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06-14-2025

Spokescouncil Meeting - Date: 06-14-2025

Agenda

Greeting

When folks arrive, they should be received by greeters who will: set up a big circle of chairs, say hi and ask what working group people are in, people can sit anywhere

Start at 3:15 pm
Small group activity: Why are you here? (10 mins)

All attendees form small groups of N (maybe 4?), ideally with people they don't know. In small groups, attendees:

  • Introduce themselves (name, pronouns, where-ish they live)
  • Share what brings them to Woodbine as a space/community
  • Share what brought them to the Spokescouncil meeting

There is no "report out" after the small groups chat.

I'd expect that the small group discussion would take about 6 minutes, and that directing people into and out of small groups would take about 4 minutes.

Introducing the Spokespeople/Coming Together (5 mins)

Spokespeople from the various Spokes simply go around and state their name, pronouns, and which Spoke/Working Group they represent.

Explanation: How will this meeting work? (10 mins)

Facilitators explain what a Spokescouncil is in concept.

Facilitators explain the agenda of the meeting, and who will play what roles in the meeting:

  • Agenda wrangler / Facilitator: guides the group through the sections of the agenda, transitions from one topic to the next
  • Timekeeper -- tracks how long is spent on agenda items
  • Stacktaker -- tracks who's up next to speak
  • vibes

Facilitators explain useful hand signals:

  • jazz hands, for agreement without interrupting
  • raised hand + eye contact for stacktaker, for getting on stack
  • other ones?

-Facilitator intros the agenda

Directorship Speaks! (30mins)

-Andy talks (10 min) -spokescouncil planning crew comments (5 min)

  • role of spokescouncil in relating to these options - spokescouncil is a method/toolkit to help us make decisions collectively, we may need this to jump on this opportunity if we want to
  • introduce that there is an invitation forthcoming about the follow up meeting on what to do about the future of the space -q/a from community? (15 min)
Explanation: How did this meeting come to be? (10 mins)

Facilitator shares information about how and why the Spokescouncil has formed, addressing the questions:

  • Who set this agenda ? who is the spokescouncil planning WG? (we are not an authority)
  • set up the spokescouncil structure (aka us), and how'd we end up with that role?
  • How did we decide who counts as a "Spoke"?
  • What motivated the creation of the Spokescouncil Planning group?
  • What problems do we hope that the Spokescouncil can solve?
Break (5 mins)
Explanation: How to make a proposal (8 mins)

Someone explains how to make proposals. The most important thing to communicate is:

  • who can help people understand + do the process
  • where can people find + review proposals (show the board)
  • when proposals will be discussed (i.e. at the next Spokescouncil meeting!)
  • Deadline for proposals before the next Spokescouncil meeting

The goal is not to clear up everyone's questions about how to write proposals, but rather introduce the idea that people can write proposals, and provoke questions that can be answered outside the Spokecouncil meeting itself.

Mock proposal (10 min)
  • pony concept
  • go through all steps including FA, blocking?, voting
    • need help with the script!
  • script:
    • audience roles: questioner/Friendly Ammender (?), Blocker(?), stack keeper (whoever is already doing that), facilitator (ash), introducer (briar), delegates/voters (?)
      • people to ask: shahrazad, caroline, iris, yousef, sarah, ewa, andy
      • hand out script for friendly ammendents, block, stand aside, questions
    • intro concepts: "fist to five", “Consensus Minus 2", stand aside, block, friendly ammendment
  • Proposal:
    • food pantry WG wants to buy a pony. why? pony can carry groceries from TJs, boost morale b/c ponies are pretty, poop can be used as fertilizer for the gardening club (collaborated with gardening club on this in advance)
    • groups this affects: everyone except gym
    • who would do the labor? pantry would raise funds to buy the pony, anyone who smells poop will clean it, anyone who hears the pony whining for food will feed it
    • money required: $10,000 for an award winning pure bred
    • pic of the pony https://www.dreamhorse.com/ad/2291271.html
  • response to proposal:
    • questions:
        1. FA asks: what color is the pony?
        1. blocker asks: is that against sanitation regulations for the pantry to run?
        • briar's answer: good question! we haven't finished our research on this yet.
      • facilitator: any more questions? no
    • call for friendly ammendments:
        1. my FA is I think the pony should be spotted instead of cream
        • briar's response: great idea! we can name him chocolate chip!
    • facilitator calls the vote: fist to five
      • FA votes 5, blocker votes 0
    • blocker says:
      • I believe having a pony pooping in the space will force us to shut down the food pantry, it's not sanitary, we'll be bridled by the city!
        • briar's response: fair point! maybe we didn't think about this enough. i think i should withdraw this proposal. but wait! i thought of a friendly ammendment. what if we used those funds to commission a painting of Chocolate Chip. It's cleaner and we can still pet it!
    • facilitator asks: is that enough for everyone to call a new vote? yes
    • everyone votes, above a 3
    • facilitator says next steps: form your crew to get this going, we will ask for progress report at the next meeting
Closing: Summary + Next Steps (7 mins)

Facilitators summarize decision(s) or action items for next meeting.

Facilitators shout out what attendees can expect to happen next, for instance:

  • choosing delegate and note taker for next meeting
  • delegates getting added to the spokescouncil signal chat
  • writing/reading proposals (+ where to find them)
  • when the next Spokes meeting will be (thurs, july 10, 6-8 pm)
  • how to get involved with making the next Spokes meeting happen
  • get volunteers for various roles
  • offer training and collaborating in pairs to prep for those roles
  • make sure to sign up the announcements chat
  • offer proposal mentorship/help in writing
  • expect the invitation to the follow up meeting in the next week for the "future of the space", different than the next spokescouncil meeting
Q/A if there is time is leftover (15 min)
  • keep questions brief, redirect people to written materials or post meeting conversations if longer
  • ask everyone to clear out at 5 pm, allow next group to prep for rental

Meeting Highlights

Attendance

<spoke name + delegate: name + note-taker: name> , <spoke name + delegate: name + note-taker: name>, ...

New Action Items

  • action item 1 - name of individual or groups bottomlining
  • action item 2 - name of individual or groups bottomlining
  • action item 3 - name of individual or groups bottomlining

Uncompleted/ In progress Action Items from Prior Meetings

  • action item 1 - name of individual or groups bottomlining, notes on status (ex. stalled due to vacation, halfway done, need supplies)
  • action item 2 - name of individual or groups bottomlining, notes on status
  • action item 3 - name of individual or groups bottomlining, notes on status

Proposals Discussed

Passed
  • proposal name
  • proposal name
  • proposal name
Did not pass
  • proposal name
  • proposal name
  • proposal name
Withdrawals
  • proposal name
  • proposal name
  • proposal name

Proposals We Didn't Get To Discuss (will flow forward to next agenda)

  • proposal name
  • proposal name
  • proposal name

Detailed Meeting Notes

  • notes
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