This page and coordinating effort is a work in progress. To join the Movement Monday Listserve (announcement only): [1]
In New York City some members of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET have been meeting for a few months every Monday to prepare for the S17 anniversary 2012. After the wonderful three days of action (read our debrief material) many of the participants in those meetings wanted to continue using the Monday space to come together. On Monday October 1st, 2012 a break out group was empowered to draft a proposal for the structure of the Monday meetings currently referred to as "Movement Mondays". This is a living document, if you are a participant in NYC please feel free to add to this document of leave your comments on this page's discussion section. If you make any changes please e-mail the Movement Monday Planning list: mm-planning@lists.occupy.net Please see the preliminary notes which captures how we came to the framing below: notes.occupy.net/p/mondaymeeting
[edit] Movement Monday Structure Proposal
Movement Mondays: An open meeting for internal coordination and planning.
[edit] Intention
The intention of Movement Mondays is to provide a space for open internal coordination between people who identify with Occupy Wall Street. Building connections between actions. Forming campaigns around themes.
[edit] Structure
The meeting will consist of three main sections, calendar building, an Adaptive Workspace, and Round Backs. Our desire is to have a 1:2:1 ratio of time for these sections.
Facilitation - People who keep the meeting in order and help the participants achieve their goals for that meeting. Ideally the team will consist of two equal Facilitators, one experienced the other who is learning in action.
Break out Facilitation - If the need arises from the Adaptive Workspace other facilitators should be on-hand to facilitate break out sessions if requested by the breakout group.
Stack Taker - A person who keeps track of who's turn it is to speak at a given time. When stack is "open" meeting members "get on stack" by signaling to the Stack Taker. The Stack Taker calls on people using Progressive Stack which is a method of putting marginalized voices before those who speak more often.
Conflict Resolver - A person or persons who compassionately and non-violently deal with conflicts and disruptions based on community agreements.
Orientation team - People who give their full attention to new comers and great people who come late to the meeting to fill them in on what's going on.
Minutes Taker - A person, or persons who transcribe what is being said at the meeting. Their responsibility extends to making sure that minutes are delivered to the person putting a meeting re-cap online.
Records Keeper - This person is responsible for publishing Calendar pictures, full meeting minutes, and a summery of the meetings online.
[edit] Proposed Meeting Structure
Meeting breakdown (with suggested times)
- Calendar/Agenda Building - 30 minutes
- Housekeeping/Action Reports - 30 minutes maximum
- Housekeeping
- Introduce Facilitation team
- Co-Facilitators
- Stack taker
- Minutes
- Conflict Resolver
- Orientation
- Ask if anyone wants to introduce themselves
- Hand Signals
- Community Agreements
- W.A.I.T. - Why Am I Talking?
- Step Up/Step Back
- Be respectful to others
- Direct hand gestures to Facilitators
- Let Facilitation handle situations as they arise
- Action Reports
- Planned in advance, submitted to Facilitation during Calendar/Agenda Building portion of meeting.
- Adaptive Workspace - 1 hour
- Review suggested structure and make amendments
- Round Backs - 30 minutes
- Groups from the *Adaptive Workspace* or other groups that have met during the week present the following:
- Plans or Goals (ex: Flier Union Sq at 4:30pm next Wednesday, draft action agreements, built 30 foot tall Obama robot)
- Needs (usually from outside working groups ex: Food for Friday, Printing, Press release)
- Next steps or follow-up (ex: find other activist groups working on a theme, Identify all banks that got bail outs)
- After each Round Back open stack for direct points of information type responses
- Meeting wrap up - 20 minutes
- Meeting feedback -- Is the structure working/fulfilling the needs of the group? Was the facilitation team just and fair?
- Close Meeting
- Open Work Space time.
[edit] Calendar & Agenda Building
Facilitators will be building the agenda/format for the adaptive workspace based upon the projects and ideas that people bring to this portion of the meeting.
- Assist the facilitators in identifying action groupings and discussion topics for the Adaptive Workspace.
- Add any actions and/or projects you or your group are working on to the calendar.
- Opportunity to add Housekeeping & Action Report items to the agenda.
This section will consist of informal time when people are arriving to the space. There will be a large physical calendar where people are encouraged to add anything you can put on a calendar such as events, projects, actions, special days, etc.
At a glance Calendar & Agenda Building is...
- Informal
- Open to any calendar items
- Open to projects or ideas in any stage of development
- Will fuel the structure and content of the following "Adaptive Workspace".
The calendar will be captured after the meeting and posted online.
- Large Calendar & colorful markers
- Events from last build (last week's calendar)
- Person to picture and upload image
[edit] Adaptive Workspace
The Adaptive Workspace is an open discussion/planning/etc. time that will be filled with what ever structure meets the needs of those in attendance. During the Calendar/Agenda Building section facilitation, with suggestions from the group, will identify themes and topics for workshopping and position these on an Adaptive Workspace Agenda. As possible topics are generated, they will be written where everyone can see them.
At a glance the Adaptive Workspace is...
- Designed based on what's brought to the Calendar/Agenda Building period
- More focused on similarly-themed actions, coordination between clustered actions, and campaign development
- Less focused on planning specific actions or events
- Should meet the needs of those attending the meeting
- Should output Goals, Needs, and Research/Next Steps for Round Backs
The Adaptive Workspace will divide the time and space to best address the current needs of those in attendance. Here are some possible scenarios for an hour-long Adaptive Workspace:
- A single hour long session as a group (ex: Outreach for event in two weeks)
|
Time frame |
| Topic: |
Outreach for event in two weeks |
- Two 30 minute sessions (back to back) on two topics as a full group. (ex: food for Saturday and Review of posters for Saturday)
|
Time frame |
| Topics: |
Food for Saturday |
Review of posters for Saturday |
- two one hour long sessions (in parallel) on two topics as two groups. (ex: Coordination discussion for environmental actions and Discussion around new accounting process)
|
Time frame |
| Topic 1: |
Coordination discussion for environmental actions |
| Topic 2: |
Discussion around new accounting process |
- Four 30 minute sessions, 2 parallel in the first 30 minutes followed by the next two parallel sessions.
|
Time frame |
| Topics 1: |
session 1 |
session 3 |
| Topics 2: |
session 2 |
session 4 |
- Four discussions, the first three for 30 minutes in parallel, the last discussion for 30 minutes as a full group.
|
Time frame |
| Topics 1: |
session 1 |
session 4 |
| Topic 2: |
session 2 |
| Topic 3: |
session 3 |
*It doesn't have to be a discussion. It could be in any format assembly, council, etc.
To open the Adaptive Workspace Facilitation will get feedback on their agenda from the full group and change it accordingly. Anyone can create parallel discussion space outside of what Facilitation put forth.
Most Adaptive Workspaces should produce a 2 minute (or less) presentation that outlines plans/goals, needs, and next steps to be presented to the group during Round Backs.
[edit] Round Backs
Round backs focus on group accountability, progress, and mutual aid. Groups are encouraged to make a short (2 minute) presentation outlining their goals, needs, and next steps.
The Round Back space is open to any group that wants to update the larger group on their process on any particular project.
At a glance Round Backs...
- Keep folks up-to-date on a group's goals
- Are a space to let people know what your group needs
- Solicit advice and information
- Are not for discussion on a group's ideas
- Are a place to pose questions to the larger group
The "Round Back Loop" looks like this:
- A group makes a presentation about goals, needs, and next steps.
- Stack is opened for clarifying questions and informational responses (ex. how to fulfill a need)
- The next group comes up.
[edit] Definitions
- Goals - Anything a group seeks to accomplish, this could be having a follow up meeting, drafting a document, marching on Wall Street, getting a target arrested for war crimes, etc.
- Needs - Anything a group needs to accomplish their goals, this could be a car, boxes, copy writing, website, etc.
- Research/Next Steps - This is something a group wants to learn more about. Perhaps they want to identify all the banks that got bail outs or find all other activist groups in NYC doing money out of politics work.
[edit] Meeting Close
Every meeting will close with a discussion on the meeting structure. Is this meeting meeting our needs? Any advice or feedback? We will also use this time to identify people to bottom line roles for next week.
[edit] Open Work Space
After Round Backs and the closing of the meeting, if possible, open work space will begin. Open work space aims to follow up Round Backs with action! People and groups are encouraged to meet and coordinate ways to fulfill goals, needs, and next steps.
[edit] Notes from MM Meetings
Notes taken at MM Meetings of 2013 Notes from 2012 can be found in archives on the MM List
