[Steppes] Opinions/Discussions Wanted On Subject of Moving BusinessMeeting To A New Day

[Alasdair MacEogan]

Esther <reese_esther at yahoo.com> wrote:

>  Isn't that why we're having this civil discussion? Because it came up, and everyone should get a chance for their input?
>  
>  --- On Wed, 8/6/08, Michael Calhoun <mikaelc at airmail.net> wrote:
>  From: Michael Calhoun <mikaelc at airmail.net>
>  
>  Was the topic of last night's discussion advertised before the meeting, and
>  I just missed it, or was it intentionally kept quiet before the meeting?
>  I'm
>  sure that a lot more people would have attended, wanting to be a part of the
>  discussion, had they known what was going to transpire.

I think you may be missing an important point in his email.  One that I happen to agree with.  If a special topic is planned for discussion then it should be publicized in advance.  If it comes up in the course of the meeting, then that is one thing.  If it is preplanned it is a poor idea to wait till the meeting to mention it.

Not only does pre-planning allow anyone who may have a stake in the issue to make sure to make arrangements to be there, but it also allows people time to think about a given issue in order to get their thoughts together and if necessary decide what they believe a particular course of action should be.

You are also alienating members of the barony that for one reason or another are not able to make it to a business meeting _every_ month.  Are their points and opinions any less important than those who do regularly attend the meetings?

Email lists such as this are a good communication tool, but they can never really replace the kind of dialogue and discourse you can get in a face to face meeting.  If they could then why bother to even HAVE meetings?  Just post it all online and be done with it.

There a very good reason why businesses, government agencies, most clubs, etc publish agendas for their meetings ahead of time and do not spring issues on people after the meeting begins.

Alasdair