[Penguicon-Concom] Harmony, peacekeeping, and Board update.

[Tracy Worcester]

Ah.  I see everyone's been having a busy weekend.

On 8/13/06, Ron Blanchett <rrcb21 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> Recently does not even come close to it. In the two years that I have been
> volunteering to work with you all on this convention I have seen nothing but
> bitching, bickering, fighting, complaining, etc, etc, etc...
>

I wouldn't say "nothing but bickering", but I would say that the ratios have
been somewhat skewed - and not towards the type of conflict that leads to
problem-solving and growth, but towards the kind of conflict which leads
simply to more interpersonal strife.

Some people like to fight.  Some people can't help themselves.  However, a
good chair with a volunteer surplus will usually avoid relying on people
like this.  I will freely admit that, given a choice between a trained and
competent person who handles conflict in a destructive manner and an
enthusiastic but completely inexperienced person who plays well with others,
I will choose to train the new person, almost every time.

Up until this year, we didn't have even a small surplus of volunteers.  I
believe this may be the year when we turn that corner.  We have enough
experienced con comm members that this year, our chair has the freedom to
pick and choose not only for skills, but for the personality types which
will best match how they're going to work best.  We have quiet, experienced
people, that we sometimes forget because they *never* pick a fight, or wade
into one.  (Thank you!)  We have new and enthusiastic people.  And,
honestly, we have about half a dozen people waiting in the wings, looking to
see if we can stop the internal warfare long enough to entice them into
helping.  We may not see them this year, but I have hopes for 6.0.

I believe, based on my conversations with John, that he is aiming at having
a con comm notable for its lack of infighting.  Right now, I believe we're
having a temporary shakedown from some of the personnel changes resulting
from John choosing people who interact well with *his* workstyle.  Don't
panic, folks.  This last few weeks are not the marker of this year; they're
the trail-off from the last several.  *This is temporary.*

I think some people are worried because I'm stepping away for a while.

PenguiCon is currently filled with a large body of skilled people who are
more than capable of running a combination open source and SF convention.
1.0 was our founding year.  2.0 was the post-birth honeymoon.  3.0 was
rough, but raising a toddler is.  4.0 moved along towards stablity.  I've
been thinking of this year in my head as "taking off the training wheels".

I got pretty stressed during the bylaws thread, but I actually do believe
that you folks understand the vision and you have the necessary skils.
John's been with the event from the beginning, quietly propping up key
people almost every year.  You folks are in pretty good shape, really.

Now, my leaving is going to mean you've got an opportunity for other people
to step into the roles I've been doing.  The good news is, in some areas you
may actually see an improvement.  I think I've been serving three primary
roles:  visionary/icon; knowledge-keeper; and peacekeeper.

Visonary:  I've talked the vision to death with anyone who would listen.
I'll even write it down for you folks before I go.  Most of the summary, you
already know - to provide a fun, relaxing, centralized place where people
who think about things in interesting ways can come meet others of their
kind face to face.

Knowledge-keeper:  Except for stuff that's specialized to chairing, you
folks all know what I know.  I've mostly been making it up as I went along
the entire time.  Just like you.  And you're doing a really good job.
John's got my cellphone for the chairing bits, and for the rest, well, last
year I was pretty absent, and you folks did fine without me.  (:

Now, about the peacekeeping.  If I were to label three major pieces to
piecekeeping, I'd summarize them as soothing, translation, and bashing
heads.  I'm moderately good at smoothing things over and getting people to
listen to each other.  But keeping the peace also, sometimes, requires that
you get someone who is disturbing the peace to shut up, or go be noisy
elsewhere.  That was not my long suit.

It is not actually required that one person fulfill all three of these
peacekeeping roles, but each piece is pretty important, and really ought to
be done by someone.  Here are a few things that have been on my mind the
last few days.

1.  If someone is screwing with the health and harmony of the community,
give them at least one warning, preferably face to face.  It is probably
better to give them at least two warnings, just to be fair, particularly if
they're not malicious, but rather socially awkward.  But don't feel
compelled to give them more than three warnings.  Additionally, if you have
to give them three, make sure at least one of them is public.

1a.  Signs of malice against the convention or fighting with someone else
for purely personal reasons is perfectly good grounds for the "one warning"
category.  I belong to the Mean People Suck school of thinking, and hope you
folks help carry on that particular legacy in my absence.

2.  Despite that, do *not* go out and metaphorically shoot everyone who has
the will and ability to speak uncomfortable truths.  You *need* them.  As a
personal example, I'm going to be actively checking in with Rob Landley
during the bylaws process, because a fair bit of what he's afraid of *is* a
potential risk.  I *am*, however, going to reserve the right to verbally
kick both him and Matt in the head if the two of them don't find a way of
debating their conflicting philosophies in public that doesn't make several
of us want to unsubscribe from the list.

3.  Please, as much as you can, be kind to those who are trying to be
truthtellers and doing it badly.  Get them off camera and in private.   But
then *listen to them*.  They may not be right; often they won't be.  But to
avoid groupthink, you've got to have someone whose job is to listen and
sincerely consider whether they are, and bring back the points for
discussion that are awkward, but need considered.

I wonder more and more every year how in the HELL we get anything done with
> just about everyone carrying on the way they do all of the time.
>

Be fair, Ron.  The con comm has between 30 and 40 people on it.  The
conflict comes from less than 5.  They are a small and noisy minority.  And,
currently, several of the most effective people either aren't subscribed to
the list, or don't read the list mail.

I hate to say this but to me it is starting to look like Year 5 might be the
> last year the Penguicon will be in existance, only because right now we are
> effectivly down to a two person board and no one is stepping up to fill in
> the gaps.
>

Heh.  No, PenguiCon is alive and well.

Regarding the Board.  We've got five Board members still active.  We have
one slot open immediately, and three slots opening up in the nearish future,
but none of the Board members who are phasing out are planning on leaving
before their replacement is elected and ready to go.  We're going to have a
lot of turnover, but we've got a list of about six people, generated this
afternoon, who've been a bit too shy to self-nominate.  We're going to be
talking to them over the next few days or so.  I believe we might have more
candidates than we have openings, which would be *cool*.  (:


> Also at this very moment I am starting to feel just like Rob and Tracy and
> it is only because none of you seem to be able to get along with each other
> long enough to get any real work accomplished.
>

I sincerely understand the frustration, given my recent social experience
with the bylaws thread.  But this is, actually, wildly unfair.  We've got a
whole lot of departments of the convention which run so quietly and smoothly
that you may not have known just how much work was accomplished.  But, to
name a few at random, consuite, gaming, the computer lounge, and the
volunteer department all do a lot of work, and I don't recall ever seeing
them involved in any of the list wars.  <waves hi to the quiet competent
people>

So, Ron, I understand your frustration, but just hang on; I'm actually
pretty sure things are about to get better.

However, I've got a final in less than 72 hours, so it's time for me to go.

...Tracy
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