[Imc] steering agenda suggestions

[Paul Riismandel]

Today we had a very packed agenda at steering, and so got caught with our 
most discussion-intensive item placed at the end of the meeting, which in 
turn caused us to go late, lose some discussion participants, and also 
inconvenience the news group.

I'd like to suggest something we did in the past when we had a large Sunday 
meeting with lots of big policy items on the agenda -- prioritizing agenda 
items by time.  That is, giving each item an amount of time in the hour.

The point in doing this is to help us see concretely how much actual work 
is in front of us for the meeting and use our time wisely.  Had we done 
that today I think we'd have easily seen the IP discussion as at least a 
half-hour discussion, but as it is it ended up being allocated only about 5 
minutes within our hour.  Having a discussion run the meeting overtime only 
heightens any controversy that may be present and increases the sense that 
resolution won't be reached.  But if we had allocated that half an hour at 
the beginning and sensibly allocated other items to fit that it, we would 
have left ourselves more time for everyone to participate in the discussion.

Doing this also means that you'll find that some new items won't fit, and 
so have to be tabled until another meeting.  That's fine and allows you to 
take care of the most important items now, without being sidelined by 
things that aren't quite as important--they don't need to be resolved *today*.

I'd like us to start doing this next Sunday, since it looks like at least 
one controversial item will persist.

Below is the original suggested template I wrote back in May for organizing 
steering meetings, which we currently follow in some respects:

Suggested Template for IMC Steering Group Meeting Agendas
By Paul Riismandel, 5/27/01

This is a suggested format for putting together Steering Group meeting 
agendas.  Agendas for this meeting should be completed before the 
meeting.  It is best to write them on a white board just before the meeting 
so that all participants can see the agenda and follow along with it.

The basic organization of the meeting should be the following:
I.      Introductions
This is where participants introduce themselves (if necessary), the agenda 
is read and any additions to the agenda are made.

II.     Group Reports
This is where each working group gives a very brief activity report.  This 
time should not be used for lengthy discussions or decision making, however 
issues that require discussion or decisions may arise here.  Only groups 
that have empowered spokes should report here.

III.    Old Business
This is where you schedule on-going discussions, or discussions that have 
been continued from previous meetings.  Also, if an item was introduced as 
new business in a previous meeting but not addressed, it becomes old 
business for subsequent meetings.  It is during 'business' that extended 
discussions and decision making should take place.

IV.     New Business
This is where the discussion of new issues and items takes 
place.  Obviously, these are items that have not yet been addressed at the 
steering group.

V.      Set Next Agenda / Choose facilitator
It's important to clearly set the next agenda and have that recorded in the 
notes for the meeting.  This way items that weren't addressed fully or new 
items that came up are less easily forgotten.  Since facilitation is a 
revolving duty, a new facilitator should be chosen, if necessary. It's 
recommended that facilitator run several meetings in a row so as to gain 
some practice and skill.

VI.     Announcements
Announcements are left to last since they can easily eat up meeting time 
and spark tangents.  Announcements should be kept brief.

Time Allotments: When writing an agenda, each major section should have a 
suggested time length assigned to it.  This length is used as a guide for 
keeping the meeting flowing, avoiding getting bogged down in unproductive 
discussions, ending the meeting on time, and, most importantly, not wasting 
participants' time.  The Steering Group meeting lasts one hour, so the 
allotments should add up to only one hour.

Time should be allotted according to the importance of an item.  Items 
needing more discussion and decision making time should be allotted more 
time.  It's also recommended not to assign group reports more than 15-20 
minutes, since this portion of the meeting can easily take up whatever time 
it's allowed to.
Please note: Meeting agendas do not need to be complex, and should be 
written based upon the actual items people have asked to be discussed.  A 
facilitator does not need to put in a lot of work making up things to 
discuss.

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