Communications Working Group
Minutes of December 19, 2004 Phone Conference
Present: Mark Szpakowski, Luz Rodriguis, Deborah Garrett, Karen Wilding
Summary of Discussion
1) Translations: Luz Rodriguis has translated a summary of the Mandala Governing Council Document into Spanish, and has also requested translations in German, French and Italian. The Spanish and German translations are ready and have been posted on the Shambhala Congress website.
A) We discussed putting out a Transformation Bulletin in January to announce the translation of this material and point to the website once again. We could also use this opportunity to encourage people to register for the Congress.
2) Mandala Governing Council Discussion: Karen and Deborah shared their experience of attending the Mandala Governing Council meeting in Boston. There followed a discussion of the process of deepening the questions raised, including the talking circle around the ”elephants."
A) Mark announced that as a result of the work of the Outreach committee, he will be meeting with Holly Gayley to begin the process of redesigning the web pages to make them more user friendly. This will be a multi-stage process, due to financial concerns.
3) Discussion of creating talking points for the upcoming Community Meetings: We discussed the use of the talking circle as a group practice of Shambhala Communication.
A) We thought of recommending that centers use the talking circle format as a “check in” to begin the upcoming community meetings. We are in the process of formulating a question that will allow everyone to bring their voices to the table, such as “ What do you bring to the meeting today? What are your hopes and fears for the community?” We need to make sure that there is someone in each center that can host this process, who is familiar with the talking circle form.
B) Secondly, we are thinking about an opening question for interactive discussion like “There have been changes proposed in the governanace and membership structures of Shambhala International – Do you know what they are, and what do you think about them? The goal is to encourage a community wide conversation that has some life in it.
C) At these meetings we will also recommend that each group has a scribe so that we can get the information and feedback back to the center of the mandala in a simple manner. We recommend that it is sent to: President @Shambhala.org., and then sent to appropriate committees etc.
D) Next steps: Karen will call Connie to discuss who is calling the center directors, and will talk with Richard about this format. Mark will get a short explanation for facilitating talking circles that can be sent to center directors from Alice.
Next Meeting: Sunday January 2nd, 2005, at 11:00 A.M. MST.
Updated 2004/12/21