[Businessmtg] Show Of Hands

Wed Sep 21 19:30:43 PDT 2016

Jane: actually there are real problems with putting a poll on the website.

1. Setting up a poll on the website required another person to get involved. If the Chair needs a straw poll to test the temperature of the meeting, just let her do that. She's the Chair and she doesn't need the webmaster to get involved - that only serves to complicate the process. Sometimes I wonder who is Chairing this meeting . . . Sandie announces agenda items and upcoming polls, Jane announces polls and results. Laura is the Chair and I'd like to see Laura chair the meeting without others getting involved and doing what is rightfully her job. 

2. Setting up a poll takes time to do. Days. Just looking at the last Business Meeting, it took 2.5 days to set up the poll. The time before that was also 2.5 days. That's consistent with every other poll we've had at ASP. Add another day for members to respond and we're looking at 3-4 days for a website poll that we can do in 1 with an email poll. 

3. The record of the poll is temporary - it vanishes when a new poll is set up. Sooner if the webmaster deletes it. Let's say that the Chair asks for a poll after 6 days of discussion, we see the result and discuss those issues that seem to need further discussion, and then take another poll. Poof! The original poll is gone and it's impossible to compare. 

4. Tallying the results. I fail to see how you can "tally" a poll that contains comments and questions. Besides, accuracy is not an issue. 

5. No doubt, some members will respond late. Their take on the issue is lost on a website poll. OTOH, their responses to the straw poll will come in and be available for consideration, even if late. 

5. Reporting the results - members get to see the results themselves without the kind of personal politicization we saw in lieu of actual results from the last poll. Reporting that " . . . won by a landslide" is totally inappropriate, especially since the reporting ignored the actual tally. This was totally inappropriate of a leader in an Al-Anon meeting and quite disrespectful of those that voted against or abstained on the issue. 

If the objective of the poll is to be a straw poll taken during the meeting just like you'd have in a f2f meeting, then why not do exactly that? Take a straw poll in the meeting right now! A day later, everyone knows the results and can refer to them whenever they wish.

Why not just keep it simple and take a straw poll and get on with the meeting?

Hugs,
Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Businessmtg [mailto:businessmtg-bounces+steve=serenitysys.com at asp-afg.org] On Behalf Of Jane Anon
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2016 2:59 PM
To: Steve - SC
Cc: ASP Business
Subject: Re: [Businessmtg] Show Of Hands

I like the idea of a straw poll, but it could be done really easily on the website as well, using exactly the same wording and leaving space for comments and questions. I could even ask people to write in their names and I could leave the results visible. It's a whole lot easier to tally the results of a straw poll on the website than via separate emails.

Jane

"It is easier to put on slippers than to carpet the world." ~Stuart Smalley

On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 3:38 PM, Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> It just occurred to me that the easiest and simplest way to resolve 
> this issue is to allow the Chair to request an IMMEDIATE "show of 
> hands" DURING the Business Meeting, but not until AFTER the 
> information phase is complete and we have spent some time in the deliberation/opinion.
>
> My idea is that the Chair sends out a message like this that members 
> would REPLY to:
>
> ************************************
>
> Straw Poll on the current agenda topic.
> Please check one or more boxes.
> Comments and questions are welcome.
>
> For             [ ]
> Against [ ]
> Undecided       [ ]
> Abstain [ ]
> Confused        [ ]
> Table           [ ]
> Comment [ ]  _____________________
> ______________________________________
> Question        [ ]  _____________________
> ______________________________________
>
> **************************************
>
> In fact, I'd suggest using this exact message as I wrote it, although 
> I'm open to edits and suggestions.
>
> Note that members may select more than one box. Why? Because it's easy 
> to feel mostly "for" the issue, yet still have a nagging question. Or 
> perhaps undecided, but leaning toward "against". Yes, it allows for a 
> more complex response, but not everyone's response fits into a pretty 
> little box like on a ballot.
>
> Members would have 24 hours to REPLY - ALL replies would go to the 
> list (Business Meeting).
>
> This would provide the temperature check, as Sandie calls it, but it 
> would not in any way be a vote, and everyone in the "room" would be 
> able to see every response. Plus, it would take very little time to 
> accomplish. What if someone doesn't reply in 24 hours? It's not a big deal.
>
> On a related note, I'll ask the List Administrator to change the 
> settings on the server for the Business Meeting so that hitting REPLY 
> goes to list, not the individual. The Business Meeting operates very 
> differently from the recovery meeting, and all replies should be heard 
> by everyone in the meeting. Ditto for the Steering Committee meeting.
>
> Hugs,
> Steve
>
>
>
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