CNVC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes - Wednesday, April 15, 2009

CNVC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes—Wednesday, April 15, 2009

In attendance:
Board Members:
Gail Taylor– Board Member
Margo Pair – Board Secretary
Robert Gonzales – Board President
Stefan Wisbauer – Board Vice-President

Absent:
Eduardo Montoya – Board Member Applicant
Marshall Rosenberg – Board Member
Valentina Rosenberg – Board Treasurer

Observers:
Glenda Mattinson (Canada – Ontario), Godfrey Spencer (Belgium), Katherine Singer (Korea), Kirsten Kristensen (Denmark), Noam (Israel), Pan Vera (US – Vermont), Susan Reeves (US – New York)

Facilitator: Margo Pair
Notetaker: Elin Skappel

Summary of Action Items:

1. Next meeting – Thursday 14th through Sunday 17th of May, 2009 (In Person Board Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico).
2. IT Coordinator Pan Vera will provide to the Board a proposal for the $6000 upgrade cost from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6, along with his recommendation for tools and skills needed to address the other issues that were mentioned during the presentation -  integration of accounting, customer relations, fund raising.
3. IT Coordinator Pan Vera will connect with Margo Pair to discuss a potential focus group for the upgrade of the website and its systems.

Future Agenda Items:

• Frequency of Board Meetings and participation in the In Person Board Meetings

 Announcements & Administrative Matters

• Minutes of the January 14, February 11 and March 25, 2009 meeting received consent and will be posted on our website within 48 hours.
• Godfrey Spencer is offering translation during today’s meeting.
• Yesterday we held an Extended LT Forum. This is the third Extended LT Forum (the two first were held in 2008). Minutes are in draft form and will be distributed once approved. We did something similar to today where callers were able to view reports and presentations online. We also used the same no/low cost conference system. We had over 5 countries and 2 languages represented at the meeting.
• The Board would appreciate any feedback on today’s meeting – please go to the CNVC website (www.cnvc.org) and click on the Feedback Input Forms link on the bottom on any page (http://cnvc.org/node/5130). We would love to hear your input, ideas or comments on the technology used along with comments or concerns about what was presented.
• The next Board Meeting is the In Person Board Meeting in Albuquerque May 14 -17, 2009. This meeting is open to observers and more information will be sent out closer to the meeting date.

1. Web Presentation (CNVC IT Coordinator Pan Vera)

• Presentation attached – it can also be viewed as a slideshow on the following link: http://cnvc.org/node/6138
• Action Item: IT Coordinator Pan Vera will provide to the Board a proposal for the $6000 upgrade cost from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6, along with his recommendation for tools and skills needed to address the other issues that were mentioned during the presentation -  integration of accounting, customer relations, fund raising.
• Action Item: Pan will connect with Margo Pair to discuss a potential focus group for the upgrade of the website and its systems.

2. CNVC Board of Directors Meeting Dates for 2009

• Gail and Stefan will be calling in to the Board Meeting May 14 – 17, 2009 instead of participating in person.
• Future Agenda Item: Frequency of Board Meetings and participation in the In Person Board Meetings.

Meeting Measurements
Robert  Gonzales – I’m pleased with the meeting. I am very impressed, and grateful to Pan for the presentation, the thoroughness of it and the technology behind it allowing us to track it. I am intrigued and eager to move forward with the projects and the proposals that are coming. Excited at the movement that I see for the website. I think it has a tremendous potential to unite and serve everyone, particularly the trainers.
Stefan Wisbauer – I feel encouraged too, on one by hand by hearing Pan’s voice, hearing his clarity and dedication, and also some of the progress made. I am very excited about the potential of that whole area for the network overall, for example the fact that we don’t know what’s going on around the world and the potential to share what is going on, what projects they are working on, what they are pitching for, these things are going to be hugely powerful – an NVC map of who is doing what training where, what are peoples’ interests and projects. I am seeing huge potential in that and also quite hopeful that collectively we can make some good decisions on this and hope that Pan will be willing to talk with us and consult with us, even if not all of us have five years of developing experience, we would like to remain in dialogue and be comfortable with the decisions made. I do hope we can do that in a way that is efficient and also in a way where Pan can feel that his expertise is valued rather than him thinking that people who have no clue what they’re doing are telling him what to do. [Hearty laughter shared between Stefan and Pan.] Overall very grateful and encouraged by the potential of all of this.
Gail Taylor – I am really delighted first for the technology today - what hope it stimulates in me for bridging language and Godfrey being here, and everyone seeing the same presentation and seeing your face, Pan, I was thrilled with that. And Pan I really enjoyed your presentation, I thought it was comprehensive, easy to follow, I have to say I have admiration for you. I see you as someone who is definitely bringing expertise and committed effort and a tremendous amount of activity to the whole IT development, I really, really do think it’s critical for the organization. So thank you, thank you! And of course I’m interested in contributing where I can to the offline IT Operations Circle, however that moves forward, please consider me. And I’m overall just very grateful to everyone for today’s meeting, I just thought it went really well.
Glenda Mattinson – Pan, just so appreciating your ability to pull the information together cleanly. I notice when I hear the Board ask for a weighing the IT Budget off against other priorities, one of the things I am personally really longing for as an LT member and as the GCC coordinator, is that there would be a clear, simple statement of purpose. I view the CNVC Vision, Mission and Aim as a statement of what “All NVC’ers around the world are seeking to contribute to” and I really long for the clarity about what is it that this NVC day to day organization that the Admin Team leads, what is its purpose, how is it intended to contribute to the worldwide constellation of NVC organizations, and I think that may make Board Decision making simpler – I know it makes my decision making easier, so just longing for that.
Pan Vera – Thank you for mentioning that Glenda, I actually did mean to ask the Board to put some energy into coming up with a business plan that clearly defines how we are going to accomplish our aim.
Glenda Mattinson – I see the business plan as flowing from that one-line statement of purpose, if you are interested in what I am looking for it’s essentially an aim statement, the GCC came up with one at the last face to face meeting and I think it has really simplified and focused our work and made it much easier to know what to focus on and what not to focus on.
Elin Skappel – I’ve enjoyed the flow of this meeting, and am enjoying being with you all again!
Kirsten Kristensen: I am sitting here with butterflies in my stomach and great excitement. I think I need to revise some of my plans about websites in my part of the world after hearing this! I’ve heard things in Pan’s presentation both today and yesterday, but in more detail today, that six months ago I would never have thought it would be possible for CNVC as an organization to take these steps and I am so delighted to hear what you have been doing, and I am also really enjoying to hear Gail, what you share about your experience. In my younger days I worked with companies and their questions about technology about whether to have one big system or many smaller systems, and I so recognize what you are talking about, and I am watching with great excitement what you will end up doing and I really hope that this will have a lot of priority. I feel it is so important to the functionality and the survival of this organization. I enjoyed hearing you tonight, thank you very much.
Noam (Israel): I enjoyed being in the conference and hearing Pan’s presentation and I’m in touch with Pan on a regular basis and know how much work and effort he puts into putting all of this together, and I am excited to be part of this!
Katherine Singer – It was enormously informative and also very good to hear my old friends’ voices.
Margo Pair – I thoroughly appreciated the attendance of everyone today, the questions and comments from our Board Members on Pan’s presentation. For those of us that are not IT professionals to get a glimpse of the many things that he is holding for us. Gail I appreciate your experience and knowledge in this area along with Stefan’s and we are very fortunate to have such a wide variety of people to assist us in this, and I look forward to what the future holds. Thank you to the observers for calling in, your passion for nonviolent communication, the ability to join us on today’s call is deeply appreciated.
The meeting was convened 1:00 PM MST
The meeting was adjourned 2:45 PM MST