Information for Meeting Facilitators

Here is some basic information for people facilitating a Bay Creek meeting.

We use Zoom for online meetings. Contact anyone who has facilitated a meeting to get the Bay Creek Zoom account login. Hopefully it's not needed, but facilitators do have the ability to manage other participants.

Things to Do or Share at Start of Meeting

• Have people quickly introduce themselves at the beginning of a meeting, especially if there are new folks. Consider asking folks an icebreaker question, especially one that sets a positive tone. Keep responses to 30 seconds if there are many attendees and/or a packed agenda.
• We follow Robert's Rules of Order, our bylaws, and try to abide by our Guidelines for Civil Discourse.
• Please raise your hand to speak and remain muted when you don't have the floor.
• (Only if new people calling in) For those calling in: *9 to alternately raise/lower hand; *6 to alternately mute/unmute.
• (Optional) Please use the chat feature only to share a link that someone requested, not to share thoughts. It can be hard to follow the meeting when side conversations are going on. In addition, if you are otherwise unable to use the "raise hand" feature, you can indicate that your hand is raised by using the chat.
• Review agenda on the Bay Creek Calendar. Ask for additional agenda items. (An item needs to be submitted 96 hours before the meeting starts in order to vote on it.)

Crib Sheet for Voting using Robert's Rules of Order

• We need quorum in order to vote (at least ten Bay Creek neighbors present). Without quorum, things can be discussed, but not voted on. However, discussion is not recommended since the item will have to go on a future agenda and get discussed all over again. Quorum is needed to proceed with the following except for the last two.
• Someone makes a motion, someone else seconds it, there's discussion, and finally the vote. Majority rules. Any Bay Creek resident can make a motion and vote, with a few exceptions (see bylaws). If it seems like the motion might pass without opposition, when we're ready to vote the facilitator can say "I'll assume unanimous consent unless anyone raises their hand to object". If there's an objection, take the vote.
• Amendments to the motion are possible during discussion and also require a second, discussion, and vote. An amendment is voted on before the original motion. If the amendment passes, the original motion is modified to include it. If it fails, the original motion stays the same. If there are amendments to amendments, they are taken in reverse order (last is first).
• Voting happens when discussion ends, or perhaps sooner by someone moving to "call the question". This requires a second. A vote to end discussion takes place immediately (no discussion). If it passes, then a vote on the current motion/amendment takes place with no more discussion.
• It's helpful to say names out loud when counting votes so the secretary can get an accurate record.
• We allocate 1:45 for the meeting. We vote to extend the meeting, usually 15 minutes at a time. Again, majority rules... if less than half the people want to continue the meeting, it won't be extended. No quorum needed for this vote. If someone's agenda item did not complete, remind them to please resubmit it for the next time they can attend a meeting.
• Right before the meeting ends, ask for someone to facilitate the next meeting. Also, there needs to be a motion/second/discussion/vote to end the meeting; no quorum needed. This is a good time to ask for unanimous consent.

Meeting Facilitation Document

Below is a document that describes why good facilitation is important, gives good facilitation techniques, and tells how to deal with people being disruptive. It's chapter 16 of an online book and the chapter has four sections. The link below starts you at Section 1. The trickiest part is navigating. When you get to the bottom of this and every section, there are online and/or print resources listed. At that point, scroll back to the very top of the page to navigate to the next section, or come back here and use the links to sections. The sections are:

• Section 1. Conducting Effective Meetings. To highlight one comment, "If the group seems to want to go beyond the agreed upon time on an issue, ask for agreement from all members." Our meetings often run over and some people can't attend such a long meeting every month.
• Section 2. Developing Facilitation Skills.
• Section 3. Capturing What People Say: Tips for Recording a Meeting.
• Section 4. Techniques for Leading Group Discussions.

Some of this document doesn't apply to Bay Creek meetings, for example, they talk about room setup and we obviously have no room at the moment (and even when we do, it's generally already setup). The third section is the least important for most of us, but very important for our secretary.