Listening to the call today, it appeared to me that there might be
some best practices that are outside the immediate scope of this work,
but that might be worthwhile noting down and handing to GNSO chairs
(of all kinds). Much of this is really simple technique.
Some points:
1. Circulate minutes right after the call (within 48h, for example)
2. Make sure there is an Instant Messaging backchannel (Adobe connect
or Jabber or IRC -- just pick something and stick to it)
3. Make sure time slots are kept consistent.
4. Make a point out of noting (in the backchannel) and minuting action
items. Action items are commitments by a specific person to do a
specific task by a specific time. (If any of these elements are
missing, things typically don't work out so well.)
5. Circulate an agenda about 24-48h before the meeting for a phone
call, a week or two before for face-to-face meetings.
Include:
- chair
- dial-in information
- IM backchannel
- links to any documents or archived e-mail messages that the chair
expects to refer to
- desired decisions
- list of open action items
Include the group, the date, and the word "agenda" in the subject.
Doing this in a somewhat schematic way really helps participants when
they have to jump from one phone conference to the next. I've also
found that it leads to some useful discipline on the chairs themselves
(including myself when in that role).
Additionally, I'll suggest this article as required background reading
for everybody here, to be kept in mind while we talk about the WG model:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/02/meetings.html
Regards,
--
Thomas Roessler, W3C <tlr@xxxxxx <mailto:tlr@xxxxxx>>