This is the first of a series of posts we’ll be doing recapping giving you a peek behind the curtain! Each month we’ll be quickly recapping the progress we made, the goals we have, and what still needs to be done to reach there.
As a group, we’re looking to use the summer to essentially get the preparations in place for a “launch”. By fall, we’re hoping to have enough of a foundation that we can start meeting, build a group culture, and channel that energy into creative action.
Before we can do that, we do need to bring organizers into our network and get ready to plant a handful of chapters as a pilot. Ideally, pre-launch, these chapters should each have 3-4 core “members” they can rely on should recruiting get tough. We also need to consider what documents or information we want to prepare ahead of time, so chapters aren’t essentially left rudderless should push come to shove.
What we’ve done over the month:
- The biggest milestone is that we got the website up with remarkable turnaround. This’ll allow us to reach out to organizers and be able to simply link the site with the contained pitch, as opposed to having to do it on the spot. It also acts as a central hub whereby members can access group-level information.
- We’ve come a long way in growing our Signal network, and have four areas in which people have shown interest in starting chapters: South Florida, Central Illinois, DMV, and Boston.
What discussions we’ve had:
- We had a lot of discussions surrounding the identity of our group – how wide of a tent we want to cast, what scope of issues we want to focus on, etc. One notable thing was how many of our members came into this with different ideas of what they would want to get out of it, but it seemed even then these interests could be reconciled.
- We also had a lot of discussions surrounding how quickly we want to scale: what kinds of ideas we’d want to execute on and on what timeframe. Once again, there was a variety of opinions on this but it seems as if we’re finding a good balance.
What we want to get done in the near future:
- We quickly need to do some final touchups on the website to give it more content before we start publicly sharing it around. Ideally this should take under a week.
- Getting people on the same schedule has been difficult, especially with our current (irregular) meetup model. We’re going to experiment with switching to monthly meetups.
- Laura of the Software Freedom Day Group has suggested we host our meetups during the SFDG monthly, so we’ll give that a try.
- Recruiting is the hardest task in all of this, and some groups need additional assistance with locating people. It’s like locating a needle in the haystack. Brainstorming possible other venues to find people is going to be crucial.
- We decided there’s a lot of value in holding a sort of virtual discussion group or “book club” amongst the organizers over the summer as a “trial” to see how meetings may go once fall comes. Ideally the logistics of this should be planned out while we polish up the site.