Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: National Conference-Timeline Game

[Cbwhy (Cbwhy]

John D. Lockrem asks from those at the conference
>>For those of us who could not make it, are there any materials that 
came out of the conference that we could take advantage of?  

All six of the  core group members of our group were at the National
Conference and I believe it made the difference between our group building
cohousing in our lifetimes  or not. I would recommend that anyone interested
get the tapes. We got the tapes last year and it was very helpful. They gave
us a lot of useful ideas and inspiration. We also felt very connected to the
movement as a result. The greatest thing  we did was play the Timeline game
which is advertised in the Cohousing Quarterly.  As a matter of fact, Mac
Thompson who started this thread distributes it.  I would say definatly play
it. 
When I went to the session on it (given by Bruce Coldham who created it) I
was amazed how quickly I learned what I didn't even know I didn't know about
creating cohousing. I implored the other members of our group to play it as
soon as we could. I   felt we needed a facilitator to help us through it
since none of our members is an architect, builder, or developer. It's our
ignorance of the process we were hoping to remedy. Bruce gave us 2 hours of
his time the last morning of the conference. We were joined by our friend Dan
Suchman (who was a real estate attorney in our state several moons ago) and
briefly by some of the people from the Cohousing Center in MA who knew about
marketing and business. All I can say is that our group walked away with a
better understanding as to where we stand, what we need to do , and when we
need to do it. One of the things we really never did was address our
membership and contribution thresholds to secure and purchase land. We also
didn't understand when money should and should not be spent. A great thing
the Timeline Game reveals is how members of your group feel about risk,
trusting professionals, and sweat equity. It was a real reality check, and
one we really needed before we forge forward toward building our community.
Oh, and another thing, it was lots of fun. I would be interested in hearing
from others who have played the game or happy to explain it in greater detail
to anyone interested.