{"id":1082,"date":"2013-06-13T17:48:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T17:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/community\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2013-06-13T18:51:32","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T18:51:32","slug":"some-assembly-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/community\/2013\/06\/13\/some-assembly-required\/","title":{"rendered":"Some assembly required."},"content":{"rendered":"

This past week has been all about getting ready for the Summit Planning Assembly in Paris (I\u2019m writing this from the air, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean).\u00a0 While not in the driver’s seat for this meet-up, I have been happily, albeit sometimes uncomfortably, working along side the Assembly team to help shape the event.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the Assembly, ultimately, is to generate a set of broad themes (opportunities, threats, challenges, issues, aspirations, etc.) that Mozillians feel, when addressed, discussed, hacked, solved, in a significant\/intentional way, will move the Project and mission forward, through the next 15 years. \u00a0\u00a0We will \u201charvest\u201d these big themes at the weekend\u2019s close and transform them, magically, into our 2013 Summit agenda.<\/p>\n

This is a pretty lofty goal for a weekend and certainly would not happen without explicit intention and focused attention on this outcome. \u00a0\u00a0I thought I would share out a bit of how we\u2019re planning to go about it since the meet-up will not be streamed or recorded (we will photo-document and record participant interviews only.)<\/p>\n

The majority of the Assembly will be facilitated by a group we\u2019ve been working with for about nine-months \u2013 Unconference.net<\/a>.\u00a0 They use \u201cOpen Space<\/a>\u201d methodologies to help groups run participant-lead meetings where content and outcomes are the responsibility of attendees, not meeting organizers. \u00a0The Mozilla Foundation uses an \u201cunconference<\/a>\u201d approach at MozFest<\/a>, so some of you may be familiar.\u00a0 Here is a very brief outline of the weekend\u2019s agenda:<\/p>\n

Friday<\/span>:\u00a0 Evening reception dinner \u2013 lots of introductions, ice-breakers (so we can start to get to know one another), and expectation setting for the following two days.<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/span>:\u00a0 Most of the first day will be spent discussing responses collected during pre-Assembly interviews (both those from the Mozillians we interviewed and our own thoughts\/opinions).\u00a0 Later in the day, representatives from our executive leadership team (Mark Surman, Mitchell Baker, Debbie Cohen, and Pete Scanlon) will offer their reflections on the conversations they have witnessed throughout the day and offer their own thoughts.<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/span>:\u00a0 This will be our Open Space day, meant to move from broad discussion to a more honed set of themes.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have three sessions (about 45 minutes each) where smaller groups self-organize to more deeply discuss the topics\/themes they are most passionate about.<\/p>\n

The meeting facilitators will wrap the weekend by presenting back for discussion, the observed themes that we will focus on for the Summit.\u00a0 The group will come to agreement on next steps including a declarative personal commitment.<\/p>\n

(Reminder: This is a very brief outline only.)<\/p>\n

I have never attended an unconference-type meet-up. \u00a0I am nervous in the unknown and excited at the same time.\u00a0 My hope for all participants at the end of this weekend is that each will come away with:<\/p>\n