[sudo-discuss] [BAPS-Organizing] Re: [omni-discuss] Replacing the term "bottom-liner" with..?

[niki]

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