Item # 3 - Questions/Comments on the On-line Meeting Procedures

[Lyle Craver]

I would strongly oppose going public with this meeting while in progress.

There are all kinds of things we discuss (budgets, bids on tournaments etc.) that until the decision is made are not properly public.

Once done sure but while debate is taking place??

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Lyle:

But the CFC AGM is public ( anyone can attend, only they can't speak unless recognized ), and the budget is discussed and passed ( or not ) at it. It seems that these meetings mirror the characteristics of the AGM.

So why would it also not be public?

Chris has advised that under a proposed " public viewing only " forum, if a matter had to be dealt with in confidentiality, that agenda item could be adjourned to this confidential Governors' Discussion Board, where the debate could then take place in confidentiality. Afterwards, the governors would then return to the main forum for the public meeting to continue. This would seem to answer your concern.

Bob

[Lyle Craver]

Point of order - it would not be in order to make the proceedings of this or any other online meeting without a specific motion to that effect.

[Lyle Craver]

Bob the difference between the in-person AGM and the Online AGM is that it is exceptionally easy to copy and paste the proceedings.

Make no mistake about it - ChessTalk's interests are not ours and vice versa and the #1 difference between us is that I understand very clearly that.

For someone to attend the AGM and make notes and publish those isn't really appropriate but requires considerably more effort than copying and pasting from here.

It's not right or wrong - just the nature of the technology.

[Bob Armstrong]

Monday, Oct. 4 – 9:00 PM EDT – Motion 2011-A posted for discussion.

Thursday, Oct. 7, 9:00 PM EDT – Motion 2011-A posted for vote

Thursday, Oct. 7 – 10:00 PM EDT – Meeting is extended to Tuesday, October 12 at 11:59 PM EDT. Closing Address by President rescheduled to Tues., Oct. 12
at 11:59 PM EDT.

Thursday, Oct. 7 - 11:00 PM EDT - Voting closes on the 4 motions posted on Monday night and results are tabulated and posted.

Saturday, Oct. 9 – 11:00 PM EDT – Voting on Motion 2011-A closes, and results tabulated and posted. Motion 2010-03 amended if necessary.

Sunday, Oct. 10 – 9:00 AM EDT – Voting on Motion 2010-03 ( or the amended Motion 2010-03 ) and Motion 2010-04 starts.

Tuesday, Oct. 12 – 11:00 PM EDT – Voting on the 2 motions closes, and results tabulated and posted.

Tuesday, Oct. 12 – 11:59 PM EDT – Closing Address by Bob G.

Bob

[Bob Gillanders]

There is an important difference between the AGM and this meeting. Yes, the AGM is open to the public, and when Governors speak they are certainly aware of this fact. But since this meeting is being held on the Governors' private discussion board, that does imply a level of confidentiality.

There also is the fact that it would be all to easy for somebody to cut and paste statements by governors (out of context) and post on chesstalk to try and ridicule them.

I think we need to give some serious thought before making this meeting public.

[Ken Craft]

I'm not sure why we fear transparency. Other than issues which are of a confidential basis, I think our discussions should be open to public scrutiny. I would hamper a guess that much of what transpires in here is known publicly as it now stands.

[Fred McKim]

I think once the meeting is complete, Bob G, Lyle, and Bob A prepare a condensed version of the meeting for public consumption.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Fred:

The Meeting Procedures state:

4. Agenda Item Summary

At 9:00 AM on the 6th, or as soon thereafter as possible, the President, or the Posting Secretary if asked by the President, will post a summary of the agenda item discussion, setting out the critical points and the majority view, if any, on any controversial issue. S/he will propose what action might be taken on the agenda item, if any, in his/her opinion. Governors will have until 9:00 PM on the 7th to respond to the President’s Summary,. Whether the President or Posting Secretary summarizes discussions during a meeting extension is optional.

Lyle Craver and I have been appointed by Bob G to split the Posting Secretary role this meeting ( whereas I was sole Posting Secretary at the April Meeting ). What this means is that I have taken on the more " administrative " aspect of the position - I drafted and posted the agenda and introductory posts, and the subsequent motion voting posts, and monitored the meeting to post any supplementary agenda items that arose that required a new post. Lyle has taken on the more " editorial " aspect of the Posting Secretary role. He will do the agenda item " summaries " for each agenda item, which are to be posted at 9:00 AM tomorrow, Wed. Oct. 6. He will likely already start preparing in draft form the numerous " summaries " today, so that by tomorrow morning, he will have all of them ready to post. Then governors will have the two days to respond to Lyle's summaries with any comments.

These summaries are then posted on the SCC Website under the Governors' Letter section as " On-line " ( see the April meeting summaries posted there as precedents ).

However, I think the fact that the public has access to the meeting in this sense, after the fact, does not completely answer the issue of whether the public should have access " during the course of the meeting ". I would like to have a thorough debate of this subject on the Governors' Discussion Board after this on-line meeting, to see if there is any consensus one way or the other. There are many topics in discussion during this meeting, and I don't think all the governors have given their full attention to this one issue. There have been few posts on it.

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

Though it has not yet been announced, this is to confirm that Les Craver and I were appointed by Bob G, to split the Posting Secretary role for this meeting. Here is my recent e-mail this morning to Les confirming that he will now take up and carry out his portion of the positon:

Hi Lyle:

Bob G has advised me before the meeting started that he has split the Posting Secretary position for the Fall meeting between us, as I had suggested, and that you agreed to this.

I therefore thought I might remind you about the “ agenda item summaries “ that you are responsible for. Here is part of a post I did today in response to a comment by Fred McKim, which gives notice to the meeting that you also are Posting Secretary for this meeting, along with me:
__________________________________________________ ____________
Oct. 5, 2010, 07:44 AM

Bob Armstrong - CFC Governor

On-line Meeting " Summaries "

Hi Fred:

The Meeting Procedures state:

4. Agenda Item Summary

At 9:00 AM on the 6th, or as soon thereafter as possible, the President, or the Posting Secretary if asked by the President, will post a summary of the agenda item discussion, setting out the critical points and the majority view, if any, on any controversial issue. S/he will propose what action might be taken on the agenda item, if any, in his/her opinion. Governors will have until 9:00 PM on the 7th to respond to the President’s Summary,. Whether the President or Posting Secretary summarizes discussions during a meeting extension is optional.

Lyle Craver and I have been appointed by Bob G to split the Posting Secretary role this meeting ( whereas I was sole Posting Secretary at the April Meeting ). What this means is that I have taken on the more " administrative " aspect of the position - I drafted and posted the agenda and introductory posts, and the subsequent motion voting posts, and monitored the meeting to post any supplementary agenda items that arose that required a new post. Lyle has taken on the more " editorial " aspect of the Posting Secretary role. He will do the agenda item " summaries " for each agenda item, which are to be posted at 9:00 AM tomorrow, Wed. Oct. 6. He will likely already start preparing in draft form the numerous " summaries " today, so that by tomorrow morning, he will have all of them ready to post. Then governors will have the two days to respond to Lyle's summaries with any comments.

These summaries are then posted on the SCC Website under the Governors' Letter section as " On-line " ( see the April meeting summaries posted there as precedents ).

__________________________________________________ ______________


As I point out, if they will be of any help, the summaries I did of the April on-line agenda items are posted on the CFC Website, as I’m sure you are aware.

This is a somewhat onerous task, and does take some time and thought to boil down all the various comments on an agenda item thread into some understandable summary. But this is very important, since it tells the governors where the discussion got to, and what might be possible action arising out of the agenda item discussion. This meets the criticism sometimes leveled at these meetings, that there was lots of talk, but nothing was finally accomplished. The summaries show that progress was made on issues, and that often an “ action direction “ was achieved. This helps show the effectiveness of our meetings.

Good luck in doing the summaries, and posting them at 9:00 AM EDT tomorrow morning, Wed., Oct. 6.

Bob

Please read Lyle's summaries carefully when posted. These summaries are not " minutes " - there is no attempt to state what everyone said. It is a general summary of issues discussed, and possible action to be taken - it involves some editorial judgment calls, and it is not easy to capture all the relevant issues in all the various posts. Please confirm that you agree with the summary content. This is also important because these summaries are then made public after the meeting as a record of our meeting - they are posted on the CFC Website. You can make any final comments you may have on the particular agenda item summary.

Bob