Meetings

[Theresa Hepburn]

Hey all,

After being a part of two ma-ubuntu meetings I've decided that although 
our meetings are effective, I think we could accomplish the same amount 
in less time if we tried something a little different. I've noticed that 
people often need to repeat themselves because we have a lot of 
simultaneous talking going on. I know no one intends for that to happen 
but it's very common when a general question is asked of a group. This 
situation is also frustrating when comments aren't heard so another 
person will make an identical remark not long afterwards on the same topic.

In the past I've dealt with this sort of situation by playing a sort of 
talking game. At the "official" start of the meeting we designate some 
small easy to hand-off/throw object as the talking pass, say, a tennis 
ball. Our benevolent dictator that is Martin begins with the tennis ball 
until a member of the meeting indicates that he would like to speak, 
generally by raising his hand or some sort of gesture. If Martin feels 
it is an appropriate point in the meeting then he will pass the ball off 
to the person who wants to say something. This person can then choose 
the next person to say/ask something.

I know it's silly but this is a great way to not only give everyone the 
respect they deserve when they're speaking but also stifles the 
superfluous and ridiculous comments that I make all of the time.

Ultimately, it's our leader's decision to implement this or not but I 
figured I'd at least throw the idea on the table.


Theresa