[Ambassadors] FAMNA Meetings - Follow Guidelines

[Karsten 'quaid' Wade]

On Wed, 2008-10-01 at 11:36 -0500, inode0 wrote:

> Preventing or limiting interruptions is good when someone is reporting
> about something, I find having to raise my hand in the middle of a
> discussion to hinder the discussion though. So I do see value in some
> circumstances and harm in others I guess.

I tend to agree with your approach as described within this thread.
Having a moderator/leader for the meeting who keeps the discussion on
track is the first need.  The !s and ?s become tools that support a
moderator.

One thing I notice is those rules are most useful when the meeting is in
a language that is common but not native to all writers.  The rapid flow
of discussion when everyone is fully familiar with the language is
confusing to others not as cognizant of the language.

One advantage we have in FAmNA meetings is that it is a region nearly
the size of EMEA that speaks a common language and has common cultural
references.  We're not going to need as many meeting guidelines to be
effective but it puts us at risk of:

* Deep sidetracking due to side tracking on interesting cultural tidbits
that are clearly off-topic; people don't do this in non-same language
meetings (except for the World Cup!)

* Losing non-native readers who are trying to follow along or read the
IRC log afterward.

* Longer meetings.

I suggest the following as an iterative step:

* Refer to those IRC meeting rules at the start of the meeting, and the
moderator can move to "full meeting rules" mode at any time to shutdown
side conversations and get things moving (reports, discussion, voting)

* Make sure the moderator is prepared to focus on keeping the discussion
moving, even while being a part of it (an art form)

* Remind folks during the meeting to remember the non-native readers who
are following along :)

- Karsten
-- 
Karsten Wade, Community Gardener
Dev Fu : http://developer.redhatmagazine.com
Fedora : http://quaid.fedorapeople.org
gpg key : AD0E0C41
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