Virtual Meetup for Microsolidarity hosts

Sorry, slow to join this party but have been following along and intending to join the calls on Friday assuming that's still OK

• Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

  UK and moving around 'Europe' in freer days. I have lots of free time, highly engaged in this subject so I'm very flexible for different rhythms for different types of interactions. Conscious that decisions re. these calls have been made and happy ot defer to them.

• What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

Two things: 1) collective exploration of the concept of microsolidarity as introduced and expanded on so far by Richard. 2) find and exploring deep connections with anyone else for who this concept resonates like it does with me, with the active intention to do stuff together. The nature of the 'stuff' is secondary to the nature of the relationships developed.

• How would you format a meeting?

  (leaving this as conscious that this conversation has matured and happy to defer to decisions made)

why we should hobble ourselves by using less capable tools.

You seem to be assuming that any user-respecting tool that might be proposed as a replacement for GoggleDocs can only be "less capable". Why? Is Loomio less capable than GoggleGroups?

Almost anything is more capable than GD of being accessed by a user in China (without a VPN). Almost anything is more likely to respect user privacy than Goggle tools. If it's free code, it's more capable of being modified by it's user communities, making it more likely to meet their needs. I could list many more things that GD is less capable of 😏

I've started an agenda document here, you can comment and expand the agenda. Even get in an argument with me around why we should hobble ourselves by using less capable tools. Come prepared with:

• Your story

• Things we need to agree on so this group can function, these can be shared as stories or best practices you've used in the past when forming a group (let's get meta)

• Consider this question: "what is the conversation only this group can have"

That should do it! Thanks @Richard D. Bartlett

@Drew Hornbein please let us know if any assistance we can offer will increase your sense of ease or enthusiasm for hosting this call on Friday.

I have an account on the NZOSS instance of Big Blue Button. I'm happy to create a private room there for the meetup if there are any problems with Jitsi. I'll monitor this thread regularly from 13:30 to 14:30 UTC. FWIW My laptop is too old to work with Jitsi Meet and it can only be used on mobile with the app, which isn't available for my ancient Android. So unless you need the BBB backup, sadly I won't be able to participate this time. If that's the case, I hope it goes well :)

@Ronen Hirsch @Drew Hornbein thanks for organizing! 🙏

If someone has access to a paid zoom room which can be used as a backup, please respond to this thread with information about that.

I have a work Zoom account and setup a dedicated room at https://gitlab.zoom.us/j/829636484, just in case. Happy to go with Jitsi as well though!

+1

Thanks for coordinating folks, looking forward to seeing you all on Friday.

I would suggest that we not password protect the room. There is a near-zero chance that someone else will use that room name at the same time as us (and if they do we should be friends anyways)

Hi Ronen, maybe it's a bit hidden, but there is indeed a password option for the meetup (on mobile: three dots menu > swipe up for more options > "Add meeting password"). The first one taking the room would need to set it. For the sake of proposing something and because Drew is hosting the meeting, how about "hornbein"? :)

Schedule for Microsolidarity Virtual Meetup

A virtual meetup will take place once a month on the 2nd Friday of the month. The meetup will have two parts:

• Part1: 14:00-15:30 (GMT) intimate (off-the-record) session

• Part2: 15:30 - 16:00 (GMT) optional documentation/on the record session.

The first meeting will take place on April 10, 2020.

The first meeting will be hosted by @Drew Hornbein

Both the above recurring schedule and future hosting/facilitation may be discussed and potentially reviewed during this first meeting (eg: alignment with lunar cycles).

We will meet at https://meet.jit.si/microsolidarity-meetup

Since it does not seem possible to reserve/protect a room on Jitsi, if when the meetup time arrives, there is any problem with the room, please check back with this thread for an update.

If someone has access to a paid zoom room which can be used as a backup, please respond to this thread with information about that.

If you like jit.si some friends from our congregation built a front end for room switching called interspace.chat If the current iteration is too spacey for tastes theres the older version located at liminalvillage.interspace.chat which is perhaps a bit cuter :)

I dig the jit recommendation so not fussed if we keep it simple - I think break out rooms are a nice addition though ;)

Where do you think the meetup will talk place? Is there a platform you typically use? If not, I'd suggest https://jitsi.org/ - e.g. like this: https://meet.jit.si/microsolidarity-meetup.

Hi Hello,

I just recently joined the group and if this call is still on the cards I'd be interested to join. Thanks @Drew Hornbein for instigating.

I'm in Melbourne for the next few months then will be in Chiang Mai Thailand for the foreseeable future. Once a month or moonth sounds like the right kind of rhythm for me.

I've been actively running a congregation with around 200 members since 2017 and I've been making things up as I go along. I'd really like to connect in with other people doing similar work and hear what they are up to and learn from each others triumphs and tribulations.

My dream is see a global network of communities, collectives and congregations link up and start to shape the world I wish to live in.

In terms of meeting format, I like the idea of rotating facilitation and also the concept of doing Case Clinics as per Rich's suggestion. I have some experience in facilitation and I'm happy to take a turn doing this, but perhaps a few months in as I'm a little overstretched right now with commitments. I'm very interested in getting to know people and their projects more deeply over time.

I'm a bit slow to respond but I love the idea.

Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

Aotearoa (NZ, UTC+12), monthly is good for me. I'm entirely self-managing so I can do any time, but FYI I prefer to stay up late for a meeting than get up early ;)

What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

I'm more interested in what I can contribute, as someone who's been involved in decentalized organization and consensus decision-making since the late 1990s. Currently, I'm a one-man-band, looking for a like-minded crew to contribute to on an ongoing basis. Ideally in a way that allows me to earn some coin for my work, but money doesn't motivate me as much as feeling like I've made a positive difference.

How would you format a meeting?

+1 on the rolling facilitator (one new, one from last time), and checkins/ checkouts. Between 1-2 hours of formal session, with informal hangout time for those keen to continue. I like the idea of having a pre-determined focus for each session.

FWIW I'd really like to use free code tools, eg Big Blue Button instead of Zoom, Etherpad or Cryptpad instead of GoggleDocs

Hey guys,

... better late than never i guess ;-)

Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

I'm in Liminal Village, Rural Italy.

We align everything we do with the moon cycle (lunar sprints), starting and ending at new moon. So meeting once or twice a month on key lunar phases would align with our rhythm.

Full moon would be a good moment to pitch "moonshots", to a friendly audience (i.e. close circles) where we disclose interesting and wild ideas discussed during the previous two weeks.

New moon would be the best moment to share the results of what everyone hacked together during the entire lunation, and learn form what others did.

Solar events (Eg: solstices and equinoxes) assume similar pattern, with greater importance.

What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

I dream of a networked collaborative society where everyone shares and contributes to each other efforts, raising humanity as a whole.

An intimate meeting at full moon to share "moonshots" with close/trusted collaborators could give early feedback and a good signal to find early collaborators interested in hacking together within your trusted network.

A more formal sharing moment on new moon would inform everyone on the progress of the network as a whole, potentially cross pollinating solutions and ideas for the next cycle.

How would you format a meeting?

For the new moon meeting, every participant registers their participation on a shared google doc, where they put down all info they would like to share about their crew and location, together with any topics they would like to discuss. People who will want to get in touch with one crew or another after the call can find all practical information on this doc, and could be used as a reference list for 1-to-1 introductions (which are better to be done asynchronously)

Rotating meeting hosts can introduce an online version the sharing circle pattern to the participants.

The circle starts with everyone muted, and everyone that would like to speak use the "raise hand" button. People pass it to anyone who still has their hand raised, until no more hands are raised. Depending on the number of speaking participants, it is recommended to keep things short (3 to 5 minutes each) to give enough space to everyone to speak without being in a rush.

After everyone has spoken, the circle is closed. People can hang around the virtual meeting indefinitely, asking questions and text chatting while live music or live DJs are playing. All participants are still on "mute" dancing, or showcasing art, doing live demos of what they achieved, or just simply dancing etc... Participant can share comments in the main room, or just break out into private rooms for direct 1-to-1 communication.

People can then list their projects on a shared location (eg: we use https://async.hackalong.io/) where the conversation can continue asynchronously in their own threads. This will avoid the need to record the entire session and would decentralise the note-taking/summary of the events.

Short Answer

It makes no difference to me whether the meetup happens on Good Friday
or not. I just wanted to make sure that the group was aware of this
aspect of the timing when they consented to it. If so, no worries.

Longer Answer

I'm not religious, but I'm aware that puts me in a minority. I'm also
aware that a lot of people avoid mentioning their religious affiliations
in online communities, as it can attract negativity from the
anti-religious. I think it's important to be conscious of unconsciously
excluding members of a large sector of population from activities
intended to facilitate the work of making the world a better place.

But putting the religious aspect aside ...

I can't speak for other countries, but I know that in Aotearoa, Good
Friday is a public holiday, like Christmas Day. Because employers are
obliged to let workers take time off for public holidays, they are a
time when a lot of people - religious or not - take time away from work
and work-adjacent activities. As such, it can be a poor time to schedule
such activities.

I'm sorry that you felt uncomfortable when receiving this clarification.
But as you say, it's important that we avoid implicitly giving each
other jobs to do, and I'm not accepting the job of working through your
emotional discomforts for you. FWIW you seem to have leaped to a lot of
conclusions about my motives for sharing the information I shared, and
even if they had been correct, I suspect all that leaping created a lot
more work for you than anything I said ;)

Thanks for communicating so clearly and thoroughly. It really is quite
refreshing :) I hope that my reply, like yours, is received in the same
spirit.

I really love this response, its such a gentle way bringing subconscious patterns to light. Its so hard to deal with the little issues because they usually seem so innocuous, bigger issues are so much more transparent!

Hey Danyl :) Your proposition seems so simple ... and yet I found it challenging. I have come up with a short answer and a long answer ... both offered as softly as I can convey in written words and from my heart.

Short Answer

I do not wish to carry the burden of making that choice on behalf of the group nor with the burden of deciding if it warrants the group's attention nor with the burden of deciding if/how to bring it to the group for resolution. HOWEVER I would like to acknowledge and remind you that you can and are welcome to shoulder that effort.

Long Answer

1: Peace & Clarity

I treat every message I generate here (or by email, or on twitter ... wherever) caringly. I am aware that every message generates an attention-demanding vibration for everyone who receives it. I believe we live in a world we are bombarded by such signals. I believe these signals (regardless of our affinity for their contents or senders) are at levels that undermine personal well-being and as a consequence collective well-being.

I hesitated to offer the scheduling mechanism. On one hand, I wanted to help (if I could), on the other hand, I felt that by merely offering the mechanism I'd be making a bunch of assumptions on behalf of the group IN ORDER to make it a clear and peaceful process (with as little back and forth and noisy communications). I did not feel comfortable making those assumptions. The resolutions of these forces acting within me led to the above scheduling mechanism.

2: Externalized Cost

When I saw your message I had an uncomfortable feeling. Part of it was because of the timing of the message: arriving AFTER a surprisingly swift, peaceful and clear schedule resolution. But another part was the sense that by asking your simple (and informative and constructive) question you were implicitly asking me to do more work on your behalf. The implicitness of that request is what makes me feel uncomfortable.

I am choosing to shed light on this because I believe this is a deep recurring pattern that negatively affects our world. This pattern has seemingly become increasingly evident when we think about plastic in the ocean or labor-conditions in Chinese factories. But I feel it slips under the radar in the contexts of personal relationships. This is an irony because very few of us are actually in the presence of plastic in the ocean or Chinese factories, but we are present (or are we?) in our relationships.

Please consider this an invitation to witness this pattern together in the hope that we can learn to be more discerning and caring around it.

3: Values

Also, I sense that at the heart of this may potentially be a question of values. I don't really know what Good Friday is, but I can guess, by crossing it with other signals in my life, that it is related to Easter. I was not born into Christianity and am not religious. I have directly experienced and witnessed A LOT Of wrongdoing associated with religion and so I have a negative response to it.

That negative response is moderated by a higher value I hold: svatantra (freedom-ish). I feel good respecting others making their own choices, including religious affiliation. However, I get uncomfortable when a religiously-informed individual applies (often sliding subtly into enforces) their considerations/choices onto others.

AND within that I'd like to invite a further discernment. What is it that you truly value in Good Friday? If it is spending time with your united family ... I am with you (and a bit envious of you)! If it is being physically together with your family while constantly bickering and overworking to exhaustion in order to be together ... I am not with you. If it is being with your family (how is that going these days?) how is Friday 10/4/2020 special in that regard? Is there space for you to both participate in this meeting and be with your family?

How important is this microsolidarity meeting for you?
Where does it fit in your values?
Have you done your value work before asking me to work on your behalf?
Have you done your value work before agitating everyone in the group to work on your behalf

Are you yourself religious? with your family? or alone in quarantine - sincerely floating a theoretically caring-about-others question?

Conclusion

I feel like I am going out on a limb with this message ... I hope it is received with understanding.

This felt TO ME like a more valuable signal then n more signals trying to consensually move the schedule (though I am fine if others want to do that).

Ronen:

• 2nd Friday of every month - can start this week 10/4/2020

FYI the 10th is Good Friday. Might be better to start the following week
2020/04/17 ?

• 14:00-15:30 (GMT) 90 minute intimate session

This works for me. Link to spreadsheet?

@Ronen Hirsch thanks for doing the leg work. I can certainly host this conversation at that time each month.

@Drew Hornbein from the responses submitted so far it seems that Fridays 12:00 - 16:00 is a clearly preferred timeframe. So I want to suggest:

1. 14:00-15:30 (GMT) 90 minute intimate session

2. 15:30 - 16:00 (GMT) 30 minute optional documentation/on the record session.

3. 2nd Friday of every month - can start this week 10/4/2020 (if this is enough heads up for you @Drew Hornbein )

For those who have not yet filled out their preferences (calling @Josh Fairhead , @Richard D. Bartlett , @Patrick Campbell , @William Rogers , @Roberto Valenti , @Danyl Strype , @Joe Lightfoot ) you can:

1. Either signal that the suggested time is GOOD FOR YOU by adding yourself to the spreadsheet and ONLY placing a "yes" or "YES" in the "green Friday" column.

2. Or signal that it doesn't work for you by adding yourself to the spreadsheet with a full row of availability signals so that an alternate time-frame can be selected

I suspect that prompt responses will make it easier and clearer for @Drew Hornbein to choose if we can start this week or at a later time.

I'd like to offer the following as an option to "rallying" a monthly call. I'm not sure how to correctly bring this to the group or execute, so I offer it for consideration.

I propose scheduling  a recurring monthly meeting by finding:

1. A day-of-week that could work for everyone

2. A time-of-day that could work for everyone.

3. A week-of-month that could work for everyone.

4. A meeting duration that could work for everyone.
   

Our first meeting would then be the first actual date that meets the pattern that works for hopefully everyone (or most people). We could then (when we are together) decide if to continue to use this cyclic pattern or to choose a different schedule and scheduling method.

We can enter our availability in this spreadsheet:
https://ethercalc.org/nox915ypwt87

In order to increase the odds of finding a good time for everyone I would like to suggest a consent-like spaciousness in stating availability using 4 indicators for each time-window:

• NO = hard no, absolutely not available - essentially this is asking to block this time-window for everyone.

• no = soft no, this does not work for me, but if I have to I will move things around and make this work.

• YES = preference, this would be a great time for me

• yes = this works for me.

IMPORTANT: The time-windows displayed in the spreadsheet are in GMT/UCT/UK time. This potentially introduces an EU bias. When filling it out PLEASE interpret and adjust for yourself to your timezone.

At this point, all I can commit to is hosting the call. Not rallying people to the call.

I'm sure everyone's priorities have shifted dramatically as the pandemic lands in your region. @Drew Hornbein I'm curious if you have energy to start hosting these calls?

Sorry, missed the March 1 deadline!

Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

I'm in Winterthur, Switzerland, working remotely, and very likely going on extended travels later this year.

My ideal rhythm would be monthly, at least in the beginning.

What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

• A space to connect, experiment, be vulnerable, hear other's experiences, exchange ideas.

• Learning and practising facilitation methods.

• Grow my network, find collaborators.

How would you format a meeting?

Hmm I like all the suggestions so far, and would love to try different things! I'm definitely more of a listener and observer type, so I'll appreciate formats that gently push me out of this comfort zone :)

# Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

During summer in Europe; Costa Rica and Taiwan during winter. I'm used to working remotely, anything between 2pm GMT until 5pm GMT would be fine in any of these timezones. To arrange with other meetings, a fixed weekday would be very helpful. Monthly sounds good to get started, but I imagine fortnightly would be good in the future - also because I feel much more fluent and creative in spoken conversations than written ones.

# What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

James Lewis introduced me to this platform just recently after we started picking up more regular conversations around the topics of trust, collaboration and sharing. My dream is to find and become part of a group that is defined by mutual trust. My experience from work mostly but also from friendships or relationships is that a lot of potential and motivation is being destroyed by the continuous fights for dominance. My dream is to overcome these hurdles causing unnecessary friction and open up a space where the energy and motivation of everyone can flow. I imagine it to be rather driven by the experience than the specific goals.

# How would you format a meeting?

As I believe trust is the fundamental ingredient, anything that has to do with open sharing, listening and support would be good. But I'm very new to a more formal approach to this so I'm very open and curious about ways to facilitate this.

• Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

UK - Initially monthly seems fine but when there's activity I'd hope bi weekly would be feasible as otherwise I fear momentum and connection dropping.

• What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

I'll address the short story later, haven't even introduced myself she to time constraints - but I was keen to participate so responding to the rest.

Mainly what I hope for is 'solidarity'. I'm involved in work and it can feel lonely and disjointed from a wider effort. I wanted to feel the voices out there to lift my spirits. To feel seen and acknowledged -- not for validation before progress, but fortification in process.

• How would you format a meeting?

Check ins. Shares. Needs.

Thanks for the offer, Alex! I'll be sure to reach out if anything comes to mind.

Thanks for this, Patrick! I'm also going going through a similar professional transition right now and would be happy to share whatever I can that would be helpful to you.

• Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

I'm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (EST time zone) and my ideal rhythm is monthly.

• What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

I joined the microsolidarity thread in order to identify others whose interests and ambitions intersect with my own, in hopes that those shared interests might lead to something more productive down the road (support in the development or execution of each others' projects, sharing relevant contacts and opportunities, etc.). Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to take the initiative on making those connections, so I don't feel I've made very good use of the platform or really explored the potential this resource might have for that purpose. I'm hoping that meeting in a slightly different format, like we're attempting to do here, might bring more focus to my engagement with this community and perhaps lead to some of those other benefits I mentioned.

This opportunity also comes at a time when I'm looking to transition from grad school to full-time employment, so I've been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish in the next stage of my life. I have lots of personal projects I'd love to get off the ground, but the more time that passes, the fewer options I feel I have to try to advance those projects. Given that fact, I'd love to know how others in my situation are navigating those sorts of difficulties and what options I might have for carrying my projects forward post-graduation.

• How would you format a meeting?

I'm not sure I have a lot to contribute on this one at the moment (although I might once we get going). I was just imagining something like a 1-2 hour Zoom meeting with a designated facilitator to guide discussion and make sure everyone is given equal opportunity to participate. I like the idea of rotating facilitators and some predefined structure (whether case studies, or anything else that makes sense), but I'd prefer that role be voluntary rather than expected of every participant. It might be nice to have an offline forum to kind of prep the group in advance for whatever we'll be discussing as well as to debrief afterwards.

I feel I should probably offer a quick disclaimer regarding my experience with small group meetings in the past and how those experiences may have colored my expectations and preferences for such meetings as an adult. I grew up a pretty devout evangelical Christian and spent lots of time in small groups in which we prayed, sang songs, and practiced various forms of group intimacy. I really got a lot out of those experiences in the past but feel pretty lukewarm about them now that I no longer belong to that faith. The reason I bring this up is just to put it on the group's radar how different people might be sensitive to different traditions like these, especially since microsolidarity as a practice is so rich with them. I would just prefer we be cautious about letting any particular tradition dominate our time or discussion, or start to feel prescriptive about how any particular participant should approach this activity. I know from past experience that that can be a very alienating experience, and not something I'd want to subject any of our members to. That being said, I do recognize that such practices have their place in this discussion and I think everyone should feel affirmed and supported in sharing their own traditions with the rest of the group.

My personal preference is to work out loud and leave a "paper trail" as much as possible. I understand this can inhibit people so I won't overstress the point. But there is a qualitative difference between what people say when they are in the work together, compared to when you interview them about it after.

I think that you might address this by inviting people to a podcast format and allowing them to censor themselves in that space rather than in the working-caring circles

It's a discussion on intimacy vs transparency right? So it's not necessarily an intimate space, although you suggest you would like it to be such?

I'm good with being recorded be it intimate or otherwise. I'd actually appreciate having the artefact of a recording to reflect on at the end, but can understand people having privacy concerns or being uncomfortable with such an arrangement.

Now we're talking! Love that idea.

makes sense, I can see why confidential conversations could be very helpful.

one suggestion: we could reserve a few minutes at the end for quiet reflection and then record a short video of people sharing the main takeaway points they are leaving the meeting with. participants can switch off camera or drop off the call if they don't want to be included.

hard no from me on recording these. written notes would be fine to share, maybe we could also practice some other form of synthesis on the call that could be shared, but I would find this space much more productive if it was held in confidence among the group, at least at the beginning.

Just registering at some point I would like to discuss the tension between intimacy and transparency. e.g. I would like to publicly share recordings of our conversations, and I would also like people to feel like they can show up fully without inhibitions, so I'm curious about how we walk that tightrope.

Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

I am in a village in north-west Romania. Timezone GMT+2 and I am available aternoons and evenings weekdays and weekeneds. A monthly meeting feels good to me.

What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

• I would like to participate in a shaping and practicing being a member of a remote group that is able to sense, deliberate and act gracefully.

• I would like to directly experience and taste participation and facilitation patterns.

• I would like to be relevant to others.

• I would like to experience holding and being held by others.

I am a Yoga practitioner living in retreat, with very little contact with people, for ~9 years. I arrived in this reality by trying to both distance myself from anxiety and move closer towards meaning and purpose. I've known of Enspiral for at least 4 or 5 years and at some point (I don't remember when) @richarddbartlett became my "anchor" for the developing narrative that is currently presenting itself as microsolidarity. This narrative (and a few others that are similar or complementary to it) give me a fragile sense of hope and evoke in me a yearning (also fragile) to be amongst people again. Yet I am not physically amongst people and it is difficult for me to imagine that changing. Because of this, I feel hesitant to join this crew.

Given that I don't have a physical social context, my exploration has been directed inwards. Primarily this comes in the form of a daily practice. Then, during the warm seasons of the year, I spend much of my time shaping and improving my built environment: woodworking, earth-based construction, stove-building, bread-making, food preservation, scything, etc. These things do not come naturally to me, yet I find that working in the three-dimensional physical world is more nourishing to me than working in the abstract digital world (which, ironically, does come more naturally to me). The feedback of gravity acting on a shovel of soil has and continues to in-form me in many ways ... I feel quite literally more grounded.

I used to have dreams and aspirations ... and then life happened ... again ... and again. Now, the request to share my dreams makes me feel on a good day indifferent and on a lesser day defeated. The "dream" modality feels to me inherently over-reaching. I try to start every day (and if I can, every hour) with a clear sense of where I am and what shimmers for me now. From there, I try to take comfortable strides that each feel like a small but confident movement towards something more whole and more beautiful. I do this trusting that the strides will add up to a good journey without stretching my neck out to see or predict the destination. One small good step at a time.

How would you format a meeting?

1. I would like the meeting to be a safe space that can contain intimacy.

2. I like the idea of opening with checkins and closing with checkouts.

3. I feel that a good conversation deserves a window of 1.5 - 2 hours (1 hour feels too short).

4. I have trust in sociocratic consent as a bootstrap process for decision making ... and then using it to bring in other patterns and mechanisms in response to REAL evolving needs in the group.

5. I would like there to be a conscious license for individual and collective silence.

6. How can we incorporate asynchronous continuity of "the group" between meetings?

7. There are almost no pictures of me online and I'd like to keep it that way.

8. I do not use popular online corporate services like Google (anything that requires login) or Facebook and would appreciate it if the group operated without depending on such services.

My thoughts and feelings on leadership are a complex conversation and not a short comment.

Hi all, thanks Drew for getting the ball rolling!

Where are you?

I'm in Easthampton, Massachusetts, USA, on land originally occupied by the Pocomtuc and stolen by European colonizers in the 1600s. My time zone is GMT-5.

What is your ideal rhythm?

Monthly, around new moon is best, usually available most days (but not Saturdays) and anytime 8 am - 6 pm or 8-10 pm.

What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

I've been trying to develop these sorts of approaches with a variety of groups that I'm a part of, so the idea of a facilitators' circle is very appealing to me. I've found myself "calling" a lot of people into this sort of space recently and that can get tiring when I don't have others to reflect on the process with. Also I'll be curious to learn more from folks who have been working with groups in this way for longer than I have.

How would you format a meeting?

I like Richard's suggestions of rotating co-facilitation and rotating case studies.

Love this invitation, thank you Drew!

I'm in Italy, ideal rhythm is monthly, weekday evenings or weekend days.

I would like to give and receive support in designing/testing/running social processes for crews and congregations.

If microsolidarity proves to be a useful methodology that works in many contexts, then I would like to help people get paid to implement it well too.

Meeting format: I like the idea of rotating facilitation, possibly in pairs for continuity. So Drew hosts the first one, and then on the second call someone else leads with Drew's support.

We could focus on one person/group/context per meeting, e.g. let's hear all about Josh's project and put all our energy into supporting him for one call. Case Clinic is a good small group process for this. If there are many participants, maybe we split into parallel tracks and help multiple people simultaneously, then report back to the whole group at the end.

Of course!

• Where are you? What is your ideal rhythm?

  • Berlin. Ideal rhythm - monthly most likely (depending on content and purpose)

• What are you looking to gain from meeting up? Tell us a short story about where you are at. Share your dreams.

  • I am hoping to use this space as a platform for gaining access to communities and projects doing this work and being inspired for my PhD research. I am also open to other uses of the space - including the development of curricula, programs, retreats, conferences, etc.

• How would you format a meeting?

  • At the moment I am particularly interested in the idea of a sort of Salon... one or two people sharing their work, struggles, fails, or wins and then having discussions and support circles or feedback sessions. (also addressing concerns about rotation of facilitation with this format) Selfishly, I am interested in starting to catalog techniques, methods, and frictions that folks run into for some concrete starting points for my own research 😅

@Rashid Owoyele do you want to chime in on this thread?

Hi Richard thank you for letting me know. Actually i am looking to engage with a community like this, so it's totally fine if someone reach out. Happy to talk and connect :)

Ciao Lorenza! just so you know: this discussion group is public on the web, so if you don't want your phone number out in public, you can delete this comment, and send Josh a private message by clicking on his name :)

Ciao Josh, i am italian too.I am really impressed from your point of view and i would like to know you better. Can we schedule a call? My email il [email protected] my number +610049765376

Hey,

I'm in Europe, often between UK, Italy, Holland and Spain - I'm generally flexible on time and monthly calls would be ideal (preference; new moon). This feels like an experienced group of self-organisation practitioners so I'm excited to get involved as a peer. I've been fostering regenerative culture for the last few years and we started building a network/congregation about half a year ago that is growing healthily. In time I'd like to see this collective intelligence become a thriving ecosystem that diversifies value flows into more regenerative practices while supports its participants and contributors.

Format

I second the idea of rotating facilitator, but maybe two of them paired (experience with inexperience) to raise the forest of knowledge. I'd also like to see more swarm like organisation along the lines of this post I made a while ago. Consent > consensus and from experience paired programming/triadic structures can really accelerate things. The notion of embedding geometric structures in organisational patterns like Stafford Beers Syntegration also appeals to me, but perhaps for now simplicity is best :)

Leadership
Participation is important so I'm happy to help facilitate and co-lead if required, however I'm deeply committed to the Hackalong.io community and wish to minimise overhead where possible. Ideally I would contribute supportive capacity.

I'm in Denver, CO (GMT-7) and Monthly would be ideal.

I'd like to gain new skills around format and facilitation games for online and in-person crews. I see this group as a place to discuss microsolidarity practices, generation of documentation, and a place to test things out. I'm currently running a bunch of proto-crews and the patterns are really alive in my community.

I also want to start making money from deploying these skills, so developing ways to "sell" this would be cool.

Format

I think we should have a rotating facilitator who is challenged to hold the space in an experimental manner. Each month would be a new and exciting experience. I think this would be a great way to learn technique and keep things fresh plus it would be a great opportunity for people who don't feel that skilled to ask for support from more seasoned facilitators.

Leadership

I'm happy to continue to jump start this but I'd really love for someone (especially someone who is inexperienced) to step up as the leader/caller so I can drop into a support role.