Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Meeting Tools

[Tree Bressen (tree]

Hi all,

I'm glad some people spoke up for chalk.  I was slightly dismayed today
when i looked in the conference room at the new public library in my town
(today was opening day, a major event, the new building had quite a crowd!
I guess Eugene loves books) to see walls of whiteboard and no chalkboards
at all.  I'm sure there are people who are chemically sensitive who can't
even be in the same room with dry erase markers.

>Somebody we hired to run a recent retreat used paper torn off a big roll,
>like butcher paper only without a waxed side.  While the roll I'm sure would
>be expensive, the per-foot cost would be pennies.

Weyerhauser paper company less than 5 miles from my house sells ends of
rolls for a mere $3 per roll!  Because it's a waste product from their
production.  Sometimes they are too wide so we cut them in half using a
circular saw.  Length varies.

The other tool i'll mention here even though i personally don't like it
much are "sticky walls" that are created by spraying nylon fabric with
spray mount adhesive.  I think it's too environmentally impactful and too
toxic on the body to be worth it, but i know some people who love the stuff
anyway.  It creates a surface that plain paper will stick to and can be
repositioned on, and you can use it several times before having to
re-spray.  I was excited when i first saw it--nowadays i'd rather use
masking tape or push pins to move papers around on a wall or nylon.

The other thing i'll mention here is that i'm glad to see this discussion
happening, because in my observation the visual display of information at
meetings is often an under-utilized technique.  I've gotten so used to
using flip charts and so on that these days i don't like facilitating
without it.  I've noticed that newer facilitators tend not to think of
writing stuff up on the wall for everyone to see, and the discussion
flounders because of it.

And like Greg, i too have wondered: Where did those color cards come from?!
 They are ubiquitous in cohousing, but i never see them anywhere else.  I'm
really curious if someone can answer this one.

Cheers,

--Tree



-----------------------------------------------

Tree Bressen
1680 Walnut St.
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 484-1156
tree [at] ic.org
http://www.treegroup.info
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