Hello! Welcome, or welcome back to the IHL in the Bay blogs section. Whether you are new or are an old-time visitor, I hope you learn something new nonetheless. As our IHL YAC Campaign draws to an end, I wanted to share with you guys a key part of organizing our semester-long project -- meetings!
Meetings are crucial to getting things done. Do not underestimate the power of meetings ~ not to brag, but we’ve had requests from our coordinator and other IHL team leads to come attend as an outsider and understand how these meetings work. While many tasks such as making Instagram posts and writing blogs can be accomplished outside of meetings -- we call this asynchronous work -- meetings allow for collaboration. Go ahead and insert some sparkle emojis here to emphasize the importance of collaboration ✨✨ From what I’ve learned, collaboration (when done correctly) motivates everyone and enhances the overall “ideas pool.” If we can’t work together on a project, we take far longer to finish tasks, much less call ourselves a team.
It’s no secret that our team had to operate on Zoom pt. 2 this year (pt. 1 was in 2021). In a way, it actually worked out for us because we did not have to travel to meet up, and allowed us to stay more organized through nifty functions like sharing screens, and the quintessential breakout rooms option. So, in a sense, relying on Zoom was a blessing and burden in disguise. And I say burden because of all of the times our team had to rejoin after the 40 free Zoom meeting. Fun fact, we once had to rejoin 4 TIMES during the span of one meeting; it was in preparation for the UNESCO Simulation event. Here's a picture of us playing with Immersive Backgrounds during the meeting... which may perhaps be why it lasted so long haha.
With that being said, I’ll share with you guys what actually happens during a typical, non-4 hour long meeting. However, in order to outline the entire process, we must go back 48 hours before the meeting takes place. First, a couple days before our weekly meeting, Tejasvini and I make a meeting agenda and throw together the slide deck. If there’s any progress updates that need to be given at the meeting, we’ll send a heads up to the advocates who have those tasks so that they are aware of the upcoming target date. We also scour Slack and meeting recordings (if needed) for updates from Sarina, our coordinator, and the Red Cross International Services Organization, so that we can present these updates at our team meeting.
Another section of our meeting is dedicated to progress checks for the project that we are working on. I’ll issue a popcorn roundtable discussion, where everyone checks in with the team on how their tasks have been going, whether they need more help, or more extensions. Any issues are typically resolved on the spot, either by Tejasvini or I, or even with the help of some advocates! They’re pretty ingenious and come up with good ideas. After that, the advocate “popcorns” the spotlight to someone else in the team, who will then share out their progress update. We’ve gotten to rely on popcorn roundtable due to its effectiveness to the point where I have a motto: “when in doubt, popcorn it out!” 🍿🍿
Finally, after we have effectively updated each other on our campaign progress, the remaining time of the meeting will be spent working on our current project. Often times, I will create multiple breakout rooms for the teams that we have divided into (for example, the IHL section and the PCP section of our guidebook), and members will select themselves into rooms to plan out their parts and make progress. If they need help, they can use the “Ask for Help” to call Tejasvini and/or I into the room.
Towards the end of the meeting, or based on an amount of time that I set for the team, we’ll meet back up in the main room to update each other on how the breakout room progress went, and answer any last questions. After we say our goodbyes, not forgetting to take a team picture before we leave, Tejasvini or I will send a meeting recap to the Slack channel with any tasks that need to be completed, and we’ll update the Volunteer Hours Tracking spreadsheet to document today’s meeting.
“That pretty much wraps up today’s blog, thank you guys for reading. Any last questions? None? Alright, perfect. You guys can log in 5 minutes for your time reading this blog. Don’t forget to follow our Instagram account and type away any comments you have into the comments section below! I’ll see you all next week, thanks for reading!”
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