Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Meeting Tools

[S. Kashdan (skashdan]

Hi, Sylvie Kashdan of Jackson Place Cohousing here,
Jackson Place Cohousing
800 Hiawatha Place South
Seattle, WA 98144
www.seattlecohousing.org

We use the color cards in our business meetings. Our facilitators like them
a lot because they help them decide who to call on first, second, etc. And,
some of our nonfacilitator members also like them. But, a few of us, at
least, find them burdensome. I don't like using them because it forces me to
concentrate on at least four things simultaneously:
1. What the person who is currently speaking is saying;
2. What the person I want to respond to said;
3. What color card best suits the kind of comment or question I want to
voice;
and
4. What I want to say.

Since I appreciate the good job our facilitators do, I hesitate to complain
about the cards a lot. But, since I find concentrating on too many things at
once stressful, I don't enjoy using the cards.

Sylvie Kashdan
Jackson Place Cohousing,
where we are preparing for at least two parties to celebrate our hopes for a
better 2003.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sharon Villines" <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Friday, December 27, 2002 5:21 AM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_Meeting Tools



On 12/26/2002 9:33 PM, "Tree Bressen" <tree [at] ic.org> wrote:

> 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.

Along with the perfect cohousing tables, I would like to see the perfect
molding that allows stick pins for holding up all these papers but is
attractive when there are no papers to hold up. Our walls are bearing the
brunt of all sticky tape used to post the papers.

And one thing to think about when designing the great room is a wall to
serve as a back drop for meetings. The best wall we have (because of the
shape of the space) is broken up with a window to the kids room, a beverage
counter that makes reaching the bulletin board over it very difficult, and
two doors. We have no useful walls.

> 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.

All I know is that someone in cohousing manufactured them. I've seen an
elegant set, sealed in plastic with metal grommets strung on a key chain.
What they do is interpret parliamentary procedure in short explanations and
colors. Some find them much easier to use. Knowing parliamentary procedure,
I found them much more complicated. Instead of just saying "Point of
information" you have to find a card and sit there holding it up until
someone sees it.

Sharon
--
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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