Meetings and not-so-interesting (practical) issues

I did not know there was a climate march, but sure! i have pinned it in the calendar, thank you for awareness raising :grinning:

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Hello @reeflings,

As discussed here’s another one for the calendar: I registered 4 people for the information session on Coarchi’s Volta XL project. It’s on Saturday 23 October at 1 pm, location to be confirmed.

More information about the project: VOLTA XL | Projets | Coarchi

Cheers,

Lie.

Thanks so much, @Lee - it’s in my calendar!

hey @reeflings!
as promised a doodle to fix a community dinner at my place
https://doodle.com/poll/wv4r34uaq5w9rd4z?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
let me know if that fits you,

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@reeflings: I took the liberty to change the title of this thread a little so as to make it clear that this is a thread where we can gather all the not-so-interesting back-and-forth about meetings and other practical issues. We don’t need to be neurotic about it, but the less “pollution” we get on the forum, the tidier and more accessible it’s going to be.

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Dear @reeflings,

For the meeting on Tuesday I would like to propose the following agenda points:

1) Update to the membership of the Reef’s asbl (including the Board)

  • Presenter: Alberto
  • Objective: general assembly to update the membership and elect the new members of the Board
  • Preparation required: consider whether you would like to be on the Board (see Alberto’s post of 25/11)
  • Time needed: 15 minutes (max)

2) The Reef’s way of doing things

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: present a proposal on the Reef’s working methods and culture that we want to establish, discuss proposals that need everybody’s agreement and decide on a way forward to finalise the document
  • Preparation required: read the draft proposal (see this document on Google Drive)
  • Time needed: 1 hour (minimum - will likely need follow-up at a next meeting)

3) Outline of the Reef’s Blueprint 1.0

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: get a common understanding of which topics should be included in the Reef’s Blueprint 1.0, so that we can start to tackle them one by one
  • Preparation required: bring a little cheat sheet with the items that you think should be included (e.g. values, common rooms, ecological aspirations, …)
  • Time needed: 20 minutes

4) Sharing of some major tasks

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: list some major tasks and see who would be willing to take responsibility + increase ownership and involvement
  • Preparation required: give some thought to which task(s) you’d be willing to take responsibility for.
    => Non-exhaustive list (will be completed based on agenda point no 3):
    • Research and prepare the update of the statutes (legal aspects on membership and governance)
    • Reading some of the available books and manuals (e.g. “Cohousing for life”, “Sociocracy 3.0”, “The cohousing handbook”, …)
    • Prepare a discussion round on one of the key items for the Reef’s Blueprint 1.0
    • Finalise the “Reef’s way of doing things” document (i.e. prepare a couple of proposals on some specific points)
  • Time required: 20 minutes

Questions:

  • Is this acceptable to everyone?
  • Does anybody want to add any other agenda points?
  • Does anybody want to volunteer as the moderator, note-taker and/or time-keeper?
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I volunteer as note-taker.

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Dear @reeflings,

Quick update: I added the link to the draft document on the Reef’s working methods and culture in agenda point no 2. I’ll present it during the meeting, but I’d be grateful if you could already have a quick look at it.

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Dear @Lee,

Thanks a lot for developing the agenda for our meeting on Tuesday evening and for drafting The Reef’s Way of Doing things - a lot of work!

Dear @reeflings,

I think that some of my first proposal for the evening could flow into point 3 of Lie’s latest agenda proposal. I would like to add to the objective for point 3: Clarify what in the current Reef statutes and what of the thereef.brussels website text can be the starting points for the Blueprint 1.0. Preparation hence also: read those two texts. I would also add Manuel as presenter for the results of the questionnaire he had asked us to fill out about our expectations of The Reef.

As to roles, I volunteer as moderator (not to the exclusion of anybody who hasn’t volunteered yet).

FYI, I’m a speaker in an online event until 19h30 on Tuesday. If not both of us, Malcolm will be able to welcome you at 19h30 and hope that we can start eating at 19h40 and start our agenda meeting at 20h10 with a view to ending the meeting by 22h05 (according to Lie’s proposed lengths of the agenda items).

Looking forward to progressing The Reef with you on Tuesday,

Sabine

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Hi @Sabine_B_Frank,

Thanks a lot for that and thanks for volunteering to be the moderator. I’m confident that we can incorporate your points into agenda point no 3 on the Reef’s Blueprint 1.0. What I would like to achieve as the result of that agenda point is that we get a common understanding of what we mean by “the Reef’s Blueprint 1.0” and which topics it needs to cover. Once we agree on this, in the next coming meetings we can then tackle these topics one by one.

As for your suggestion to discuss the results of the questionnaire my proposal would be to postpone that for now, because we are short in time, and I think this will fit better in a later discussion on one of the components of the Blueprint 1.0.

Cheers,

Lie.

This is a test comment for Manuel. Did you receive the notification email?

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I did, thanks,
another thing, please let me know what you have in mind for the Tech infrastructure part so i can have a look, thanks!

@manuelpueyo, would you be willing to have a look at the messages on the board that you may have missed out on due to the missing notifications? It’s nothing urgent, but I think it will be helpful if we all have a basic knowledge of the reports that we produced over the last months (visits to co-housings, webinars etc). The post on the draft Roadmap could be a good starting point, because it provides a good overview in the beginning, with links to all the reports from the last months.
Thanks!

Dear @reeflings,

Thanks a lot for the fruitful meeting yesterday and for bearing with me. I need a bit more time to fine-tune the agenda for next week, but below you can find a first rough proposal. Any suggestions for additional agenda points are of course also welcome.

TL;DR:

  • Objective of this meeting is to finalise a couple of easy items of the “Reef’s way of doing things” document + to prepare for a discussion on the common rooms at the next meeting.
  • Preparation:
    • Agenda point 1: read the proposal on the indicated items of the “Reef’s way of doing things” and prepare any proposals for amendments if needed
    • Agenda point 2: make a list of values that you would like to see in the Values Charter (please use the template if possible)

1) Finalisation and agreement on some components of “the Reef’s way of doing things” document

  • Presenter: Lie

  • Objective: Fine-tune some of the components for which there is a proposal in the document and adopt them with consent

  • Preparation: Read the proposal for the components listed below and prepare any amendments you would like to see (=> link to the “Reef’s way of doing things” document).
    => Items:

    • Non-verbal communication during meetings (proposal will be presented at the meeting)
    • Nonviolent communication
    • Clear writing
    • Languages
    • Roles and tasks during meetings
    • Meeting etiquette
    • “Whoever does the work calls the shots”
    • Documenting
    • Choosing the right app or platform
  • Time needed: 45 minutes (we tackle as many as we can and postpone the rest to the next meeting)

2) Values charter

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: Brainstorm on which items we think should be included in the Reef’s way odoing things “Value Charter”. The outcome of the discussion will be used as the basis for a written proposal to be presented at the next meeting.
    Note: the scope of the Value Charter is a list of values that we want to base the Reef’s working culture on (examples: low drama, mutual support, gratitude, …). This is not to be confused with the wider values of the Reef as a co-housing community such as ecology, hospitality, diversity etc.
  • Preparation: Prepare a list of the items that you find important using this template. Looking for inspiration? The Reinventing Organisations Wiki has a page dedicated to “Culture and Values” that may bring you some ideas.
  • Time needed: 30 minutes

3) A quick insight in the financial aspects of the Reef’s common spaces

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: Information point aimed at getting a common understanding of the financial implications.
  • Preparation: /
  • Time needed: 20 minutes

4) Preparation of the discussion on the common rooms

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: Agree on a discussion method to tackle the Blueprint 1.0’s chapter on the common spaces
  • Preparation: /
  • Time needed: 10 minutes

5) Pending tasks: state-of-play

  • Presenter: Lie
  • Objective: Quick overview on the state-of-play of ongoing tasks + possible attribution of new and orphan tasks
  • Preparation: /
  • Time needed: 10 minutes
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Hi Lie, thanks, I did read all that, just because I did have my notifications off does not mean that I did not visit the Edgeryriders platform every week, I just did it whenever I had the time, :wink:

Hi Manuel, that’s great. Apologies then for assuming you hadn’t read the messages!

Dear @Lee Could you add this to the Reef Google drive?

@Lee Hi again, you also mentioned a list of reading recommendations. Where is that and could it also be on the Reef G-drive please? Thanks, Sabine

Hi @Sabine_B_Frank,

I uploaded the folder with “books and manuals” to the Reef’s Google Drive.

I am quite Google illiterate though, so I don’t know how to move the “Reef’s way of doing things” to the Reef’s Google Drive. Given that we are about to change to another platform I’m also not very enthusiastic to invest energy in this. Unless somebody else would volunteer, I will provide an overview of which documents can be found where in case the “digital infrastructure” issue would take longer than expected.
Cheers!

Hello @Sabine_B_Frank and @Lee and all. Everything is now here, including:

  1. The Reef’s Way of Doing Things.
  2. The books and materials uploaded by Lie.
  3. The minutes of this week’s meeting
  4. The presentation given by Lie at that meeting.

CORRECTION – The Reef’s Way of Doing Things is not in the Google Drive, but here. This is not an oversight, but a problem with granular allocation of editing rights.