[Namron] Populace Meeting

William Herron fitzbubba at gmail.com
Tue Jan 20 19:22:05 PST 2009


I'd like some feedback from the list.  I think there's a problem here,
but it may just be in my delusional mind.

I was going to speak this evening about the open officer positions and
encourage people who *haven't* done offices in the past to get
involved.  By the time it came around to me to speak I was unhappy
enough that if I had gotten up I would have said things and probably
pissed people off, personally.  So I kept my mouth shut.

One of the things that I've been doing in the populace meetings is
taking notes.  I then send them to our seneschal, who reviews them
(and corrects my spelling) before I publish them to this list.

Quite frankly, I had trouble doing notes tonight because of the noise
level.  I don't mean the fact that we were having our meeting at a
restaurant...I mean because there is so much talk amongst the
populace, especially while officers are trying to give their reports
and conduct their business.  (By the way, if you're trying to take
notes, you really can't talk much yourself.  My parents always slapped
me with "you can't hear while you're talking" when I was growing up,
so they'd be pleased to say "I told you so" about now.)

In addition, the people that I could identify as being the ones
generating the noise are not new people who don't understand how this
works.  I saw people who have been around for years and years, who
have held offices and know how hard it is to get up there and conduct
their business while the populace (effectively) ignores them and talks
among themselves.

So, the first part of my question for the list is:

Do we have a problem with too much conversation amongst the populace
during the "business" portion of the populace meeting?

And, if you answer "yes", then the second part is:

What do we do about the people who are talking during the "business"
portion of the populace meeting?

I'm not saying we start grabbing people by the collar and physically
throwing them out of the meeting.  We may want to agree, as a
populace, to have some sort of sergeant-at-arms that goes around and
quietly "suggest" that people take their private conversations outside
of the meeting area.  (Or I can get one of those inflatable mallets
with a squeaky-sound inside of it and smack people on the head to get
them to shut up.)

Again, if you don't think there's a problem here, don't hesitate to
tell me so.  I fully admit to being in the "grumpy old man" mode, and
it may be that I'm going to just have to start wearing some sort of
directional headset so I can hear better when I'm taking notes.

Care,
Bubba



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