[Namron] Populace Meeting

[Epperson, Sheryl]

Part of the problem is that people want to visit while eating,
especially with friends.  Even most work meetings which involve lunch
usually break up the meeting to visit during lunch.  

We have this problem to some extent wherever we're meeting, but it
always seems worse when we meet at a restaurant.  As well as the problem
for those who either cannot afford to eat at the place, or who would
rather not eat out at that time.  Yes, the restaurants always say we
don't all need to purchase food, but going there on a regular basis and
not buying feels bad.  

If we're meeting elsewhere, people who are talking can be asked to leave
the area, or at least move to the edge and keep their voices down.  If
they're eating, they don't want to leave their food.  If we meet
outdoors, yes there are cars/train/other noises, but most people can
turn those into "white noise" and ignore them, unless the train whistle
is sounding, in which case we can just pause until it passes.  Voices
seem to pull the attention and demand that you try to listen to them.

Personally, I like the idea of an officer, preferably the seneschal or
herald, asking people to keep their voices down, and if they continue to
talk calling them by name and asking them to move to the back of the
room or outside.


For those who can't get dinner before the meeting, due to work
schedules, if we had someplace where they could bring food in it might
help.  Take-out food might not be what they'd prefer, but it would be an
option.  We could even have a pot-luck once a month or every other month
and encourage more people to try period recipes-similar to Northkeeps
Grub N Garb.

Annabelle


-----Original Message-----
From: namron-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:namron-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of William Herron
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 9:22 PM
To: Barony of Namron Mailing List
Subject: [Namron] Populace Meeting

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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