)

Diedre: There are many ways to do this, but they are taking some workshops and are motivated externally and by PCD as well

John: Concern about getting approval from Meraki that this can be a committee to move forward, instead of something rogue 

Martin: Was confused how this was spurred, who was this group? Did something happen on dance floor. Would like to take the work racial out, this is about human equity. Can come up in any lyrics. What about “we want equity” 

Kiara: Is this a correct summary? I the way we do things, since something came up, as a community we are trying to figure out how to handle these situations in the future. 

Deb: It went further than song lyrics, we are very white and not aware of how white we are. We encourage play and community and in our whiteness we can’t recognize how a person of color could have challenge in our space. Recognizes safety for all people is important. We are looking at race specifically.

Kellie: At this moment we don’t feel comfortable taking any words out until we have more information ourselves.

Deb, Diedre, and Kellie are going to a workshop.

Jason: Recognizes workshop is going to help frame language and familiarization with entering into a conversion. Workshop is being done it out of self interest but it’s going to really help us too. No cost to PCD, this is an initial investigation to prep for next time. Are we an equitable organization? Are there blindspots? We don’t yet know!

Sheila: Feels similar to consent committee. Recalls there was an old document on how we offer educational materials . Wondering how we’re providing education as it relates to our PCD mission. Important to think about.

Mellen: This is a national movement in companies and professions. There wasn’t a calling and term of “white privilege” nationally now. Aha moment - not about dance or people, it’s about country and racial issues and inclusion issues. Years ago we didn’t have this push from people of color and white community. There is where we are in reality not just here but all across country.

Diedre: We are committed among DJ group and here for transparency to suggest some things here, they want to do it as DJs.

Kiara: If it’s going to be a committee, should be open to whoever wants to join. 

Martin: Has lots of confidence, sees this will be brought to coherence. Is comfortable not being part of committee.

Kellie: Wants to keep in DJs and board, closed group since it originated there and feels closed

Lindy: agrees with Kiara that all subcommittees need to be open to anyone that wants to join.  Are you trying to solve specific issue/incident? Or trying to make a PCD thing?

Nicole: DJs can explore this on their own and then come back to Meraki later and open up to others

Deb: want to wait until clarity to open up

Does everyone feel and have clarity on this topic?

Yes!

Conclusion:

Everyone @ meeting has clarity. DJs will continue to have a conversation and share updates

4. In Gathering to Start Meetings

Martin's proposal 

• Link to Proposal

Discussion: 

Martin: It seems that we’ve already decided we want an in gathering moment at beginning 

This allows us to be more present and has been beneficial in the past

Jason: Would this be part of how we roll?

Martin: Yes, it would be one of the items of standard

Jason: Since we’re morphing and adding , make sure the timing is brief since we do eat up a lot of time. 

Martin: We’d want time limit for in gathering. 

(Over calling it invocation so we don’t have any religious undertones/qualms )

John: Opening or in gathering? 

Lindy: Feels we need more time to flesh out than 5-10 minutes remaining for our meeting. 

Deb: Feels confused because in gathering can take 1-2 minutes. 

Martin: Would like to propose, new position, ingather/opening coordinator who is similar to greeter, responsible for scheduling before next meeting, right at beginning someone is going to do it.

Time limit of 3 minutes, shouldn’t be too short because we should have a moment together 

Enjoyed exercise a few meetings ago

Want to have it as a thing of quality & consistency 

Oracle: Doesn’t feel proposal is well formed and would like to flesh out further

Kari: Considers in gathering and closing very sacred, here with love and intention to come here for purpose and feels space needs to be cleared for that.

Sheila: Doesn’t agree we need to assign beforehand 

John: Feels there is more structure than we need around this topic

Conclusion:

Martin will talk with Oracle to put together proposal, Kari will also be part of committee . If anyone else wants to join, they’ll meet to discuss. Can be put onto agenda for next meeting.

5. PCD Survey Proposal

Deb's proposal

• Link to Proposal

Time didn't permit us to discuss this very much.

Recommend folks re-read proposal before next meeting and come prepared to discuss

Conclusion:

Tabled for the future, we can discuss next time 

6. Spring Retreat

From Kari

Update: 

The PCD Retreat Committee met on Jan 27th to discuss details and to welcome three new members: Amanda Cote, Tasha Salvo and Nicole Gallagher. Yay! We feel we are well-grounded in decision-making and will be in contact with Ferry Beach regarding some questions and concerns. The registration form will be sent out soon, so there will be announcements at closing circles.

Proposal and Conclusion: 
Money needed for extra space was approved. Committee is authorized to reserve space

7. Evaluation

Nicole: Big team of timing If everyone had read proposals there would have been fewer questions. Felt there were questions that didn’t need to happen, feels there could be time saved with reading them in advance . Felt a bit stressed because we could have move things faster

Jason: A bit frustrated by inefficiency. Some big things got a bit squished. Allot the time and stick to it / respect it or we lose a lot. 

Kiara: Feeling amazed at people in room and how much work we’re doing in the creation of this experience together. Worked hard to try and not get frustrated about time. Compassion for process and growing. Hope that will be more streamlined

Deb: Felt frustration off and on. Feels we don’t understand what a proposal is and when it’s appropriate vs not . Feels like this is taking a larger presence than how we run dance. Appreciates this process and learning even at times challenging!

Martin: Gratified there is clarity around what we are doing and juxtaposed with equity meeting. It was incorrect assumption that things can happen without Meraki. Need to stay mindful when and why a committee is formed.

Mellen: Grateful for Lindy running a more complex meeting. Thinks some of process is taking up a lot of time. Not convinced we need moving forward.

Oracle: Don’t forget how much better or work is going. Scope is an issue, what is Meraki vs. micromanagemnt. We need to get better at proposals.

Kendall: Almost 2 month since last meeting, either meeting more urgency than next time or one geared to ward process and one towards business.

Lindy: feels we need to give us a little break, a lot to take on for process

John: Feels time constraints are really hurting flow i.e time for evaluation. 

Judy: Active more recently in the last year, but went early 5 years ago. Thinks it’s good to keep in mind we spent a lot of time talking about capacity, it’s grown a lot. The kinds of issues we have physically come into play with group of people that are here. Maybe meetings have to change. Maybe we can’t just let anyone bring things into agenda. There may be prioritizing needed. Recognize we are changing. Oracle has been so dedicated to bring something in to us to help this changing.

Kari: Proud we started on time, felt enormous amount of respect and care in this room for the evening.

Topics tabled for another time

• Wiz report out about process for insuring committee has presence at Sunday dance (Lindy)
• Wiz report on welcoming newcomers: Wiz member 
• Poster Board project (Jason) 
• Share out of legal update (Mellen)
• Lighting output from WIZ and DJ committee (follow-up from Kiara's proposal)