[Guild Meeting Discussion]

[requiemdreamer]

There has been a lot of discussion recently about changes taking place in our guild and the responses have been great. Since there will be a lot of decisions needing to be made about these matters, I felt that there would be a need to organize all of it. I have set up new threads on our forums to help organize and keep separated the discussion of these main topics.

Please keep all posts in this thread related to discussion of Guild Meetings

[requiemdreamer]

I would suggest weekly meetings at a consistent time. Meetings to discuss any things going on with the guild (raids, guild bank withdrawls, etc.) and also to discuss initiates.

A possible meeting to go like this:

--All members attending the meeting join the designated vent channel at the specified weekly time. Discussion begins exactly at designated time, unless certain circumstances prevent it.

--Initiates are not allowed into meetings. Reason for this is mentioned on next bullet.

--First topic discussed is promotions. Each recruit who has been an initiate for the minimum ammount of time is brought up for evaluation which will be lead by a designated speaker. This position would be rotated among officers each week. If the designated speaker is not present at the meeting, another officer will then take the position.

--This speaker will present each recruit in order of our oldest initiates first to our newest initiates last. Firstly, the speaker will announce the member being evaluated, recite when their recruitment began, and then begin with any opening comments. (If we are designating specific people to be responsible for getting to know recruits, those people would then make their comments before opening discussion to the rest of the guild.) The speaker then opens up the discussion for everyone else.
(If things get hectic with too many people speaking at once we might device a system in which those wishing to comment about the recruit will place an asterisk(*) in a comment on ventrilo next to their name as a way of "raising your hand" in high school. The speaker would then go down the list and pick each person one by one for their turn to speak.) I don't think things will get this bad but it might be a good idea to plan something like this incase we start getting that large.

--Once all members have made their comments, voting is then started either by everyone sending a tell to the speaker, or placing it as a comment on ventrilo. Then from there, if the minimum ammount of votes for membership are met, that person is then promoted and invited into the channel. If not, that person will be re-evaluated again the next week (if it is determined that their initiate status not be removed).

--Same process will continue for the rest of eligible initiates.

--Once all recruiting matters are finished, the meeting then continues on to discuss all other matters at hand.
(Doing it in this order will allow initiates to take place in the guild meeting if/when they recieve their membership status)

Well, that's my idea for how meetings could work. I would really like to hear as many other ideas as possible. Like Magdalena said in another post, the more ideas people propose, the better the final decision will turn out to be. I think that weekly meetings, held on weekends, would work best for everyone. We would not require anyone to attend these meetings. If the meeting is set at a specific time, and is held at exactly that time each week, it will be very easy for people to keep track of when they need to be present for the meeting. All of those who were not able to make it can always bring up their ideas and concerns whenever they get the chance, or at the following meeting.

Let me know what you guys think

[Fosters]

ok first id like to say that all of the ideas sean mentioned are a great start and with some gentle refinement can come to make this issue a non issue. i think that the format proposed is good although i would like to make a special provison for a seperate time for an officers meeting. either another time or directly before or after the guild meeting allowing the decision major decision making or private discussions easier to have in a setting with less voice congestion and a more conducive private time would help in that regard.

[undrin]

ok first id like to say that all of the ideas sean mentioned are a great start and with some gentle refinement can come to make this issue a non issue. i think that the format proposed is good although i would like to make a special provison for a seperate time for an officers meeting. either another time or directly before or after the guild meeting allowing the decision major decision making or private discussions easier to have in a setting with less voice congestion and a more conducive private time would help in that regard.

I can see where you are coming from in regards to having an Officers meeting. But the problem with that is SSX is not supposed to be like that. All members are allowed to vote on all things regarding the guild. I would propose that if you want a private meeting with some people just messeage them in some way and set it up.

[undrin]

I think these idea are great and will help to keep things going in a productive manner. The only thing I have to add at this time is for voting. One easy way to vote would be to have the speaker ask " for those that want to vote yes please just hit you push to talk key" than do the same for the no vote. It wouldnt take that long and it would be easier than sending messages and tells in vent or in game.

[undrin]

One last thing. I belive we are having our first Meeting Saturday at 2PM. Req was trying to set it up yesterday and I wanted to make sure everyone knew about it.

[sakuragi]

i'll think about it and decide...

[Magdalena]

Ok, going to be a 2 part response to both postings...

Req- some very good ideas in format and timing. Saturdays seem to be a fairly good day for most of the group.
Only change I'd make is an addendum for minimum attendance before big decisions are made. There may be some weekends such as holidays etc. where there would be very few people to attend that weeks meeting. At that point, important decisions like membership should be held off until the following week unless it's something we're already aware of and have a way for people to post their ballots somewhere private before they leave.

Fosters - only problem with having separate officers meetings is there won't be much to discuss other than possibly the agenda for the next meeting. Officers aren't given the decision making in this guild, it is up to a guild-wide vote and discussion for everything. They're mainly volunteers to try to keep the piece and be someone members can talk to if they're having issues etc. They may try to work it out if possible in talks with the involved players, or they may need to discuss if it is something that needs to be brought up in the next meeting. Pretty much all of that though can be done here as well, as long as the discussions remain mostly civil and productive (ie - no bashing on people).
SSX believes very strongly in keeping all members on an even playing ground. While sometimes leaders are needed in certain elements such as ensuring the general guidelines are kept with and the peace in the group is maintained, the guidelines and decisions on what to follow are decided by the entire group. This attitude of equal grounds tends to keep the 'game politics' down to a lower level and enable everyone to just enjoy the game more.
I don't think you were online when this was discussed before, so just letting you know pretty much how that would go. I believe the number of actual items that will require an officer only meeting would be very few and far between... perhaps an initial one to start off with and discuss what is/isn't expected of officers to ensure everyone is on the same page with this for those that weren't there for the previous discussions.
Other than that, most things like that would be emergency type meetings and then bring public after it's immediately dealt with, say if you've got a specific situation on your hands that hasn't happened before and you want advice from other officers for how to handle it immediately until it can be brought to the next meeting.
Could include something like temporarily removing someone who is being disruptive until it can be discussed at that week's guild meeting... needing help moderating between two members that can't settle their dispute on their own... there are countless situations where you might need back-up or just another opinion before acting, especially if you find yourself emotionally involved in the dispute... they don't usually happen too much, and likely hardly ever once we get things running under more specific guidelines...

I also like the idea of sort of a round table type meeting... going around the room and asking each member to comment about their feelings/thoughts on the subject... I also like the idea of using them as a panel interview for new ssx wannabes...
One other thought I had which will take me some time to look at doing is to put up a place on our website that we could quickly change the options and make it a quick make-shift ballot for during the meetings so people can keep their vote anonymous and not feel pressured in a certain direction by someone... trying to consider not just how our group is, but a worst case scenario of someone getting past screening and what ways they could use these systems against us.

[requiemdreamer]

Req- some very good ideas in format and timing. Saturdays seem to be a fairly good day for most of the group.
Only change I'd make is an addendum for minimum attendance before big decisions are made. There may be some weekends such as holidays etc. where there would be very few people to attend that weeks meeting. At that point, important decisions like membership should be held off until the following week unless it's something we're already aware of and have a way for people to post their ballots somewhere private before they leave.

I made a small comment in my OP that kind of addressed that in a broad sense.
-->"Discussion begins exactly at designated time, unless certain circumstances prevent it."
By that I meant to cover any instances where we might be missing a good chunk of our members to make any major decisions, or if there is a discussion that requires a specific person to be there who isn't.

I also like the idea of sort of a round table type meeting... going around the room and asking each member to comment about their feelings/thoughts on the subject... I also like the idea of using them as a panel interview for new ssx wannabes...

I agree. I'm not sure if you were referring to what I posted but that is what I was tryign to suggest. That each person expresses any of their opinions once, and one at a time, before a vote is made. And in cases of discussing general guild things, the same process could be done.

Tim made a good suggestion to me that was kind of based off of what I posted about having a designated speaker. And I also think this is a good idea:
He suggested that the designated speaker each week not be the same person. That it be a rotating position among the officers from week to week. If the officer who has been designated as the speaker is not present at the time of the meeting, one of the other officers takes their position. IMO, this keeps along with the idea of officers not having power. It just keeps the officers in the position of being the ones making sure that these meetings don't get out of hand and that each person gets to voice their opinion. Officers also being the ones responsible for making sure everyone knows about the meetings.

[undrin]

Req- some very good ideas in format and timing. Saturdays seem to be a fairly good day for most of the group.
Only change I'd make is an addendum for minimum attendance before big decisions are made. There may be some weekends such as holidays etc. where there would be very few people to attend that weeks meeting. At that point, important decisions like membership should be held off until the following week unless it's something we're already aware of and have a way for people to post their ballots somewhere private before they leave.

I made a small comment in my OP that kind of addressed that in a broad sense.
-->"Discussion begins exactly at designated time, unless certain circumstances prevent it."
By that I meant to cover any instances where we might be missing a good chunk of our members to make any major decisions, or if there is a discussion that requires a specific person to be there who isn't.

I also like the idea of sort of a round table type meeting... going around the room and asking each member to comment about their feelings/thoughts on the subject... I also like the idea of using them as a panel interview for new ssx wannabes...

I agree. I'm not sure if you were referring to what I posted but that is what I was tryign to suggest. That each person expresses any of their opinions once, and one at a time, before a vote is made. And in cases of discussing general guild things, the same process could be done.

Tim made a good suggestion to me that was kind of based off of what I posted about having a designated speaker. And I also think this is a good idea:
He suggested that the designated speaker each week not be the same person. That it be a rotating position among the officers from week to week. If the officer who has been designated as the speaker is not present at the time of the meeting, one of the other officers takes their position. IMO, this keeps along with the idea of officers not having power. It just keeps the officers in the position of being the ones making sure that these meetings don't get out of hand and that each person gets to voice their opinion. Officers also being the ones responsible for making sure everyone knows about the meetings.

I like the idea of a rotating speaker!

[requiemdreamer]

Fosters - only problem with having separate officers meetings is there won't be much to discuss other than possibly the agenda for the next meeting. Officers aren't given the decision making in this guild, it is up to a guild-wide vote and discussion for everything. They're mainly volunteers to try to keep the piece and be someone members can talk to if they're having issues etc. They may try to work it out if possible in talks with the involved players, or they may need to discuss if it is something that needs to be brought up in the next meeting. Pretty much all of that though can be done here as well, as long as the discussions remain mostly civil and productive (ie - no bashing on people).
SSX believes very strongly in keeping all members on an even playing ground. While sometimes leaders are needed in certain elements such as ensuring the general guidelines are kept with and the peace in the group is maintained, the guidelines and decisions on what to follow are decided by the entire group. This attitude of equal grounds tends to keep the 'game politics' down to a lower level and enable everyone to just enjoy the game more.
I don't think you were online when this was discussed before, so just letting you know pretty much how that would go. I believe the number of actual items that will require an officer only meeting would be very few and far between... perhaps an initial one to start off with and discuss what is/isn't expected of officers to ensure everyone is on the same page with this for those that weren't there for the previous discussions.
Other than that, most things like that would be emergency type meetings and then bring public after it's immediately dealt with, say if you've got a specific situation on your hands that hasn't happened before and you want advice from other officers for how to handle it immediately until it can be brought to the next meeting.
Could include something like temporarily removing someone who is being disruptive until it can be discussed at that week's guild meeting... needing help moderating between two members that can't settle their dispute on their own... there are countless situations where you might need back-up or just another opinion before acting, especially if you find yourself emotionally involved in the dispute... they don't usually happen too much, and likely hardly ever once we get things running under more specific guidelines...

I had a talk with Tim(Fosters) about this and his intentions are right about this but perhaps he just needs to make a second post or edit his first. He did not intend to suggest an officers meeting every week after each guild meeting. He was suggesting that meetings be held if necessary. If something came up that the officers needed to meet separately to discuss how things should be handled and brought before everyone else, that those types of meetings be able to happen.

While officers do not single-handedly hold executive power, it is inevitable that there will be some form "leadership" in the guild. Without it, I don't see how any of this can work.
I think that officers would hold the power of responsibility. The responsibility to help and serve the guild.

IMO, Officers should be:
--The people that a member would speak with to settle disputes.
--Responsible for keeping a cool head on all matters.
--Making sure that guild rules(established by everybody) are being followed.
--Helpful to everyone.
--Responsible for each of their fellow officers, making sure that they are not out of line.
--Responsible for organizing the larger events, and guild meetings.
--An example for everyone in the guild.

I also had an idea for ways to ensure that members can identify officers. That "veteran" status in the guild be a reserved position for any of our officers' alternate characters.
i.e. If I were playing my priest or my rogue, newer members who do not know everyone's alts would see that I was a veteran and know that I was an officer.

[undrin]

I am not against the having a way for others to know an Officer is online. I am not sure using vetern is the way to go but unless we can creat a new Label I don't have any idea on how to do it. But at the same time I would also agree that there really dosnt need to be anything other than Officer, Member, Initiate

[Fosters]

sean pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of what i meant and failed to properly vocalize. i did not mean to suggest that officers have any type of power in the guild other than that which sean mentioned, that is unless we the members choose to vote us into some power, which i am not specifically advocating or discouraging. also my intentions for the officers meetings were well illustrated in seans posting that they are for the discussion of what topics should be addressed in meetings and or disciplinary or as needed occourances. im bad at writing much better at vocalizing what i mean but i think sean got my points perfectly.

[undrin]

sean pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of what i meant and failed to properly vocalize. i did not mean to suggest that officers have any type of power in the guild other than that which sean mentioned, that is unless we the members choose to vote us into some power, which i am not specifically advocating or discouraging. also my intentions for the officers meetings were well illustrated in seans posting that they are for the discussion of what topics should be addressed in meetings and or disciplinary or as needed occourances. im bad at writing much better at vocalizing what i mean but i think sean got my points perfectly.

Well now that makes a lot of sense! I like it!

[lili]

I have a sugguestion who most people already do about how to tell who's an officer. Most of us put our main character's name next to our alt's name and maybe we can add a "- O" to the end of that note to indicate that our main is an officer.