3/15/09 Meeting Notes

[margare...@gmail.com]

Learnapalooza Planning Meeting 3/15/09


In Attendance:
Maggie Schutz
Tiffany
Dan Tafelski
Lindsay Jacobson
Kelly Clarke
Hatuey Diaz
Becky Schedin


Introductions
Hatuey joined as a special guest and shared his experiences with
hosting Gutters, a monthly free workshop geared towards artists and
people interested in learning about self-publishing.

Recap of last meeting and progress to date
People shared a bit about the neighborhoods which were researched;
however, this brought up the question of whether Learnapalooza will
'belong' to a specific neighborhood, or be a city-wide thing, with the
possibility of monthly or bi-monthly events throughout the city.
Planning discussion
One area to consider is that of censorship.

Other than an application process, how will we evaluate who can
participate?
Will class registration be enough of an issue in selection of classes?
Do we want to include forum/roundtable formats for people to debate
current issues or other areas?

Are there people who are not allowed to teach? Churches? Army
recruiters? Neo-Nazis?

Dan suggested requiring that classes teach tangible skills/abilities

Participants shared various ideas and goals for the event in
discussing the direction for a mission, vision, and objectives.
Suggestions and themes included the following:
Hosting various smaller events rather than one yearly event-might be
more manageable and help to sustain momentum
Event(s) should (be):
Free, but valuable--just because something doesn't cost anything
doesn't mean it's worthless.

Accessible to anyone
Still some question as to whether taping/recording.transcribing
classes online would be a good idea.

Engage people in active learning
Facilitate connection and face to face interactions
Be a platform for education and discussion
Promote new ideas
Build/enrich/inspire communities
Replicable/transportable -- could be done in other parts of the
country, other communities
Sustainable? Do we want this to last, or have a specific timeframe in
which we do it? Does the torch get passed to someone else eventually?
Diversity
Have a sense of occassion/blitz/be a 1 stop shop
Have 'bite sized' opportunities for learning, with tips on where to go
to learn more-be a springboard for learning a new topic

Listening on our part is key in order to hear/find out what
communities want/need
Create connections between people and organizations
Offer a forum
Be transparent and easy to understand
City wide
Provide opportunities for learning, and getting to know one's
community
Satisfies curiosity
Teaches your neighbor/be a bridge to connecting to your neighbor
Be fun, party, light hearted, a celebration
Promote the idea that anyone can be an expert, and has something
valuable to offer in teaching/sharing
For the next meeting (3/22 at Kelly's apartment to discuss wordpress/
website options):
Participants should all develop a mission statement, a vision
statement, values, and key objectives. Below are a few resources:

http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/str_plan/stmnts.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning
http://webhome.idirect.com/~kehamilt/bizplan1.html

Consider the documents that Maggie emailed out
Becky has some paper documents/articles to share, if anyone is
interested, give her a call (would need to make copies or scan them)

Think about the various areas or tracks to cover (i.e., arts and
culture, math and science, etc.)
Think about possible groups/organizations to partner with/reach out to
Reflect on the pros and cons of the discussion/mission
Consider a new name? Learn Chicago, etc.