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Yikes. Do you actually have that many members show up for a board
meeting? Do you hold separate general member meetings for all the
pertinent stuff separately or do you cram it all into those?<br>
<br>
We welcome members (and occasionally, the public) to sit in on board
meetings, but usually only a handful attend (we have about 55
members including the 7 on the board). Openness and transparency is
important to us as well, so long as member's privacy isn't violated.
Because of that, we don't normally name members who are behind on
dues unless there's a suspension on the table (which would be
announced publicly anyway), for instance.<br>
<br>
If your concern is members are being left out because of physical
space constraints, what about streaming your meetings online via
webcam and using IRC to conduct business with remote participants?
If there are times that meetings need to be face-to-face (depending
on your bylaws), limit the frequency of them and try and find a
larger space to use for those.<br>
<br>
Chaotic meetings can be smoothed out by a powerful meeting chair.
However, controlling a meeting of 180+ attendees would be a massive
undertaking for anyone.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Ben (Kwartzlab Makerspace)<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/25/2013 11:11 AM, Randall G.
Arnold wrote:<br>
</div>
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cite="mid:758709635.342259.1380121874466.open-xchange@email.1and1.com"
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<div> Greetings all, </div>
<div> </div>
<div> A little over a year ago I got the ball rolling on a Maker
community for my area. As we've grown and developed guidance
and governance (we have established a nonprofit foundation for
Makerspace facilitation, managed by a board of around 12) we've
run into the usual potholes and fences. Unfortunately the
sticky ones are personal and political. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> In particular, my philosophy is to start every endeavor,
every Board meeting with the *default* attribute of
openness/transparency and only restrict general member
attendance when absolutely necessary (security, venue
limitations, etc). Caveat being that attendance !=
participation. It's a given that you can't cram 170 general
members into a 12 ft x 12 ft room, nor should Board meetings be
spectacles. But when assemblies are restricted for whatever
reason, it's my belief that proceedings be made fully available
to the general membership. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> However I've been met with some resistance on the very
subject of openness. Based on some push back, I feel out of
place in the very organization I started. After years of
involvement in open source communities, I have strong feelings
on the subject but I'm willing to listen to opinions from all
directions. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> What I'd like to ask everyone on this list is: what are YOUR
thoughts on this topic? And can anyone point me toward policy
that supports or even argues against my beliefs? </div>
<div> </div>
<div> Thanks, </div>
<div> </div>
<div id="ox-signature"> Randall (Randy) Arnold <br>
founder/director, Tarrant Makers </div>
<br>
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