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Board Communications and Governance Procedures
Meetings of the whole
In keeping with its democratic structure, much of the Association’s work and decisions of ongoing significance are accomplished at meetings of the entire board – our quarterly meetings and annual convention.
Quarterly Meetings
Virtual meetings of the board take place on a quarterly basis between Conventions. Telluride Association is slowly moving toward a regular system whereby each quarterly meeting is devoted to a programmatic area (e.g reviewing the summer programs at the quarter four quarterly meeting, or reviewing our policies and staffing at the April quarterly meeting). This is a recent shift in the Association’s business and is designed to make our work more nimble, more accessible, and more manageable.
Convention
Our annual in-person meeting typically takes place in June. This three-day meeting is held at one of the two Telluride Houses and is attended by members from all parts of the country. In these few days of intensive work and discussion, the board reviews the strategic plan and TA operations, examines its finances, elects new officers, and prepares and approves a detailed budget for the coming year. Although the primary aim of Convention is to carry out the Association’s business, it is also an occasion for renewing friendships and contributing to the continued learning and growth of its participants. Telluride Association has played a formative role in the lives of most of its members. The annual meeting offers members an opportunity to renew their commitment to the purpose of Telluride Association and their sense of what that implies for their own lives and work.
During our Quarterly meetings and annual Convention we move business by parliamentary procedure, specifically Robert’s Rules, with a few traditions of our own thrown in.
Informational meetings and Committee Schedules
Townhalls
During the course of the year there are sometimes large share-outs, topical brainstorming and discussion, and/or goal-oriented work sessions that don’t fit into a board-meeting agenda and don’t require board voting due to the work products’ early stage. In these instances rather than call a meeting of the board we hold meetings that are sometimes called town halls, in the spirit of open discussions and Q&A sessions. We always attend these sessions as members.
Committee meetings
Each board committee should hold at least monthly meetings and, at the most frequent, weekly meetings, depending on their board work. Most committees will have a particular busy period and will meet more frequently during that time. TA members will be closest to the day-to-day within their standing committee. With the exception of elected committees and officers “of the board,” most are committees “of the membership”, meaning that they are carrying out work approved by a Convention or a quarterly meeting, not making new decisions.
Virtual Work Spaces and Asynchronous Decision making Processes
TA SLACK
The Telluride Board and Staff use Slack as a quick communication tool for information sharing, committee planning, and general discussion. We also use some Slack channels exclusively for chat discussion during online meetings.
Loomio
The board uses loomio for Asynchronous decision making and discussion on proposals to the board before they are presented in a meeting of the whole. Loomio discourse and decision making is a big part of how we implement our version ofthe advice process. CAC also uses loomio to consider mid year allocation proposals.
Google Workspace
Staff and board utilize the Telluride google workspace for file storage, collaboration and planning.
The Advice Process
During the course of the year TA uses a version of the advice process on Loomio to build better proposals that will come to the full board or to gain input from impacted and interested board members on committee level decisions. This process helps ensure strategic alignment on big decisions, pulls in more board participation by allowing for more time for feedback, allows for time to seek out expertise inside and outside the board, and has the potential to reduce the length of floor discussions by allowing proposals to be workshopped and questions answered before hand. Not all proposals to the body need to go through the advice process, it is simply one of many tools the Association can use to work together asynchronously.
The TA Advice process:
A Committee, Committee Chair, or Officer decides they’d like feedback on a proposal, course of action, or idea
The proposal, course of action, or idea is posted in a thread on Loomio
Members leave questions, comments, and suggestions on the proposal thread. The posting committee may seek out input from members or outside experts.
The proposing group takes the input received and edits their proposal, adjusts or stops their course of action, or further develops or shelves their idea.
The proposing group may decide to undergo another round of seeking advice, bring their proposal to the next board meeting, or further workshop within their committee before moving forward