Principles for large group meeting
Focus
- Since meeting time is limited, we should try to stay focused on the meeting purpose.
- We should all do our best to focus contributions on ideas about the topic or agenda item at hand.
Rhythm
- 3 minutes or less per speaker as general practice. This does not apply when someone is presenting or reporting on an issue to inform the group, e.g., when major events for the society are being described or when items for a vote are being explained.
- Everyone speaks (or explicitly declines to speak) before anyone speaks again, within reason. In other words: when it would not disrupt/confuse the flow of conversation, no one speaks a second time until everyone has spoken (or passed their turn) a first time, and no one speaks a third time until…etc.
Responsiveness
- Disagreeing speakers should treat one another with respect, and frame one another as well-intentioned. Reflections on one another’s arguments should be reasonable and charitable, fostering understanding over debate. Caricatures and ad hominem arguments should be avoided.
- When reasonably possible, we should strive to explicitly connect our own thoughts to those of others who have spoken previously.