Town Hall Meeting 2012

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This is the page recording the planning process and results from the Town Hall Meeting 2012. It is still in progress and the "notes" section will be updated when the facilitator's notes have been consolidated into a readable format. Please check back here throughout October 2012 to get the latest updates on the Town Hall.

Notes from the Event

Facilitator writeup (PDF)

Meeting Agenda

Free Geek Town Hall Meeting Saturday, September 22, 2012 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. Helium Comedy Club

2:00 – 2:15

Casual Mingling. Conversation starters to be submitted:

What’s your favorite thing that happened to you, or happened at, Free Geek in the past year?

Butcher Paper Question: What inspires you?

2:15

Welcome (Dina). Introduce facilitator

2:20

Meeting Overview. Facilitator provides outline and goals for the afternoon

2:25

Introduce Board of Directors (Dina - Facilitated self introductions)

2:30

Board Report – (Dina) Accomplishments and challenges of the past year at Free Geek and hopes for the Town Hall Meeting

2:45

Board Elections – Introduce each candidate. Each candidate states:

Why they want to be on the Board

How they have volunteered at Free Geek

Why they would be a good Board Member

Election Process explained. (Liliana)

3:00

Collective Report: 20 – 25 minute overview of Free Geek (Reuse, Sales, Administrative Services, Receiving & Recycling, and VETS) regarding:

Past Year Accomplishments

Past Year Challenges

This year’s Goals

3:25

Preparing for the Brainstorms – Facilitator explains each group, each group’s goals.

3:30

Break

4:00

Small Group Discussions (2 rounds, 20 min each)

Keeping Up with Hardware Technology (Mark)

Keeping Up with Software Technology (Jason O)

Education and Job Training (Anne G)

Funding and the Future (Marketing and Development) (Dina D)

Planning for next year and other ways you can get involved at Free Geek? (Kathie S)

Community and Volunteer Experience (Larry L)

Groups will discuss:

Free Geek Strengths

Free Geek Challenges

What they would change

4:45

Large Group Re-Cap

Each group facilitator provides summary report and top 2 recommendations from each of the two groups on that topic

Q & A

Volunteer Commitments – If there is one or two strong ideas that volunteers could commit to, get sign up list to create work groups

5:30

Wrap Up/Next Steps

NOTE Due to low volunteer attendance, the 6 groups were combined into 3 groups that focused on two of the topics suggested. Attendees were polled before dividing into groups to decide whether to work on one long group discussion of about 40 minutes or two shorter sessions of 20 minutes each. A majority favored shorter group sessions with the option of participating in two conversations.

Small Group Discussions

(2 rounds, 20 min each)

Keeping Up with Hardware Technology + Keeping Up with Software Technology
- Facilitators: Mark & Jason

Group will address how Free Geek is poised to address changes in hardware, from PC’s to laptops to handheld devices. & changes in Linux Operating System and changes to distribution, and proprietary and open source software.

Education and Job Training + Funding and the Future (Marketing and Development)
- Facilitators: Anne & Dina

Group will discuss accomplishments and opportunities for fundraising and marketing & what Free Geek’s strengths & challenges in community education and job training and make recommendations for the future.

Community and Volunteer Experience + Planning for next year and other ways you can get involved at Free Geek
- Facilitators: Larry & Kathie

This group will discuss past year volunteer experience, and recommendations for the future & opportunities for increased volunteer involvement at Free Geek, specifically planning for next year’s Town Hall Meeting.

Successes

Really nice, welcoming & organized venue

Great facilitator

Board facilitation of groups

Focused, informative and engaging reports

Group participation

Less successful

Low attendance by volunteers

Not enough information in the Web Announcement (event address)

Scribe roles/responsibilities for Collective Staff could have been clearer

Not enough info about our agenda for the meeting

Not enough context for the Volunteer Candidates' speeches. Perhaps have them introduce themselves after/during small group discussions

Publicity/Informational/Planning Materials

BBQ THM Flier: Print this double sided landscape

Candidate Nomination Flier: Print this landscape and cut in half

Candidate's Questionnaire: Give to nominees and use answers to populate the Voters Guide

Town Hall B&W Poster: Print this portrait on A3 paper (Meeting-room Printer can do this)

Voters' Guide: Print out double-sided and short-edge flip. Fold in half and distribute prior to Town Hall Meeting

Closure Signs: Edit in LibreDraw. Print landscape and post at least 3 days prior to event

Ballot: Created in glabels. Distribute at THM and keep at Front Desk

Voters' Guide Insert: Made in LibreOffice Impress to tell people when to vote. Should be included with the Voter's Guide. Next year we should include this information in the packet.