Meetings
Facilitators and Secretaries meetings
September 2021
14th September - 17:00 UTC
Meeting on the Catalyst Secretary role.
Meeting between John Buck, Michael Yagi and Stephen Whitenstall on the Catalyst Secretary role.
15th September - 1300 UTC
Facilitator and Secretaries First Meeting - getting to know each other
Members: Nadim Karam, Charlie Robertstad, Nori Nishigaya, Stephen Whitenstall, Alice Sitar, Michael Yagi, Felix Weber
Check-in (start 0:00)
Start Recording
Administrative: (start 0:05)
Announcements
Accept proposed Content Agenda
Contact info for meeting invites
Content Agenda (start 0:08)
Introductions
Discussion on purpose of Catalyst Circle Facilitators and Secretary team
Propose a discussion on roles and responsibility of facilitator, secretary, and team on Friday? (30m might not be enough for this meeting)
**Nadim **- Is traveling and trying to keep up to date when he can. Interested in how the facilitator/secretary roles chase.
**Charlie **- We do not have a clear vision of Circle aims. Project Catalyst seems agnostic on setting goals. The current iteration gives me little confidence that much will be delivered. As there is not enough conversation about problems. Also there is a need to define terms like “red lines”. How to define the shape of Catalyst remains open. At Circle Meeting 5 how to define the election process seemed to be sidelined by funding issues ?
**Nadim **- There are a lot of gaps and not a lot not defined. We need to define all this ambiguity, before we are able to transition to some foundation, some stability. We have 3 months to develop something to meet this challenge.
**Nori **- To get the conversation back on track. We have an After Town Hall (ATH) Breakout room tonight where we can discuss Circle’s terms of reference. But we are facilitators, we do not guide the vision of Circle, we should be able to give feedback - but we are not responsible for the shaping of Circle. Facilitators should be doing work prior to Circle meetings to identify actions items and to employ a strategy to meet that goal.
**Charlie **- I would suggest facilitation is also the grounding of meaning. We should call-out ambiguity in a meeting and respond in kind.
**Alice **- I liked what Charlie said and I propose an action item - to add higher goals, to facilitate conversation around insights and vision of Circle. To make them more specific.
**Stephen **- During Circle Meeting 5, Dor asked me a question regarding the Trello board process and this broke the fourth wall that is the silent secretary. I was unprepared, but in future the secretary and facilitator should be prepared to give input when called upon.
**Nori **- I do not want this group to insert items in the Circle’s Agenda. Some feedback from Felix on this point would be good
**Nadim **- We should ask Circle what do you guys need from us ? What are Circles pain points and where do you think we could add value ?
**Felix **- I appreciate Nori’s points. It is not for facilitators and secretaries to create another Circle. To draft agendas and facilitate meetings is the main purpose. Do not set expectations too high. The main points are the agenda & the minutes the secretary takes and the facilitator who facilitates the meeting. Will evolve over subsequent meetings. In Circle we made the mistake about participation from people who are not informed about Catalyst or Circle. So facilitators and secretaries need a knowledge base to make sure you are informed.
**Nori **- Consent to speak to allow space for all to participate in the conversation is useful in facilitation of meetings when there are unresolved issues.
**Charlie **- What is difficult is that these ways in which we intend to interact only really work when there are clear goals. Divergent viewpoints come from divergent goals. When an entity exists that you can name then there is an implicit agreement that we know what is going on. Circles will develop in common with consolidated identity. An unspoken identity. But currently people have conversations and ideas which get lost.
**Stephen **- Should Circle not represent the divergent goals / viewpoint of different stakeholders - which may conflict at times ? Not always about agreement - but documenting differences as well ?
**Nori **- Consensus does not mean “agreement”, it means “acceptable”, which helps because you can create a larger context that includes both viewpoints, even if it is not a perfect fit for everyone.
**Alice **- At our startup we use this model - https://www.toolshero.com/leadership/golden-circle-simon-sinek/ - sometimes it also about emotional alignment. Sometimes awareness of this can create new dynamics.
**Nori **- I like that. As facilitators we should try to read the emotional state of the room. But we are going off-topic a bit. We should create an agenda for the next meeting. We can arrange this asynchronously. And items such as a strategy for creating an agenda for the next Circle meeting and to address technical requirements such as individual Google docs etc.
**Felix **- Victor will be at Friday’s meeting as well (17th September 2021). Today Lauris and I will also attend the After Town Hall Circle Breakout room. We need to draft the Circle agenda upfront.
**Stephen **- OK let's agree to start seeking Circle agenda Items at least a week before each bi-weekly Circle meeting and communicate with Circle members from this point forward.
**Nadim **- Lets also agree to hold a regular call between the facilitator/secretary on Circle meeting logistics.
15th September 1800 UTC After Town Hall
15th September 1800 UTC After Town Hall - Breakout Room - Catalyst Circle Feedback & QA
17th September, 1700 UTC
Members: Nadim Karam, Nori Nishigaya, Stephen Rowan, Peter Wolcott , Felix Weber, Victor Corcino, Lauris Steglics
Check-in (start 0:00)
Start Recording
Administrative: (start 0:05)
Overview of previous minutes
Announcements
Announcement - Pete OK offering training
Accept proposed Content Agenda
Content Agenda (start 0:08)
Feedback from Victor on his facilitation experience with Catalyst Circle to date (Victor) [moving to top as he has limited time]
Temporary solution for Victor to facilitate previous meetings.
Share feedback form so mistakes are not repeated.
A lot of people - lot to discuss in short period of time
Focus on agenda is important
5 or 10 minutes on each topic - always need more time
Last 20 minutes : 5 minutes for feedback form, 15 minutes buffer time.
First 5 minutes for introductions
5 more minutes for announcements\
Working with a group decision software (Alice)
Trying out Loo mio
Agenda logistics (Stephen)
Google docs : raise draft agenda week in advance of meeting
Google docs : separate document
Minutes logistics (Stephen)
Google docs : save draft, then edit - import into GitBook. Distribute
Google docs : separate document
Meeting recording logistics (Stephen)
Secretary laises with Dany IOG to obtain recording
Recording uploaded to Youtube (QA-DAO or Swarm)
Felix makes secretary, host or co-host. Co-host records meeting. Passes recording onto Dany. Dany upload recording to IOHK
Regular scheduling for this meeting (Nori)
Proposal: once every two weeks, the day after the CC meeting so we have two weeks to craft the next agenda, remind and chase action items, and the meeting is fresh in mind for a debrief on what went well/can be improved.
Makes more sense to have 1 week in advance - Nadim
Not enough time if we start to prepare a week in advance - Nori
Timeliness of tracking - Peter
Proposal approved to meet the day after the CC meeting.
Action item: Nori to send out a recurring meeting
Rotation for Facilitator and Secretary for this meeting (Nori)
Proposal: Trade off the facilitator and secretary for this meeting so people can start practicing the skills for facilitation and recording of the minutes, prep for meeting, etc. Come up with a schedule or rotation so people can know when they will be on-deck.
Proposal accepted
Action Item: Team to create a schedule for admin and facilitator
Action Item: Support Felix in progress and achievement reporting Slidedeck at TH
**Closing round **
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