Meeting via Zoom. “Zoom Master”: Maine Bob O’Connor
Present: Maine Bob O’Connor, David Hanc, John Bangeman, Tomas Levesque, George Aguiar, Charles Guilford, Jonathan Coggeshall, Ian Collins, Brad Purdy

  1. Check In
  2. Acceptance of minutes from MCM Board Meeting of September 10, 2020. Minutes accepted.
  3. Treasurer’s Report (John B and Jonathan “Joss” C). Both men’s signatures are now accepted at Bangor Savings Bank of Rockland on the MCM checking account. The two still need to get together to work on the “line item tracking system” for revenues and expenditures of MCM.
  4. Fall MCM Event
    So far, the Board has the following ideas:
    a. Event would be 2 hours
    b. “check in – presentation – discuss – check out” is the general format
    c. Is this a one-shot deal or the start of a mini-series of events/presentations?
    d. What is the goal of the event? The goal we decided on was to generate discussion among the men.
    e. U-tube or Ted talk vs live presentation – both have value, limit it to 20 min.
    f. Who or what is needed such as moderator(s), Zoomologist(s), etc. The board made no decision until we figure out a format.
    g. Possible theme: (Tomas) “Thriving and connecting in the time of Covid.”
    h. (Charles) “present something for people to consider (example – something from the Minnesota Men’s conference)”
    i. (Ian) suggest we consider “Tim Wilson – Minnesota video”
    ii. David sent out 2 suggestions in the last e-mail as an attachment for men to consider from the Minnesota Men’s site
    i. (David) “Tom J and/or Chuck N. are willing to do live presentations – need direction from MCM Board”
    j. (Tomas) “Check in could be enough – don’t be rigid with time schedule – let people speak as long as they need – we don’t know what men need – we don’t know what we need”
    k. (John) is a two-hour event long enough?
    l. (Maine Bob): recently hosted an 80- minute documentary on Quaker history – an example of how our event could be run
    m. (David again)  Suggestion: “Check in: facilitator sets the stage and then let people discuss “Thriving in Time of Covid” and let the conversation flow – we wouldn’t need a “check-out”
    n. (David) “if the event were a miniseries a suggestion was
    1st one – check in only
    2nd one – live presentation
    3rd one – check out which would include a person’s reaction to the presentation
    o. (Charles) “common starting point”
    p. David to Maine Bob: “how could we do a check in and then a presentation?”
    “I (Maine Bob) hosted an event to over 400 people; people could raise their hand to chat; need good moderator”
    q. (David) “how do you have discussion with 25 people that show up?”
    Maine Bob described several ways to moderate a conversation. One way is to use Breakout rooms
    r. (Charles) “Men could question people at the end of their check in – was there anything in the check in that prompted you to further discussion?”
    s. (Tomas) “David’s mini-series idea is a good one”
    t. David suggested we have a monthly or biweekly check in – men need to talk!” Tom Jamrog believes this is what men need and encourage the board to look into this idea.
    u. (Ian suggests) “Ted talks – 10 to 17-minute theme; set the mood with a Ted talk and then do the check in; facilitator need skills to keep on target”
    v. (George) “previous Zoom experience 2 hours -went by very quickly. Important: have a topic – published and have a well-run meeting; needs to be well-defined; people should want to be there; people – enthusiastic about being there; watch video ahead of time and then join in w/discussion”
    w. (David) “are we ready to pick a mini-series such as or have a one-time event and go from there:
    i. Check in with Covid theme
    ii. Watch this movie then discussion
    iii. Check in then breakout rooms with different areas to explore
    x. (Charles) “try out one video on our MCM Board and then discuss it”. Charles was asked to facilitate the trial run with the board first. We can start with a check in and discuss the film and then check out with suggestions for a total MCM offering.
    y. (David) “would rather just offer it to MCM members and learn from the experience”
    z. (Brad) “Frances Weller movie – ‘Men in grief’. It was decided that we will do a trial run using Brad’s suggestion.
    Synopsis of this movie is a 15 min video. Brad encouraged us to watch the entire movie (more in depth) which lasts at least one hour
    Board decision: Maine Bob to send link out on the Frances Weller movie that Brad spoke about. Each Board member will watch the short movie and then we will discuss our reactions at the next Board meeting as part of the trial.
    a. (Brad) “watch the video and then connect w/feelings rather than intellect”
    b. (Tomas) “Thrive Two movie by “Foster Gamble” (Thrive One came out in 2011) is out
  5. Discussed above – Men are encouraged to view these films
  6. Item (MCM role) tabled for this meeting
  7. Item (Rainey day fund) tabled for this meeting
  8. Item (spending money beyond the $3500 threshold) tabled for this meeting
  9. No other items brought forth
  10. Next Zoom Board Meeting: September 30th @ 630pm. The first part will be a trial run of an MCM event. Any time left will be devoted toward deciding what we will do and then continue with item 6 if there is time.

Minutes were accepted on Oct 21, 2020