“…..(Portland and) other occupations nationwide are having similar problems and are working to make changes that will facilitate more space for open discussion, connection and affinity building, instead of process heavy, decision making meetings that sometimes stifle new ideas that need a more open space to foster…..”
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This is being offered as a possible resource for anyone interested in the evolution of GA related structures and processes and as a subject/session at the Unconference happening on 12/18/2011 in New York City.
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Occupy GA GUIDE graphic by Ian Sherman
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If you are interested in learning more please contact Walt Roberts .
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Proposal (Passed at GA 12/14/11) to Change and Mix Meeting Types and Styles

Rationale for the Proposal:

Making sure that our meeting structures and styles are truly meeting the needs of our new and growing movement is important and will require ongoing evolution. Many factors including: decreased participation, less dynamic discussions, facilitator capacity, weather and the holiday season leads us to believe that this is an appropriate time for some changes.

Other occupations nationwide are having similar problems and are working to make changes that will facilitate more space for open discussion, connection and affinity building, instead of process heavy, decision making meetings that sometimes stifle new ideas that need a more open space to foster. In light of this the Process and Structure Committee proposes to change the mix of different meeting types and styles. This will not change the time and frequency of meetings. What will change is what happens during the meetings.

* Please keep in mind that this will be an ongoing process. The Process and Structure Committee was recently formed and is open to all.  It will continue to look at the big picture questions about how to meet the needs of our movement through process. This proposal is designed to meet the immediate needs that have come up, in a timely fashion, with more to come as both our process and our movement evolves.

* This proposal was announced at the General Assembly on 12/5  and the Spokes Council on 12/4.   It was brought for a decision to the Spokes Council on 12/6  and tabled for further discussion.  All were invited to the 12/11 Process and Structure Committee meeting where the proposal was further evolved.  The proposal was passed by the Spokes Council on 12/13 and by the General Assembly on 12/14.

Schedule:

  • MON – Agenda Setting, Proposal Announcement and Discussion Meeting (proposals and agendas will then be posted online for the Thur and Sat meetings)
  • TUE – Movement Building  Open Forum (Unconference / Open Space style meeting for flexible and purposeful group conversations, work group work and cross-pollination of people and ideas
  • WED – Open Night (A good night for other important meetings or a day of rest in the weekly cycle)
  • THU – Spokes Council ( As it has been )
  • FRI –  Cultural Events (Different events at different venues well suited to the occasion)
  • SAT – General Assembly (As it has been)
  • SUN – Feather Circle (Idea Discussion Circle with a process well suited to working through challenging items that are “stuck”).

Ten reasons I LOVE the meeting restructure proposal! (From a S+P committee member.)

  1. Attendance at meetings has become so random. Basic continuity of discussions, central for growth and momentum of efforts, is at an all time low.
  2. There is not – at least by historical standards – what feels like a “quorum” to make decisions on behalf of the movement at many recent GAs and SCs. Having 1 / week of each, should work wonders to restore quorum at these meetings.
  3. Most of the 99% cannot attend several OP meetings each week! This proposal allows people with families, work obligations, a social life, other political work, etc. to choose the meetings they would like to attend by focus and content rather than “rolling the dice.” As it is now, it is very difficult to engage in OP decision making in a consistent way unless you are spending 10-20 hours / week.
  4. Having a proposal announcement day will dramatically increase the ability to publicize what is being proposed at the GA and SC each week, fixing a long standing problem.
  5. Having meetings focused on brainstorming and evolving proposals creates a much needed space and flow for proposal evolution outside of the GA and SC meetings, making better proposals which take less time at GAs and SCs and that involve more people in their creation and development!
  6. Right now most committees do not have enough people to follow basic practices of how a SC is supposed to work – there are “committees of 1″ due to inability for most committee members to make 3 SC meetings / week, violating the spirit and the letter of the consensus model we agreed to.
  7. As a practical matter, the facilitation team [and possible peace and safety?] simply cannot keep up with our duties at 6 meetings / week. Furthermore, meetings are better when the facilitation team is well prepared and can divide up roles more. This would allow all of our GAs and SCs to have much stronger facilitation teams.
  8. The GAs and SCs are constantly a scheduling conflict with other occupy spin off projects – the various action spokes councils, the neighborhood GAs, and committee meetings would not be forced to conflict, making scheduling of cross-occupy collaborations much easier. As it is now, many people involved in occupy spin off projects have little or nothing to do with the “central” occupy meetings anymore.
  9. As is continually voiced, not everyone likes the GA style of discussion or SC style of discussion. This proposal gives more prominence to alternative ways of discussing things that many people have really enjoyed and to experiment with alternate models.
  10. Separating proposal announcements from GAs and SCs will allows GAs and SCs to focus nearly their entire agenda on decisions and coordination.

Additional Portland/Oregon GA Related Materials of Note:

Facilitator Check list for GAs:  http://tiny.cc/facilitation_checklist

The facilitator orientation booklet:    http://tiny.cc/FacilitationOrientation

How the Spokescouncil works:   http://tiny.cc/pdxspokescouncildraft

Ideas for spokescouncil facilitation:   http://tiny.cc/spokes_facilitation