Leadership for Day, Session Criteria

[Heather Kapplow]

Hey All,

As discussed last night, we probably need to start putting some harder
structures in place in the places that keep the day moving along and
maximize the productivity of the work that we'll be doing together. As
session proposals start to roll in (yay) and with the expectation of
more being generated between wed-fri, we discussed having some basic
criteria for ruling things in and out completely and choosing a
handful on Friday night. I don't know if we want to firmly agree to
this or not, but I'm going to propose a few things here, and hope that
a discussion ensues that allows us to come to some conclusions by
Friday night.

1) I propose that we now enter into a period that involves a slight
dictatorship of 6 of us: Chris, Noah, Annie, Jason, Andy Carvin and
myself. Our dictatorial powers only apply to having final say over
changes to the structure of the day and rules for engagement, but we
will heed advice from others engaged in discussion on this message
board. This dictatorship is in the interest of time/efficiency and
includes the 5 people who have been most involved in this process so
far and the person who has the most experience.

2) I propose that these 6 people divide the 3 whole-group gatherings
(welcome/board creation, lunchtime regroup/schedule reassessment, wrap-
up) and take leadership responsibility for keeping them on track. I
propose the following division, but totally don't care at all if it
gets rearranged. I just want to get the discussion rolling: welcome/
board creation=annie & heather (but everyone would help w/board
creation--we would just intro & moderate); lunchtime regroup=jason &
chris; wrap up=andy & noah. My choices here were based on wanting to
put pairs together that involved one wgbher and one non-wgbher;
starting the day with female rather than male voices; putting jason
"not in the morning" in case he doesn't get good sleep; and I do think
it would be nice to have andy and noah close the day--because noah's
group came up with the $$ for this and because andy can tie this event
to others which would make for nice closure.

3) I propose these ground rules and hope everyone following this
discussion will rip them to shreds and suggest better ones. Again, I
just want to get the ball rolling.

-All sessions must have local implications
-4 sessions (with potential appeal that reaches out to all 4 ticket
types) will be decided in advance on Friday by folks attending the
party and/or following the party on twitter etc.
-No session can occur officially on the schedule unless at least 6
people (in addition to the proposer) claim to be willing and eager to
attend it (this can be voted on saturday for most things)
-No session can occur unless at least one person will commit to being
its scribe/reporter/documentarian
-At least 3 of the sessions on the final schedule have to have
potential to spin off into actual projects post-pubcamp
-Total collection of final sessions must demonstrate a distribution of
the four ticket types such that there is a group appropriate for each
attendee type to go to during each time slot.


Rip away ladies and gentlemen!

HK

[Steve Sherlock]

Let me jump in on this for a couple of points.

One, I mentioned sometime ago but I'll reiterate here: I'll offer to help with the Welcome Desk/Registrations on Saturday. Greeting folks, getting the process outlined for them, name tags, etc.

Two - I'd be careful with the "no session" declarations below, The point of an unconference is to foster discussions, esp ad-hoc. So assuming the sessions are defined and there are for conversation sake, 12 different sessions across the timeslots of the day, if someone else wants to propose one (or even if an outcome of one session leads to a further discussion) then those sessions should be allowed to take place either if a room is available, or whatever space there is (a corner on the hall somewhere).

my 2 cents

Steve

--
Stephen Sherlock

Community Information Director (volunteer) for FranklinMAtters.blogspot.com/
Steves2Cents.blogspot.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephensherlock

[Andy Carvin]

Hi there,

 

While I’m all for having a framework for selecting sessions, I really worry all of these rules fly in the face of the spirit an unconference. There shouldn’t be a bureaucracy that dictates which sessions happen and which ones don’t. I think it would suffice to say the sessions should have local relevance to the community and public/community media, but then drop all of these quotas, because the numbers could be perceived as arbitrary and end up alienating the very people we want pitching and leading sessions.

 

I’d also suggest you have one or two emcees that run the camp from start to finish, and not swap them thru the day just for the sake of representing the leadership team. People might get very confused if new people prop up every time we gather as a group – there’s no continuity in it, and no obvious go-to person(s) during the day. I think you could easily have three people involved as the core group – two emcees (one wgbh, one not) and if you think it’s useful to have a third person, then someone who could run the board planning at the beginning. I’d strongly suggest, though, that the board planner be someone who’s done it before. With groups more than 100 people, it takes a lot of wrangling and horse-trading – not something a first-timer can necessarily do in the allotted time. Board planning sets the tone for the entire day; if it gets screwed up, the rest of the day suffers because of it.

 

ac

 

----------------------------------
Andy Carvin

Senior Strategist
NPR Social Media Desk

acarvin [at] npr [dot] org
Phone:  202-513-3639   

Twitter: @acarvin
----------------------------------
 

---

[Heather Kapplow]

Thanks all! This is great feedback! I was really just trying to
document some of what came out of the discussion at our meeting last
night. If we really don't need rules, that would be ideal--I just got
the impression that people felt there needed to be some. Ditto on MC-
ing would be great to have consistent faces through day--does anyone
want to volunteer?

HK

Steve, we have a volunteer team to work table but would love it if you
wanted to be the point person for that team!

On Aug 17, 12:28 pm, Andy Carvin <ACar...@npr.org> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> While I'm all for having a framework for selecting sessions, I really
> worry all of these rules fly in the face of the spirit an unconference.
> There shouldn't be a bureaucracy that dictates which sessions happen and
> which ones don't. I think it would suffice to say the sessions should
> have local relevance to the community and public/community media, but
> then drop all of these quotas, because the numbers could be perceived as
> arbitrary and end up alienating the very people we want pitching and
> leading sessions.
>
> I'd also suggest you have one or two emcees that run the camp from start
> to finish, and not swap them thru the day just for the sake of
> representing the leadership team. People might get very confused if new

> people prop up every time we gather as a group - there's no continuity

> in it, and no obvious go-to person(s) during the day. I think you could

> easily have three people involved as the core group - two emcees (one

> wgbh, one not) and if you think it's useful to have a third person, then
> someone who could run the board planning at the beginning. I'd strongly
> suggest, though, that the board planner be someone who's done it before.
> With groups more than 100 people, it takes a lot of wrangling and

> horse-trading - not something a first-timer can necessarily do in the

[Andy Carvin]

I think it'll suffice that when we email attendees, we tell them the following:

1. Please consider leading a session, as we'll have X number of slots available;
2. Sessions should have local relevance, as well as relevance to local public media and/or community media

And that's probably about it. If we find ourselves with more sessions than slots, we can always put some to a vote, or at least gauge the interest of attendees by getting a headcount. And I wouldn't worry about note takers - as long as the session leader mentions it at the start of each session, it works itself out.

----------------------------------
Andy Carvin
Senior Strategist
NPR Social Media Desk
acarvin [at] npr [dot] org
Phone: 202-513-3639
Twitter: @acarvin
----------------------------------

[Noah Xu]

Steve: There will be a volunteer coordinator from GBH to attend on
that day. However, you are welcome to help with her and other
volunteers (we got 6 so far).

Andy: Thanks for your suggesstions, I think we will simply the "rules"
and don't make things too complicated.
For the note takers part, people initiated this idea and
we were hoping that there would be some outcomes/projects generated
from this pubcamp and those notes can be shared online to discuss
further. Do you think this strategy will work for this purpose? Are
there any better way for us to do this ?

[Jason Pramas]

Hi folks,

I agree with Andy's critique.

My main concern about the discussion so far is the local relevance
requirement. Because I'm proposing a session that will discuss national
issues. I believe these are completely relevant to the local level -
e.g., local action will be required to help the CPB get more money from
new funding streams, allowing for more local projects to get funded,
thus helping expand the mandate of public media to be more in line with
the original 1967 Carnegie Report "Public Television: A Program for
Action" - but others may disagree. Who decides?

Otherwise, if we're going to have people MC all day, they probably
shouldn't run any sessions. In which case, I wouldn't want to MC.
(Although, if we stay with Heather's system, then I could work the lunch
session. But whatever, I'm agnostic on the MC thing.)

Cheers,

Jason

[Andy Carvin]

At all the other camps, note-takers have either posted them directly to the wiki, or sent them to the hosts for posting to the wiki later. Has happened at most of the camps so far.

[Andy Carvin]

What exactly is happening during lunch? So far all the other pubcamps'
lunches have been just, well, lunch. Networking time, etc.

[Heather Kapplow]

There was talk about rejiggering the schedule at lunchtime. In
general, this group has expressed a lot of concern that the schedule
will need controlling and adjusting.

HK

[Jason Pramas]

my understanding from the discussions so far is that lunch MCs will
handle any discussions to fine-tune the afternoon schedule, and general
announcements ...

[Andy Carvin]

And why is that the case? At worst, the other camps have shifted the sched by 15 or 30 mins if the board planning ran long, but otherwise there was no reason to shift anything.

[Andy Carvin]

I guess that's fine, but I wouldn't sweat this too much. No other camp
has had to make formal adjustments in mid-stream.

[Heather Kapplow]

Relevant at the local level is a local implication I think. But in any
case, it sounds like many other pubcamps have done this without rules,
so maybe we don't need rules...

HK

[Jason Pramas]

our group sometimes reminds me of the space ants on the Simpsons ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnPGDWD_oLE

[Andy Carvin]

The only rule at the camps has been this: sessions should relate to pub media and the community, and if possible, how they can work together. That's it.

Here's the PubCamp charter, if this'll help; we intend to update some of these prior to the national camp in November.

1. It's all about strengthening public media through ongoing collaboration with the public. That's why we're all coming to this thing.
2. There is no audience, only participants. Be prepared to take an active role in the event's success: see rule #1.
3. All presentations and sessions at PublicMediaCamp are on the record; blogging, podcasting, tweeting, etc are all strongly encouraged, in conjunction with the tag #PubCamp or a local variant of it.
4. Any presentation materials shared at PublicMediaCamp must be released under a Creative Commons noncommercial-attribution-sharealike license so they can be used at other camps:
5. If you want to lead a session, you must write your name and describe the topic in a presentation slot, either on the pre-conference wiki or on the session schedule wall at the conference itself. Make sure you clarify whether you're prepared to lead the session itself; if not, you should be prepared to help recruit the right people. (this one will be revised to clarify that posting on the wiki doesn't guarantee a slot.)
6. Everyone introduces themselves at the start of the camp, but you must be brief. Your name, affiliation, and no more than three more words summarizing why you're there.
7. All sessions must obey the Law of Two Feet - if you're not getting what you want out of the session, you can and should walk out and do something else at the camp.
8. Campers are encouraged to break up into teams and tackle projects during PublicMediaCamp, but they'll have to report back to everyone at the end of the camp - including listing who's doing what so we can start keeping track of projects after the camp.
9. Closing session wrap-up presentations, if you choose to give one, must follow the soft boiled egg rule: five minutes or less, and another two minutes for questions. (also to be revised; one or two mins has been the norm at camps.)
10. If you take notes, post them on the camp's wiki so everyone else can benefit from them.

[Heather Kapplow]

Hi Andy,

Yes of course we know the charter! I personally am very comfortable
with minimal or even know preconceived schedule rules, but was trying
to capture concerns expressed yesterday about how things would be kept
focused and on track. I find your reassurance that things always sort
themselves out naturally a good enough response to this discussion
thread to move forward leaving the scheduling to the 9-10 block of
Saturday AM, and now feel that all we have left to do is identify 1-3
people between now and then who are willing to and able to act as MCs
for the day.

HK

> ...
>
> read more »

[Andy Carvin]

Thanks Heather... Hope I didn't come across as too insistent or anything; I just wanted to pass along what I'd seen work and not work previously.

Speaking of which, I just talked to someone who attended PubCamp Georgia this weekend. They said it was a really good event, but she felt that's all it was - a chance to talk about some interesting stuff and go home. She said she'd wished there had been more of an emphasis on identifying next steps, as well as projects/ideas that could be done post-camp. Perhaps we just should keep this in mind and mention something to that effect to attendees - we're hoping PubCamp leads to projects post-camp.

Thanks,
ac

----------------------------------
Andy Carvin
Senior Strategist
NPR Social Media Desk
acarvin [at] npr [dot] org
Phone: 202-513-3639
Twitter: @acarvin
----------------------------------

[Rekha Murthy]

Andy - I'm glad you underlined that issue. We discussed that at
yesterday's meeting, that we should encourage tangible outcomes of
some sort for at least a few of the sessions.

On another note, one of the goals of PublicMediaCamp, as I understand
it, is to help our media outlets serve us better. We have a great
showing of web folks, and a decent broadcast showing, too. But if you
can think of any broadcast outlets that should attend who aren't yet
signed up, I encourage a direct nudge!

Rekha

[Annie Shreffler]

Damn my ghetto web-only phone (that Jonathan Coffman teases me about during pubmedia chats)! I tried twice to respond to this thread, with no luck. Here's what I had hoped to convey earlier today:

I'm in favor of few rules, if only because I've seen the unconference model work with the JTM group, but I admit it's hard to just wait and see. Thanks to Heather and Andy for lining out what we little dictators should keep in mind as we work hard to nudge people to action on pubcamp day. I think we have some good goals for diversity and results. We don't need to communicate them directly, but I think our intentions will be apparent.

As for MCing, those of us who have put in some sweat equity should stand up in the morning and at least introduce ourselves, even if we're not fond of public speaking. That way folks will know who to corner if there are any logistical issues. (Damn! I wish I'd ordered those t-shirts!)  Andy, I don't see any way we can manage the board planning without you (and perhaps Andrew Kuklewicz?). Also, if we make our faces known, we can switch off a bit and take some time for hosting sessions. I know Jason, Heather and I all wish to do so. 

Last night I left Harvard Square, with my poor cousin (!), feeling really good about how much work we have put into this. Thanks to the WGBHers in particular, for handling ALL the budget issues and logistics, and thanks to PRX (in advance) for adding a serious cool factor to the event by hosting a pre-camp party. You guys are so awesome. 

This is going to be F-U-N.

See you Saturday.

Annie