2/6/2025: First Spokescouncil Agenda

Person or group submitting

Frankie

Proposal History

Friendly ammendments:

Motivation

I believe that an effective Spokescouncil meeting must have an agenda that creates a container for great conversations to happen.

Proposal overview slightly less tiny summary here

Details

Background info

Groups this affects

All Spokescouncil attendees, WGs.

Work required

  1. This agenda assumes that Facilitator(s) exist who are not functioning as spokes. They will help keep time and steer the conversation
  2. Some agenda items assume that Greeter(s) exist who help people get settled in the meeting and ask/answer questions.
  3. The agenda also presumes that some materials exist and are distributed. We'll need to get these:
    • paper for exit slips
    • name tags
    • printed versions of the agenda (ideally, translated)

Individual or group doing labor

Frankie + seeking volunteers

Money required

Does it cost anything? TODO: come back once costs are established

Proposals

The following is a proposed agenda. Each item functions somewhat independently. We can discuss re-ordering or adding/dropping chunks. I propose that the whole thing last no more than 1.5 hours, including breaks. So the group can discuss how to form an agenda from these building blocks.

Agenda (~90 mins)

Greeting

When folks arrive, they should be received by greeters who will:

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:

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

This agenda item provides the opportunity for everyone at the meeting to speak, not just Spokespeople. This gives non-Spokespeople a way to make themselves heard as individuals. Builds relationships across individuals in different Spokes, and hopefully reveals some common values/motivations across Spokes.

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.

I think this would be a good way to start the meeting, since it creates a "soft start" if people show up late. They can arrive and find a small group, rather than disrupting a meaty topic.

Working Groups Assemble (10 mins)

Attendees gather with their working groups to say hi to each other, review the proposals that will be discussed at the spokescouncil meeting, make sure that speaking delegate and notetaking delegate are selected and up to speed.

Gathering Paradise (2 mins)

During check in, Greeters ask attendees whether the WG(s) they represent have upcoming events, requests for help, or offers of resources to shout out (e.g. "On Wedneday Feb 5 at 3pm, Food Pantry is giving away bonbons.") Greeters coallate these into a list.

During the meeting, of the Facilitators reads off these shout-outs in chronological order, pointing out the relevant Spoke/WG with whom people can follow up if interested. To keep it tight, Facilitators limit this to 2 minutes at most. Events that come later chronologically may not be mentioned aloud. The list of gathered items can be posted after the meeting for folks to peruse asynchronously.

While this arguably isn't the most "efficient" way to disseminate information about upcoming events, the goal is to create a felt sense of all of the cool things that happen at Woodbine, and help people see that Woodbine is many things / groups have lots of orthogonal stuff going on.

Having events gathered by Greeters and all read off by one Facilitator helps limit excessive yapping by eager WG participants. Everybody wants to talk for 5 minutes about their own event. The goal is instead to quickly summarize a bunch of events.

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:

Facilitators explain useful hand signals:

Facilitators take questions from all attendees about how the meeting will work.

Directorship Speaks! (10mins)

Directors introduce themselves, talk about how they relate to Woodbine.

Explanation: How did this meeting come to be? (10 mins)

The Spokesperson of the Spokescouncil Planning Spoke shares information about how and why the Spokescouncil has formed, addressing the questions:

Break (5 mins)

Discussion: Cleaning Project Proposal (30 mins)

TODO --> FILL IN DETAILS FOR CLEANING PROPOSAL HERE

Explanation: How to make a proposal (10 mins)

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

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.

Closing: Summary + Next Steps (10 mins)

Facilitators summarize decision(s) or action items from the Cleaning Proposal. They shout out what attendees can expect to happen next, for instance:

Exit tickets

Facilitators encourage attendees to fill in their exit ticket (given to them by greeters on entry) and put them in a box by the door as they leave.

Exit ticket questions

On a scale 1-5 where 1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree:

What did you like about this Spokescouncil meeting?

What can be improved for the next Spokescouncil meeting?

Anything else you want the Spokescouncil Planning WG to know?

Comments

Revision #6
Created 10 April 2025 20:56:47 by paul .
Updated 6 June 2025 23:37:39 by Ash