TWOG Schedule and Meeting Minutes

[Tom Anderson]

The TWOG will be meeting every other Wednesday starting 8/25/10 starting at 6pm. Initially the meetings will be at Paul Kearsley's home at 2609 Cedarwood Ave Bellingham. Anyone is welcome to attend or to send a question that needs addressing. For now send questions to Tom Anderson at [e-mail].

[Heather K]

Tom- I so appreciate you continueing on with TW from twig to twog!
I appreciate the transparency & inclusiveness that I sense is emerging from this focused twog group.

I will be encouraging the team working on the 350 ppm awareness to connect with the twog to broaden the community events planned for Oct 10 2010.

(And thanks to Christy & Eli for hosting the space in the urban permiculture home for your meetings!)

[David MacLeod]

Great photo of the TWOG here.
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/photo/twog-82010?context=user

[Rob Olason]

Tom, I know the TWOG is busy trying to get a handle on their new tasks, but I'm wondering if it might be possible to post brief summaries of what occurs at TWOG meetings. That way, the rest of us can follow along and feel like we have a better sense of what paths the TWOG is planning to lead Transition Whatcom toward.

[Heather K]

Tom & Twog, Would you post next weeks meeting location?
I know of a Western student who would like to attend, who also attended the earlier multiple meetings to select a Twog.
I agree with Rob's request...when time allows....I think that twog-Juliet has not been able to access internet for awhile so minutes may be behind.

Per Tom's post: "The TWOG will be meeting every other Wednesday starting 8/25/10 starting at 6pm. Initially the meetings will be at Paul Kearsley's home at 2609 Cedarwood Ave Bellingham. Anyone is welcome to attend or to send a question that needs addressing. For now send questions to Tom Anderson at [e-mail]."

[Tom Anderson]

Rob
I am fine with that request and I think the rest of the TWOG will be but I will bring it up next week and see where it goes.

Rob Olason said:

Tom, I know the TWOG is busy trying to get a handle on their new tasks, but I'm wondering if it might be possible to post brief summaries of what occurs at TWOG meetings. That way, the rest of us can follow along and feel like we have a better sense of what paths the TWOG is planning to lead Transition Whatcom toward.

[Tom Anderson]

Heather K said:

Tom & Twog, Would you post next weeks meeting location?
I know of a Western student who would like to attend, who also attended the earlier multiple meetings to select a Twog.
I agree with Rob's request...when time allows....I think that twog-Juliet has not been able to access internet for awhile so minutes may be behind.

Per Tom's post: "The TWOG will be meeting every other Wednesday starting 8/25/10 starting at 6pm. Initially the meetings will be at Paul Kearsley's home at 2609 Cedarwood Ave Bellingham. Anyone is welcome to attend or to send a question that needs addressing. For now send questions to Tom Anderson at [e-mail]."

[Tom Anderson]

NEXT TWOG Meeting is Wed 9/8/10, 6pm at Travis Linds home at 4208 Parkhurst Drive near Lake Padden, well sort of. Sorry for the short notice on location but we just had confirmation this afternoon.

[warren miller]

Transition Whatcom Organizing Group (TWOG) Meeting #2 8/26/10
Present: Paul, Erica, Tom, Warren, Juliet, Travis
Absent: Angela, Laura

Notes
A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.


1. Carbon Masters WSU (training teaches about energy efficiency, recycling, and reducing one’s carbon footprint) has requested a post on the Transition Whatcom ning site. (Approved)

2. Transition Whatcom website maintenance was discussed and the idea of moving from the current central administration to a shared model will be explored.

3. Sustainable Bellingham may be able to provide Transition Whatcom with a ‘subsidiary’ with 501-3C status. We will schedule a meeting with Sustainable Bellingham folks to discuss the details.

3. Support for Harvest Festival will be a key event and is coming up Oct 2nd. Paul and Juliet will work on a poster and begin organizing.

4. Erica would like to survey the work groups about what they need from the TWOG. She will draft a survey and send it out for feedback.

5. The Tech group at present is represented by Travis, Rhys and David. Travis will keep TWOGs posted about meetings.

6. Paul will do a ning blast that sends out info to TW about the new TWOG and our commitment to meet every other week.

7. The TWOG will open meetings to members who schedule an agenda item ahead of time. The process to get on the agenda will be posted on the ning site

8. We will organize/sponsor these event: Harvest Festival – fall, Seed Swap – winter, and Great Unleashing birthday – Spring.

10. It was discussed that an event that welcomes new TW members to a social setting would be helpful. Will explore possible venues and discuss at next meeting.

[warren miller]

Transition Whatcom Organizing Group Meeting #3 9/8/10

Present: Tom Anderson, Paul Kearsley, Travis Linds, Angela Mercy, Erica Shuler, Juliet Thompson
Absent: Laura Sellens

Notes
A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1. Perennial Project- Tristan contacted the TWOG about this topic and Tom will contact him to coordinate.

2. Warren will summarize TWOG meetings with a short write-up for posting on the ning site once the group has reviewed them.

3. EDAP – 2 people have expressed interest in being on the EDAP committee, and Tom will contact them to directly communicate any ideas or guidelines expressed by the TWOG.

4. Harvest Festival – Paul provided an update: the total cost will be around $350 and will come out of the TW checking account. Angela and Erica will coordinate contacting group leaders as part of a Working Group Survey to encourage them to identify their groups with banners or signs at Harvest Fest. Juliet will assist with distributing the surveys electronically.

5. Advertising TW –Advertizing opportunities were discussed and Warren volunteered to be the point person on advertizing.

6. Transition members coming to TWOG meetings – If a TW member wants to come with an agenda item, we will invite them to the first part of the meeting, so that their agenda item can be considered so that they don’t have to sit through the entire meeting.

7. Working Groups/Organizing our efforts –One of the key things we can do as the TWOG is to support Working Groups to organize their activities. Deciding how we best do this will be discussed in future meetings as the surveys are returned.

[warren miller]

TWOG Meeting #4 9/22/10

Present: Tom Anderson, Paul Kearsley, Travis Linds, Warren Miller, Erica Shuhler, Juliet Thompson, Laura Sellens
Absent: Angela Mercy

Notes
A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1. Paul gave an update on HarvestFest and we discussed needed actions. Warren and Paul will work on the handout. Warren will work on getting the event listed in the Weekly and the Herald.

2. Travis gave an update on the website. The Transition Whatcom org site now points to the Ning page and the Ning page can be updated to show current news and events.

3. Laura gave an overview of the Caretaker House and will contact the Caretakers house folks and let us know what help they need. She will also put together a list of possible meeting venues for from 10-25 people. The broader topic of collaboration was discussed and Travis volunteered to put together a list of possible partner organizations.

4. Laura suggested a once per month Transition Whatcom work party event where TW members could be rallied to support other organizations that do work in support of local resilience. This will be discussed further at upcoming meetings.

5. Laura brought up the idea of having a Transition Whatcom orientation workshop for people interested in finding out more about Transition Whatcom (like a new members meeting) and volunteered to put together a short description of a possible curriculum. Meeting effectiveness was also discussed and Laura suggested a class covering this would be useful for the Working Groups.

6. Tom reviewed the date/time for the TWIG/TWOG workshop- Sat 12-4 Oct 16th was the best choice.

7. The topics of Events Teams and Communications were brought up by Laura. These were viewed as important areas we need to put effort. Warren suggested we discuss this in more detail under the Organizing Our Efforts agenda item.

8. The Organizing Our Efforts topic was a continuation from last meeting where Warren described a couple possible organization models and asked the rest of the team to come to this meeting with additional ideas. Warren volunteered to put a short description of the areas together and distribute it so we can have a more complete discussion at the next meeting.

9. Warren had distributed his Notes of the previous meetings and asked for feedback on the format.

10. Warren described a spreadsheet he distributed showing data on each working group- members, activity, founder, etc. This can be used to follow working groups and see which ones might need our help.

11. Juliet gave an update on the Survey and she will send them out right away.

12. Laura volunteered to contact the Perennial Project organizer to see how we could help out.

13. The Sustainable Bellingham (SB) organization could be used as a 5013C part of the Transition Whatcom organization. Warren volunteered to set-up a meeting with the Sustainable Bellingham folks to discuss a possible use of the SB 5013C by TW.

[warren miller]

TWOG Meeting #5 10/06/10

Present: Tom Anderson, Paul Kearsley, Travis Linds, Warren Miller, Erica Shuhler, Juliet Thompson, Laura Sellens, Angela Mercy

Next TWOG Meeting will be at 6:00PM on 10/20/10. If you have an agenda item you'd like the TWOG to consider, or if you'd like to attend, please contact any TWOG member.
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/page/the-twog


Notes
A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1. Juliet reviewed the consensus procedure from the book ‘On Conflict and Consensus’ and we all agreed to use it as our model for resolving issues during our meetings. We passed proposals to streamline consensus via email.

2. Events
a. HarvestFest- We reviewed the HarvestFest event and all thought it was a positive energizing event with close to 100 people attending. It will establish a baseline for future events. We passed a proposal that will help inform future event planners/partners of the TW principles so they can apply them in their communications to the wider TW organization.
b. Kunstler Reading (Oct 3rd)- David and Laura attended and had an info table
c. JoyRide (Oct 13th)- Warren will work with Rhys/Laura to cover this event.
d. 350.org Work Party (Oct 10th)- Paul and Laura will speak for 5min at the start of this event. Several TWOGs will participate.
e. How to Stay Sane (Oct 22nd)- Multiple TWOGs will attend
f. Blue Gold Movie showing at Transition Ferndale (Oct 26th)- Juliet will attend
g. Transition Train the Trainers (Nov 11-14th)
h. Green Drinks (We will try and attend when our meeting doesn’t overlap)
3. Web Site:
a. Website Update. Travis gave a quick update and reported that Google Docs should be up and working.
b. Who is Facebook admin? Travis will continue to try and find out.
c. Can WG founders be changed? Travis will continue to find out.
d. Travis to meet with David to discuss how changes should be made to the Ning site and then propose a process to the TWOG
4. WorkGroups:
a. Possible meeting venues- Laura will email her findings to the TWOG for eventual posting on the Ning Resource page.
b. Work Party event- TW will sponsor a monthly work party event. This event would be featured on the Ning web site.
c. New Member Orientation Curriculum- Laura will put together a member orientation document.
d. Meeting Effectiveness- Laura will work with Alan Side to put together a document that has meeting Effectiveness tips and Mission + Vision summary for Work Groups.
e. Working Group Update- When a Working Group loses a Founder/Leader we should encourage a member to contact the WG membership to try and identify a new Leader. If this goes on for too long the TWOG may need to help.
5. Partners:
a. Possible Partners list- Tom will email the existing Partners List to Laura who will add to and email out to the TWOG.
6. TWOG topics:
a. TWIG/TWOG meeting discussion- what to put on agenda? We discussed the topics we thought would be useful to include at the meeting. Tom volunteered to put together an agenda and circulate to the TWOG prior to sending it to the TWIG.
b. Organizing our Efforts, Including Event Teams/Communications- We discussed the organizational model Warren emailed and clarified some items which Warren will edit.
c. Surveys- responses so far? Angela reported that 6 surveys were completed.
d. Transfer Checking Account- Laura will be cosigner.
e. Transition Whatcom Principles- Laura brought up and we discussed the importance of the TW Principles during this and other items during the meeting. We should use them as a guidepost to making decisions.

[warren miller]

TWIG/TWOG Meeting Notes
October 16, 2010

Present: Chris Wolf, Sandy Hoelterhoff, Rick Dubrow, Kate Clark, David MacLeod, Cindi Landreth, Tom Anderson, Travis Linds, Erica Shuhler, Juliet Thompson, Warren Miller, Laura Sellens
Not present: David Marshak, Paul Kearsley, Angela Mercy

The TWIG/TWOG was a combined TWIG (TW Initiating group and Great Unleashers) and TWOG (TW Organizing Group) meeting to exchange ideas and get guidance from the TWIG to the TWOG. These notes capture the flavor of the discussion, but in essence were points made by individuals participating, and that each point does not necessarily reflect the view of the whole.

Notes
A summary of the key items discussed at the meeting to inform Transition Whatcom members who might be interested in providing feedback to the TWOG.

1. Announcements
a. Whatcom Transition Folk School, modeled after Idaho group’s Folk School coming soon.
b. TW Roving Workparty, Nov 6th, with Center for Local Self Reliance.
c. Kathy McMahon, “Peal Shrink” event Oct 22nd. Heart and Soul Open Space Oct 23rd
d. Food Security Group planning to sponsor a Food Summit. Date TBD.

2. Open Space Topics- Listing of topics that want to be discussed. The following topics were selected and discussed.
a. TW Vision (the how, not the what)- How do we apply the TW vision to specific tasks? Several examples discussed. Here are a couple:
i. Present our ideas at events using Transition friendly materials- no need for lots of glossy handouts. Just have a few recycled/homespun items to make our point.
ii. Remember Transition as a verb, not a noun. Activity is important- for example, a lot can happen at the neighborhood level with just a few people. We need to support and encourage activity where it develops.
b. 501 (C)(3) Status- Advantages and disadvantages of the traditional non-profit model were discussed, with just a couple key points listed here. More discussion will follow as we sort thru the advantages and disadvantages.
i. Non-profit status can be important when raising money with large donations. Tax impact can important. TW may not need 501(C)(3) status to do this.
ii. Legal non-profit can require significant overhead. May distract us from our key mission and vision.
c. TWIG Involvement- The TWIG members expressed their interest in helping out where possible. As the TWOG members pick their areas of focus in the next meeting the TWIG will be invited to help/mentor where appropriate. Focus areas will be Finance, WorkGroups, Publicity, Infrastructure, Partners, Legal, EDAP and Interface to the National Transition Organization.
d. Communications- We will ramp up our communication activities so Transition Whatcom becomes more visible. This will be a key activity of the Publicity focused team (see above). Will be looking for volunteers to help.
e. Workgroup Update- Some workgroups are really active, others are falling silent. What can we do to encourage/support workgroup activity? Some ideas discussed included:
i. Hold an orientation meeting for new members. The TW Hub/Council could help guide this effort.
ii. Discussion vs. Group—new proposals for Workgroups could start as Discussions and then form a workgroup if there’s enough interest.
f. Themed Summits- Face time with groups much more energizing than email/website interaction so we could encourage themed Summits where multiple groups get together for a shared topic/interest.
g. Council- The vision of Hub/Council is presented in the TW adopted structure. There is a pressing need to get this going. TWOG will discuss timing of first council gathering at next Wednesday meeting.
h. Political positions/involvement. TW intent is to encourage diversity and support ACTIONS that build resilience. See “Guidelines Paper” that the TWIG created, under Resources tab on the NING site for more details.