Meeting culture

Meetings at yunity are perhaps a little different to where you come from and are primarily the result of Awesome Active Autonomy. The following is a list of general points that have lead to successful yunity meetings in the past. A little bit about language: a meeting is when people come together to interact in according to a pre-decided intention, format, time-frame, etc. A gathering is when people come together around an intention where the details are not decided or are subject to change with the emergent group - as such there is not more to write about gatherings here. The project wheel provides the metaphor of Dreaming, Planning, Doing and Celebrating phases which you may hear being used for categorization.

Attending

  • Know what you're attending. Trust the host with what they're trying to do. Any details not communicated imply an openness.
  • If a meeting has a start time, don't be surprised to find it's started if you turn up late.
  • If you go to a meeting that's already started, don't expect the group to update you with all the information you missed.
  • You can leave a meeting at any time if you want to! It can be helpful for group learning to let people know why at a suitable time.
  • You are warmly encouraged to host meetings.

Hosting

  • What is your intention? How can you best facilitate the intention? Single facilitator? Two? Game to begin with? Feedback round? What phase is it?
  • Think about location. Is it disturbing or desired to have it in a place where people drop in and out? Changing location later takes time and energy.
  • Think about timing. What else is scheduled? How is the energy? Simply stating a start time can be more pain-free for everyone involved and is your autonomous right.
  • Inform participants of all the decided details of the meeting in advance. When, where, how, why. If you leave some aspects open, be aware of this.
  • If you want meetings to start on time, do not delay! People will quickly learn that you are reliable and will arrive on time in the future.
  • Spread the word face-to-face, using a recognized notice board, Slack, the wiki calendar... In chaotic situations, in can be best to use multiple channels.
  • At the beginning of a meeting, remind participants of what they consent to by being there. Remember that people have trusted you and that their time and energy is precious.
  • Be confident to make decisions in meetings with the people that are there.
  • Do record the outcomes of a meeting: it allows people who weren't there to collaborate and supports a culture of cooperation. This can be as simple as noting individual/group actions.
  • Encourage others to host meetings on where you normally would. Role rotation is beneficial on many levels.
  • People are not machines! Snacks, a nice location, breaks either side of the meeting, keeping meeting less than 90 minutes - all good things.
  • Do meet! All of yunity can never be in one room, it is not wrong to have a meeting that not everyone can attend.




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