pre-occupation f&L wg mtg?

[Emma]

I think Matthew is going to send out the scheduling link again to get us started on date & time.

Agenda?

[rebecca]

Clarifying the procedure for handling questions during assembly (to avoid abuse of "point of information" as occurred yesterday)

Discussion / maybe formulate a proposal for the relationship of working groups to the general assembly. Or formulate a couple of alternatives in order to present pro's and con's.
- Do working groups need recognition from GA to be affiliated with OA?
- Under what circumstances can working groups speak or take action representing OA without consensus of the GA?
- Under what circumstances can working groups receive funds or resources donated to OA?

What else?

[colin]

Just wanted to say that I think it is very important for us to meet as a WG in the next day or two. I imagine that there will be a HUGE turn-out on Friday and I think that agenda & facilitation are going to be critical for this Friday's GA. I'm unclear as to what, if any, sound amplification we'll be able to use. If we have to use the people's mic, that will be fun and involve people, but it will also really slow down the pace of the GA and make substantive discussions of proposals much more difficult. If we don't have sound we may want to propose a less ambitious agenda with more informational WG report-backs and maybe some motivational speakers to excite the crowd rather than digging into contentious organizational issues like formal recognition of working groups that i think are less critical than getting the occupation off on a positive note on its first night.

So.....I think we should probably meet Tuesday or Wednesday since the GA is Friday.

[laurelyoung]

I agree with Colin regarding meeting the earlier in the week the better. I think the idea of some motivational speakers to pump up the crowd and get onlookers interested would be great. I do think we need to address the working group issue at this fridays GA since some of the proposed working groups may be directly related to the occupation itself. I think rebecca's comprehensive list of questions going forward is essential. I also think what might be good is to get some literature ready for the occupation GA as we will have alot of the public stopping by once the occupation gets underway to gain understanding about what we are doing. I am availible anyday after 2 to meet.

[matthew]

Here are the links to the scheduling tool for us to use to schedule a meeting before Friday:
Please fill this out now if and only if you actually want to attend.
Here is where you input your availability: whenisgood.net/x9bwbmg
This is where the results will appear: whenisgood.net/x9bwbmg/results/c7mam7

[rebecca]

Colin, I agree that getting into a working groups proposal at Friday's GA seems like too much. I'd only meant to put it on our working group's agenda to be working on preparing it, but even that can be deferred a week if needed.

Also, I just want to flag that there's a question open on the thread about training on this board, Emma has suggested that making a training happen this week is a high enough priority that it could trump meeting as a working group this week. Please weigh in on that over on the training thread if you have an opinion.

[matthew]

I'm loathe to the idea of nailing down a day / time for the meeting / training without everybody's' input but there isn't much time before the GA meeting and tonight is on the table. thoughts? I agree that the meeting out to really be focused on improvements to the process and training a facilitation team in the process for the next meeting- a very stripped-down, focused agenda.

[colin]

I think that meeting as a WG is the most important thing right now. Friday we could easily have a GA with 400 or 500 people and a ton of media and we don't have a draft agenda or a facilitation team in place yet. That being said I'd like to try to do both a training and a meeting but as a practical reality I don't think we'll be able to train someone new that isn't experienced and throw them out to facilitate a huge GA on Friday. That is why I proposed tapping into whatever pool of experienced facilitators we have locally and bringing them to our WG meeting. I also like the idea of multiple facilitators rotating one at a time. Either way lets just get a meeting time nailed down asap.

Also, I appreciate Rebecca's clarification about working groups, I'm cool discussing it as a committee but my position is that we don't need to offer a formal proposal about recognition of WG's to the GA because doing so would be beyond the scope our WG and could potential violate the autonomy of WGs. I think that the GA can respond to the issue of WG recognition/funding/speaking-for-us as it arises. Especially if we move toward daily GA's it would be very easy for WG's to report back and request resources and approval of the GA on a case-by-case basis. That is how it is done in NYC to the best of my knowledge.

[matthew]

By "training" I guess I really meant "rehearsing." I agree that it would be difficult to train too many first-timers and have a facilitation team prepared for what's going to happen on Friday.
So far only 4 people have used the scheduling tool. Should we take today / tonight off the table? If so, it looks like our meeting is going to be tomorrow (Wednesday) night. Can we get some other people experienced with the process to attend then?
I can spend Thursday working on the flyer / handout, and maybe some signs. I can also keep time or minutes at the meeting of the General Assembly.

re: the GA/WG thing, I recently proposed a temp WG to deal with this: occupyalbany.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=groups&thread=287&page=1

[rebecca]

If we meet Wed night - works for me - I propose 8pm so it's after the POC Caucus meeting at 7. That way one of us can go there first and invite anyone interested to get involved in facilitating. It would be great if anyone from there wanted to join us for our meeting afterward - we should try to extend that invitation today if we're going for this plan, so it's not just at the last minute for them. Emma, have you been in touch with Taina?

[laurelyoung]

Wednesday at 8pm is good for me too. I think Rebeccas idea is great. Are w going to meet at the furnace?

[Emma]

I didn't talk to Taina. Wasn't sure what I had to ask or offer.

I think it's a little silly to assume that the POC Caucus meeting will be less than an hour long.

Tonight would be better IMO. Gives us more time for following up and preparing after whatever we discuss, before Friday.

One more thing to add to the agenda:
A calendar at the occupation.
I think that vaguely falls under our purview and I haven't seen anyone else talking about doing it. If someone wants to poke around and see if Occupation is on it, that's cool, or we can tell them that we'll do it... Either way, someone needs to.

Lack of communication among working groups is getting more frustrating and more problematic as we get closer to this huge undertaking. We need point people, or contact lists, or something. (Ok, I guess that was 2 things for the agenda)

[matthew]

8PM Wednesday works for me. Can / should we round out the roles on here before then, just so it's one less thing to figure out when we get together?
2 (minimum) facilitators:
3 (?) floor time coordinators (stack-takers):
Welcome / vibe watch (2?):
Time keeper:
Minutes keeper:
I've volunteered to do either time or minutes. I'll try to get a fancy stopwatch. :-)

[rebecca]

Wasn't assuming the POC Caucus would be less than an hour long. But I don't think we can start a meeting later than 8, and it looks like Thursday doesn't work on the scheduling poll, so Wed at 8 seemed like at least not a total direct conflict with them, and the best we can do.
I think it's too late to call a meeting for tonight.

Colin (and anyone else who knows people), it would be awesome if you could go ahead and reach out to the other experienced facilitators you know, to come to our wg meeting and/or to possibly co-facilitate Friday if we don't come up with internal people who can.

[Emma]

Is there a reason not to start the F&L meeting at 7 since it's not like starting at 8 will actually allow people to go to both meetings? I'm not against 8, just asking. I think they're meeting at the Women's Building. If there are actually people who want to split their time between the two (worth finding out) we could start at 8 and meet at Citizen Action or the Social Justice Center so the commute between locations isn't as long.

[laurelyoung]

I think wednesday at 8pm is good. I have no opinion on location. Matthew as far as roles if no one else has volunteered I would be more than happy to welcome or timekeep.

[Emma]

Does anyone know if Shanna might be available to come? Can someone invite her directly?

[rebecca]

Let's call it 8pm, if only so that one of us can go make our invitation to the POC caucus and then make it for the beginning of our meeting. (Anyone particularly want to be the one to do that?) It would be cool to get one of the locations nearby the Women's Building just in case anyone wants to go from one to the other, so Citizen Action or the Social Justice Center - who knows how to book those?

I just posted a general "we need more facilitators" announcement / invitation on the general board and on the board for the POC caucus, also.

[Emma]

If we want to make an invitation @ the POC caucus, we need permission from them. The caucus says, "Anyone who identifies as a person of color is invited to attend." afaik, that ain't any of us here.
I messaged Taina, Bhawin & Ira yesterday asking if anyone was wanting to split time between the meetings. Haven't heard back yet.

I think the best approach is to set up at least two times to hold facilitation trainings in the very beginning of the occupation, and send that info over to someone from teh POC caucus to share with everyone there. Offering something concrete is key.

[rebecca]

I wasn't planning on showing up without asking, Emma, I was just trying to make it still possible to go since last I'd heard several people felt it was important that someone reach out there in person. Did not know that you had already asked.

I'm worried that if I just announce training times, we're going to get to the meeting tonight and people are going to have reasons they want to change it around. But sure, why not. How about trainings at 3pm Saturday and Sunday at Lafayette Park.

Feeling fairly ridiculous about this process of trying to schedule things online while waiting for responses from people who never respond. We are not getting broader participation in the decision this way than we would just deciding at the meeting when the next one will be. Especially once people are at the occupation I think doing this over the forum is not going to make sense.