Communications Working Group 

Communications Working Group Minutes, 2004/09/08

Present: Cheryl Campbell, Deborah Garrett, Wendy Layton, Mark Szpakowski, Karen Wilding

Absent: Molly De Shong, Brian Spielmann, Helen Bonzi, Nick Wright, Luz Rodriguis, Bernard Spiegeleer

1)    Report from Wendy Layton on Congress preparation and communication network

• The 2005 Congress is scheduled for February 13-17, 2005, immediately followed by the Pema Karpo program,  February 18-20. Both programs will be at the Holiday Inn, Halifax.
  
• The communication network to support the congress process is almost complete.  There will be a bulletin board with forums for in-depth discussions on each working group and advisory group topic. There will also be a forum for practice/study discussion.
• Karen will ask the working group chairs to appoint someone from each committee to interact with the forum on each topic.
• Mark Szpakowski has volunteered to moderate the forum for the communications working group.
• Wendy will be sending out  a sangha-wide announcement about the Congress by October 1st or earlier.
• On-line congress registration will be available by October 5th.
  

2)    Harvest of Peace Update

• The Harvest of Peace will be celebrated September 26th.  There will be a taped address by the Sakyong, and there is discussion expected about the new practice introduced at Seminary this year. Hopefully, Carolyn Mandeleker will have an announcement about the ramifications of the new practice prepared for distribution.
• We would also like to encourage center directors to help raise community awareness about the community planning process leading up to the Congress, and invite participation in preparation for the feedback sessions in December.
• Deborah Garrett will write a preliminary blurb about Harvest of Peace, send to Karen and committee members for additions (contact information etc.), which will then be distributed to center directors.

3)    Computer problems

• E-mail and mailing list messages from shambhala.org are still blocked on AOL – this problem affects approximately 400 people.  Sangha announce goes out to 3000 people; SNS to 4000. The Shambhala Council on Information Technology is working on this problem, as well as on safeguarding our communications from spam, viruses, and worms.

4)    The DOT

• The DOT is moving toward soliciting information from center directors.
• We should also include some information about the progress around the community plan.
  

5)    Future planning

• Our committee needs to start thinking about our recommendations for “communication after the congress” – what is important to emphasize and/or institute?
• Next Meeting: Sunday October 10t, 10:00 Mountain time.  Hopefully this time will accommodate all members who have difficulty in making meetings during the week.

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Updated 2004/09/10