How we Run a General Meeting for Our Permaculture Group

I have been a member of permaculture Sydney West for over 8 years and on the executive committee (in various capacities) for 4 years. In that time I have watched our membership more than triple. We have also increased the number of services and activities which are offered to members as part of our joining fee ($25 for singles, $30 for families), but our main contact and services remain around our monthly meetings. These are held on the first Monday of the month, public holidays included from February to December each year.

This is what we have found works (and occasionally doesn’t work) for our monthly General meetings.

1. Venue – we have found that community centres work well for us, they are a great resource and are available at reasonable rates in all council areas. The things to look for are –

• Room size – is there a room available which will fit all the members comfortably?
• Facilities – are tables and chairs, toilets and kitchen facilities (for the all-important tea and coffee) available sufficient to suit the number of members?
• Parking – it’s no fun having to park on the street at night and during inclement weather, lots of parking makes things much easier.
• Proximity to Public Transport – can members get to meetings by public transport if they wish?

2. Meet and Greet – I have been to permaculture meetings where this has not been done particularly well and it is important to make members, especially new members and visitors feel welcome. Our meet and greet person –

• Sits at a table just outside the door to the room (or inside if there is no room outside)
• Signs everyone in and provides a name tag
• Ordinary members have a “convention card holder” type name badge in white, committee members also have a lanyard with their title in a card holder attached. Visitors have a yellow card in a convention card holder so they can be welcomed to the group.

It is very important for the meet and greet person to have a welcoming attitude and be easy to deal with, particularly for visitors because this person sets the first impression for the group.

3. Setting up – the meetings are due to start at 7:00pm but someone with a key  gets there at 6:30pm or a bit before so that the building can be opened up. The set up process is as follows -

• Set up meet and greet table can be set up before people start to arrive.
• Set up the chairs in rows across the hall, usually 4 or 5 each side with a 500mm or so aisle in the middle to make access easier and set up the tables for seed savers, the library, recycle roundabout and the food.
  • Library – This is a library of permaculture related books available for loan by members for one month. The library is set up at the back of the room using two unused tables from the hall. More details are available here.
  • Recycled roundabout – This is where members bring in their excess stuff and leave it on a table so that anyone who wants it can take it. They must keep an eye on whatever they bring though and if no-one claims it they are responsible for taking it home again.
  • Seed Savers – we have an active seed savers group run by two very experienced ladies and they sell seed to members at a reduced rate, as well as answering any questions about the seed they are selling.
  • Food table – everyone brings snacks to share after the meeting and a central table is set up for everyone to place them on. Bringing a table cloth is a good idea and so is setting it up on a non-carpeted area to make cleaning easier.
• Arrange and plug in computer, projector, screen and speaker system (when required) ensuring that the cord is not in an area where it is a trip hazard, or tape it down to the floor.
• Set up tea and coffee facilities in the kitchen area, ensure boiling water supplies are plugged in and turned on if required ( fair trade/organic tea and coffee of course!)

At this point the majority of members have arrived and sat down and the meeting can commence.

4. The Meeting Agenda – The meeting agenda has provided spirited debate during our planning meetings but we have a format that seems to work well for us –

4.1 Welcome – The president is the MC for the night, or when the president is unavailable, the vice president steps in. The welcome only goes for a couple of minutes and is generally around things going on at that moment; courses running, discussions with councils or any outside events attended by PSW members etc.

4.2 Monthly Summary - this is a short presentation with photo slides, generally from the secretary, which covers off the activities of the previous month. Things discussed in the presentation may include workshops for run by members for councils or other bodies, living skills activities run, permablitzes completed and any special items such as if a member gets mentioned in the local paper etc.

4.3 The Main Event – This is advertised by email to the members a few days before the meeting. It can be a speaker from outside the group, we have had a gentleman talk on microbats recently but over the years we have had talks on transitions towns, beyond zero energy, alternative farming, brewing and fermenting and ethically produced meat. We also have a number of presenters within the group who conducted discussions on permaculture related subjects. We have more physical activities like what we call ‘Round Robins’ where a series of (4 or 5) stations are set up with an activity on each one and people move through all of the stands one at a time, taking about 10 minutes on each stand. Round robins we have done previously included making components for a bug hotel, things to make from a PET bottle and different techniques of plant propagation. We try to mix things up so there is a variety of activities and speakers throughout the year. (an example of our schedule can be downloaded here - PSW Ed program 2016)

Every year in June or July we have our annual ‘soup and movie’ night where everyone brings a pot of soup to share (I had no idea there were so many pumpkin soup lovers out there!) and we run a short movie. Last year it was ‘the story of stuff’ and the year before that it was Geoff Lawton’s ‘Urban Permaculture’. It is a great night and well attended each year. Each December we have our Annual General Meeting (AGM) to elect the next years’ office bearers, followed by a ‘where are they now’ section put on by people who have received a blitz during the year to show the group what they have achieved since the blitz.

4.4 Plant of the Month – our very knowledgeable seed ladies put together a 10 minute presentation on an edible plant, talking about its history, growth habits, how it is propagated and uses for it including some recipes.

4.5 Other announcements – the members are given an opportunity to make announcements regarding activities or events coming up which they are involved in, providing they fit within permaculture ethics.

4.6 Closing remarks – the president closes the meeting with any final points, a quick discussion of any upcoming events and a reminder to check out the library, recycled roundabout and the seed savers table.

4.7 Convivial Social interchange (getting together to talk and eat) – after the formal part of the night is completed the members all get together to share food brought in by everyone and placed on a table for that purpose, and talk.

Other stuff

A couple of things that we tried but are no longer part of the format –

• Book of the month – the idea was that someone would get up and give a review of the book they were reading or had read, but we had too few reviewers for it to be viable.
• Permaculture Principles – one of our permaculture trainers would spend 10 or 15 minutes talking about a permaculture principle each meeting, usually one of the ones from David Holmgren’s book Permaculture: Principles and pathways Beyond Sustainability. That went well but there are only 12 and we worked our way through them.

Our membership is continuing to increase and everyone enjoys the meetings, so we must be doing something right!