If the number of people coordinating the events is too small to handle the number of events people want to have, then it might be helpful to set up an earlier step in the process to flush events that aren't a good fit, such that 4-5 people will not be overwhelmed.

For example, moving the event scheduling step to after the person has accepted the contract and the pricing structure is agreed on, might save on some of the coordination time with people who aren't serious enough about their events to grok the process and guidelines. 

What are some of the specific complaints that bottom-liners have, in regards to the work they have to do?

Cheers,

Anca.


On Fri, Jan 16, 2015 at 1:54 PM, niki <niki.shelley@gmail.com> wrote:
Anca,

Thanks for putting together that list. I agree it would be *wonderful if the work of organizing / facilitating / administering events was shared among several people rather than the responsibility of just one person.

Unfortunately, there are only a couple of people who are currently doing this work for the multiple event requests that come in daily. So it's actually about 4 or 5 people doing all of that work for literally dozens of events weekly.

We could certainly use more help with this - whether it's taking on the organizing work for an event or two to revising the process for how we distribute this work / encourage people to participate in it.

<3

N

On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 6:22 PM, Anca Mosoiu <anca@techliminal.com> wrote:
Is there a specific list of tasks/responsibilities that the "bottom-liner" has to do?   

Matt's list of terms suggest a number of different, specific responsibilities that a person with that title might have.  Semantics are important here.

Here's a (partial) list of many of the things that are done as part of an event. I like to split them along content-oriented tasks, and organizational tasks.  

Content Tasks:
* Come up with an event name, descriptive text, pictures for putting on the website and on social media
* Create workshop, or presentation, or performance for the event
* Facilitate / teach / perform at the event

Organizational/Administrative/Marketing/Financial Tasks:
* Make sure the event doesn't conflict with other events in the space at that time
* Post the event on the website
* Create event registration webpage if needed
* Post the event on social media sites.  Promote the event.
* Secure sponsorships for events
* Create flyers and collateral for promoting the event
* Keep a list of contact information for all people participating in the event
* Keep people informed of ongoing changes or things they need to do to get ready
* Confirm that the event is still happening X days before the event (so we can clear out the calendar if not)
* Buy / provide food and drink for event
* Make sure the space is ready at the right time, including unlocking doors if needed
* Make sure all needed equipment is available and in working order
* Direct people to the event in the space
* Help set up for the event
* Clean up after the event.  Lock up the space if necessary.
* Collect payment or donations for use of the space
* Send payments to performers or event partners

What are some of the other things?

If people don't feel comfortable with the explicit or implicit list of responsibilities associated with being a bottom-liner, we can re-define them.  As well as the term.

Cheers,

Anca.




On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 5:32 PM, Matthew Senate <mattsenate@gmail.com> wrote:
some more hopefully-less-hierarchical-terms:

* responsibili-buddy
* point-of-contact
* liaison
* ambassador
* confidant
* advocate
* messenger
* intermediary
* connection
* fixer
* agent
* emissary
* promoter
* producer

Perhaps "producer" is subtly honest, "responsibili-buddy" is most fun to pronounce, and "coordinator" is the closest practical analog to the current "bottom-liner"?

// Matt

p.s. "Advocate" goes in a totally different direction, maybe worth some consideration...


On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 11:06 AM, niki <niki.shelley@gmail.com> wrote:
I don't know who you are, Ed Rippy, but I can't wait to meet you IRL! 

Love these thoughts and hope we can expand on them / work to develop actionable solutions / experiments.

<3

Niki

On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 11:06 PM, Ed Rippy <ed.rippy@mindspring.com> wrote:

On 01/11/2015 10:17 PM, Michael Nicoloff wrote:
I know on the BAPS side of things there's been on-and-off problems with finding enough people to bottom-line classes, and that often the duties of bottom-lining have unevenly fallen on a few key people, so that even if the name bottom-liner hasn't struck me as a problem, the organizing practice has at times felt built on shaky ground. What in theory is a non-coercive, equal, from-each-to-each kind of horizontalism becomes not so much that in practice, with responsibility (and power) concentrating/burdening a small number of folks.

 -- This always happens. Democracy is a great ideal, & it wd be even greater if our fundamental equality as human beans translated into equality of work output. It doesn't for a lot of reasons. This is the toughest part of the whole process.

   The only way to reduce this problem is for more people to step up. This is very tough, because pretty much all of us are overextended anyway, but it's still crucial. We all grow up in a society where just about everything happens because someone gets paid to bottomline it. If we want to create an alternative we need to deprogram ourselves & realize that there ain't no-one else to do it. Many of us are also programmed to feel that we aren't good enough and can't be 'leaders.' This is what we have to transform if sudo room or omni is gonna survive. Unfortunately I can't offer a whole lot myself, but I'll think of something. One thing I've learned is that little things add up.

   We need to know ea. other & trust ea. other if we're really going to work together. And we need to believe that our efforts will actually pay off -- that they'll be well received & help create some great experience.


So I feel like lurking under concerns about the name are questions of organization, of how to ensure a horizontalism not just in name but also in reality, and so it seems like any discussion of renaming the bottom-liner task is also going to have to take a real look at our practices as collectives. Maybe I'm getting a little far afield here, but it seems like pulling on the thread of what to call what we're calling a bottom-liner pulls a lot of other issues with it.
 -- Me 2. The term "bottom-liner" has gotten pretty traditional, & I can't think of any great alternatives. "Project Manager?" Gack. We can change the name if we like, but IMO it's more important to talk about what the bottlenecks are & how we can be creative working together so more people feel like getting involved. I'm a newb here so I don't know the issues/specifics, but I've been an activist long enough to know the pattern. We need to hack our mindsets so that we all see a little bit of organizing/bottomlining here & there as part of a fun life.

Cheers,
Ed Rippy


_______________________________________________
sudo-discuss mailing list
sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss


_______________________________________________
sudo-discuss mailing list
sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss



_______________________________________________
sudo-discuss mailing list
sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss




--
-=-=-=-
Anca Mosoiu | Tech Liminal

_______________________________________________
sudo-discuss mailing list
sudo-discuss@lists.sudoroom.org
https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss





--
-=-=-=-
Anca Mosoiu | Tech Liminal
anca@techliminal.com
M: (510) 220-6660
http://techliminal.com | T: @techliminal | F: facebook.com/techliminal