Author: mcmadmin

Zoom meeting. 630-830pm.
Directors present: MaineBob, Phil Elkin, David Hanc, John Bangeman, Carl Stoddard, Tomas Levesque, Joss Coggeshall

1. Check In
2. Treasurer’s Report – John
   Current Balance (Bangor Savings Bank account): $4,480.45. Last activity in the account was payment of $59.79 to David Hanc for to reimburse him for MCM expenses (December 31, 2021). Also discussed was the IRS request to file for non-profit status and the 990 Form for Maine Coast Men. John is looking into those two issues.
3. Review past minutes from 11/04/2021 MCM meeting. Minutes accepted.
4. Items other than the upcoming MCM retreat are tabled until the next meeting.
5. April 29-May 1 MCM weekend retreat brochure
   a. Needs to go out 6 weeks before weekend (March 18)
   b. Dave – will send message out to Ham Niles and Dan Kirchoff (program committee
   c. Who should we target? Members/new members? Tomas – contact information – mailing list
   d. New Men’s initiative – any incentives? Scholarships?
   John – “you can come free” MaineBob – pay a small amt or something
   i. Men 14-17 still attend for free
   ii. Saturday only attendance – will NOT advertise this in the brochure
   e. Time table – Brochure goes out on March 18
   John and Tomas – get together on registration form
   f. What goes in the brochure –
   i. Covid protocols – who will write this up?
   ii. People should be vaccinated before coming
   iii. People should be tested before weekend
   iv. Free test – non-profit
   v. Require men to have vaccinations and booster
   vi. Won’t ask for proof of vaccinations
   vii. Require a quick test – do at registration
   viii. Joss and John – write up a Covid protocol plan
   ix. Attendees bring masks ? Do they need to be N-95 masks or can they be cloth or surgical masks?
   x. Alternative sleeping arrangements – tents, cars
   xi. You can wear mask if you want to – not mandated
   xii. Where will masks be worn? Sauna? Voluntary?
   xiii. What do we do about sleeping arrangements? How many men per building? Distancing?
   xiv. Food – David to contact Brad
   xv. Registration Form – Tomas
   xvi. Sign-off statement? Should it be rewritten?
   xvii. Silent auction? – leave off the brochure or the weekend?
   xviii. Workshops: ad hoc let people develop workshops that they want to. Trust that they (workshops) will happen
   xix. Saturday only attendance will not be advertised
   xx. Electronic payment – Dan K – not ready – no electronic payment yet. “Venmo”? – Tomas has account people can pay him then he reimburses MCM
   xxi. Variety show – any issues? Let it go on as normal
   xxii. Tree nuts statement – needs to be in the brochure
   xxiii. Facebook – ?
   xxiv. Tomas – MCM registration address.  Address has been changed to reflect that Tomas is the registrar. Who is responsible to get brochure copied, stamps, envelopes? Tomas and MaineBob to scan the mailing list for men who have passed away.
   xxv. Stamp party or individuals
6. E-mail encouragement to members? Dates to be posted?
   Phone numbers in blurbs: radio, papers, etc.
   Ask Dan to put blurb in the Free Press; Radio station in Rockland; Ad in paper (local)
7. Mailing list: Men who have died – remove the names
8. At the weekend
   a. Weekend facilitator? MCM Member Board member back up (who)?
   Joss volunteered to be the Facilitator
   b. Sleeping quarters
   c. Name tags. Wood? Plastic? Get the big pink post-it sheets from Staples to supplement what we have on hand
   d. Opening and closing circles – check in/out
   Let the Program committee guide the check in for the circles
   e. Mentors – Tomas, the registrar, to assign a MCM Board member to each new man
   f. Carl has the “announcement/eating time” bell that Charles had
   g. Photography – MaineBob,  Back up David
   Confidentiality
   Updating short movies
   h. Medical Presentation? Heimlich manuever? Defibrillator?
   Joss or Dan to present
   i. List of people who signed up for weekend retreat jobs
   David has list – send out to ? David to compile list of who volunteered for each task
   j. General Business meeting on Sunday
   Don’t let it degenerate into arguments. Tomas has the MCM quilts
9. Other: Miniseries: February 17^th – Thursday – MaineBob to host
10. Next meeting
    Brochure needs to be out by March 18^th
    Next Board meeting to be on March 10^th – Thursday – 630-830 (zoom).

1. Check in
2. Treasurer’s Report
3. Results of survey attached Discussion followed: Synopsis of discussion was that no in-person meeting will be held until Covid is not a threat.
4. MCM will be notified of the decision not to hold any in person event
5. Mini Series will be on November 18 6:30-8:30
6. Board will consider developing a newsletter
   Next meeting Oct 11, 2020

Poll Results:

POLL MCM: In-Person/Zoom September 10-13, 2021 [Mainebob] =====

From: Thomas Jamrog <thomasjamrog@me.com>
I am not sure about the “will” for the 2 hour Zoom but I won’t attend a live event as so see the landscape today. I am not able or willing to sit and Zoom for two whole hours.
— Tom Jamrog

From: Rick Alexander <mainelyra@gmail.com>
Hi Bob,
Thanks for continuing to keep MCM relevant. Ohhhh, how we need MCM now.
I will conditionally come to a face-to-face event. However, we don’t know what the state of the pandemic will be by then. It’s almost as rapidly changing as it was at the beginning of the pandemic.
The conditions are everybody is vaccinated and everybody is masked indoors. As a geezer, I am more vulnerable to getting infected. I also do not want to be a carrier of a breakthrough strain and make someone else sick. Barring a significant change, I want those who say they are vaccinated bring verifiable proof. I have found that is actually pretty easy for many just by taking a shared `picture of their vacc. card on their cellphone.
The penalty for getting COVID-19 is still death for too many people. I’m not willing to knowingly spend a weekend with the MCM guys, just hoping I’ll be OK. I want to know.
— Rick Alexander

From: Hmmmbus <hmmmbus@aol.com>
I doubt very much I will be attending any in person event… Thanks Bob

From: Christopher Hirsch <cahirsch@gmail.com> In person

From: Tom Beal <tombeal@gmail.com> In-Person

From: B A Wellman <bawellman56@dankirchoff
We both ( B A & Gregory Wellman) would attend an in person meet. I have an antique computer with no camera or microphone so Zoom won’t work for us.
Thanks for all the hard work you do to keep this group going.
— Love from B Ath

From: Frank Lehman <f.lehmanea@dankirchoff
Bob, I sure would like to come in person – and depending on Covid – most probably will if…
Is there gonna be a vaccine mandate? Or Masks??
I’m slowly healing from my last dance with Cancer. This one knocked the shit outta me. But I’m alive – and kickin”
— Frankie

From: Tom Levesque <freetomme@yahoo.com> Both
Tomas

POLL MCM: In-Person/Zoom September 10-13, 2021

From: Will <mainesail113@yahoo.com> Hi Bob-
Sad to learn about the cancellation. As in my note to you the other day, I am not willing to attend unless all men are vaccinated-indoors or out. I saw no reference to vaccination-so I’m thinking that full vaccination is not being called for. I’d appreciate clarification.
— Best, Will Walton

From: Brad Purdy <bradfordpurdy@gmail.com> In person

From: Ham Niles <hamniles@gmail.com>
In person event for me please hold the virus

From: BILL TILDEN <billtilden22@hotmail.com> Hi Bob,
I’d vote for the in person 6 hr event.
— Bill

From: Peter McGlamery <pfmcglamery@mac.com>
I’m playing it safe and staying away from things right now. I’ve begun masking up in public again. Anyway, I’m down in Manhattan from the fourth of October, on to help my wife get her second corneal transplant.
Hopefully we’ll be able to gather in the springtime, so it’ll have to be a, “neither” from me.
Good luck with it. Stay safe.
— Peter McGlamery

From: Sandy Phoenix, Phil Elkin <kaselehl@dankirchoff
Zoom,
— Phil Elkin

From: John McIntire <circleleft@uninets.net>
Depending on the date, I would attend a day gathering, NOT zoom.
— John McIntire

From: Holbrook Williams <holbrookwilliams@dankirchoff
Monthly ZOOM meetings. YES ! NO to one day in-person event.
— Signed, Holbrook Willams

From: ivan stancioff <ivan.stancioff@dankirchoff
I am all for a 6 hour meeting with food by Brad the Best Baker By Far.
— Ivan

POLL MCM: In-Person/Zoom September 10-13, 2021

Zoom Meeting: 630-830pm
Directors present: MaineBob, David Hanc, John Bangeman, Joss Coggeshall.
Check In

1. Treasurer’s Report – John
   Current Balance is $4,540.24
2. MaineBob sent out Survey on the upcoming October retreat – received 3 responses back from the MCM community
3. BOD responses to the survey: “Would you attend a one-day retreat? Would you attend a three-day retreat?”
   MaineBob – would attend a one-day event (in person)
   David (in person) – will not attend a one-day event
   Joss –
   John (in person) – will not attend a one-day event
4. Food – Brad would be lead person
   Board Decision: NOT in favor of hosting a three-day event
5. 1-Day Event
   a. Timeline
   b. In person or Zoom
   c. Send out Survey via Mail Chimp
   d. “Do we meet for up to 6 hrs?” (In person)
   Bathroom Facilities, Parking, Food, How many – issues to consider for in-person event
   e. “Do we have a 2-hr Zoom meeting?”
   f. Alternative sites: Lake Saint George $150 rental fee; Damariscotta Lake; Tanglewood is free
   g. MaineBob to send out Mail Chimp tomorrow – data back by Monday
   h. Decide by Monday what we will do
   i. Program @ In-person event? Or get together and have Check-In
   j. Brainstorming
   i. Simple Registration form
   Emergency contacts
   Food allergies
   ii. If we have an In-person event?
   Ham: Do we have a program?
   Smudging
   Theme of Day
   Who is Facilitator of the day?
6. New MCM Board members to continue the organization
   a. Robert Davis – unable to attend
   b. George – who knows what he is doing?
   c. Tomas –
7. Next Meeting
   Today is 9/9/21. Next meeting is 9/16/21 @630pm.
   What will it look like? Ham, Dan, Brad, Patti, David will be present
8. Suggestion: MCM and Mainely Men – get together this winter

Zoom meeting: 630-830pm
Directors present: MaineBob, David Hanc, John Bangeman
Check In – will do it during the miniseries

1. Review of Minutes – tabled until the next meeting
2. Treasurer’s Report (John B)
   Current Balance is $4,831.24
   Latest expenditure is the $300 MOFGA ad
3. Duplicate bank statement to Josh (“copy to Josh, George”)?
4. Next agenda: Unclaimed money John B to find out and report back at the next meeting
5. Miniseries for August and September
   a. Difficult to organize miniseries
   b. Focus on upcoming October retreat
   c. We’re going to be busy putting on the weekend – open the Board meetings to everyone
   d. Letter should be sent out: “Miniseries was a success thru the Covid pandemic to help people connect”
6. August Events: Gatherings
   BA’s Poems
   August 1^st
   August 14^th
   Tonight is the last miniseries
   MaineBob: please put out letter with gatherings for Ian Collins, Charles Guilford, and Tom Hopps
7. October Retreat
   Registration Form (Tomas) (pdf) Send to David

In Attendance on Zoom: George, John B, Maine Bob, Charles, David, Joss

1. Check In
2. Treasurer’s Report – John
   a. Joss received bank statements and checks from Bangor Savings Bank – nothing came to John B
   b. John B to check w/Tomas to see if he has the MCM checkbook or if Ian still had it when he passed
   c. Letter and $100 check from non-profit – “The Blackbaud Giving Fund by its agent, Your Cause”. Check is made out to Maine Coast Men, Inc. Check is dated 1/21/2021 and is good for 90 days. John will investigate to see if it is legitimate.
   d. Current MCM balance: $5246.24
3. Board Minutes from 1/14/2021 were approved and accepted by the Board
4. Mini Series
   a. Jan 22^nd session on Grief. Congrats and kudos to Charles for stepping up and narrating the Jan 22^nd session. Charles is involved with a hospice/grief series in his area. The other grief/hospice workers were surprised to hear that there are men’s groups doing grief work – good for MCM – men’s work is unusual and special
   b. George is hosting w/Maine Bob the upcoming session on “Non-violent communication”. The date is Feb 25 7-9pm. George and Maine Bob to send out a notice via Mail Chimp. Hoping for 15-25 men to show up for Zoom
   c. Future Sessions:
   i. March 26, Breaking Bread (No facilitator)
   ii. Maine Bob volunteered to host the April 22 session; Some incites gained from “Council of Circles”
   iii. David will contact C T Nguyen to see if he is still interested
   iv. At past presentations we asked men to consider facilitating…no takers at this point
   d. Possible topic: “How are you doing with the Covid pandemic?” Media fears and anxieties; co-morbidities. “Endless lists of things you might do” – Charles
   i. Tomas, Tom J, Phil E, Holbrook – four men to ask if they’re interested in creating/presenting an evening
5. Council of Circles (update by George)
   a. Discussed information the Mail Chimp gathers when we send out emails
   b. We will offer to men of MCM another Council of Circles workshops  in late April/May
   c. WE need to figure out how to get the word out to MCM
   d. George and Maine Bob will attend next  – “A Council For our Times”
   e. Need to review and Clean-up of Mail Chimp
   f. “Can we use this list (Mail Chimp) to reach out and recruit more men?” – People we know who did not open the link -David
   g. Charles – “Could George put out some advertising about what “Non-violent communication” is about? Maybe u-tube video to watch first before session? George will look into this.
6. May Retreat at Tanglewood
   Maine Bob – It would be difficult to be ready
   Charles – Have to have policy; Possible Zoom link for anti-vaccine people
   John – Tanglewood doesn’t know what the rules and restrictions will be in May; We won’t be ready to do the Spring retreat as normally was
   Board consensus at this point – Three day program probably not happening, will make final decision at next board meeting.
   At the next Board meeting – Discuss what our options will be if we do not meet.
7. Website: Dan needs opening statement for the MCM website
   MCM Mission Statement – send this to Dan – go with the mission statement for now. David to speak w/Dan: “use MCM mission statement”
8. Other: A rare sports discussion
9. David away from March 12^th until April 11^th
   Next Board Meeting: Wednesday, March 10^th 6:30-8:30 Zoom meeting

Minutes accepted: March 18, 2021

In Attendance on Zoom: Joss, Charles, David, George, Dan, Maine Bob, Guest: Dan Kirchoff
Minutes Submitted by: David

1. Check In. (Dec 9 Board Meeting was cancelled)
2.  Treasurer’s Report (John B was unable to make the meeting so a new report was available.)
3. Board Minutes from 11/11/20 were approved and accepted by the board.
4. Dan Kirchoff – Dan shared the changes that are being made to the current website to make it   easier to use.
   a. Dan and George will explore ways for the members in the future to “Register and Pay” on line. This option will be tested by the board before posting it on our website. It was decided that with current technology this makes sense for us to have this option. We will use what we learned from the last time we tried this to be sure that it is simple and that the registrar has the information he needs.
   b. Dan was asked to put a “Contact Us” tab for men to be able to be able reach us. The people on the board  can be named on the webpage but their contact information will not be posted due to security concerns.
   c. The opening statement on the draft website was put in by Dan as a suggestion. We all agree that it is important to think about the message we want to send in the opening paragraph. Our Mission Statement could be enough. The board will think about this and be prepared to discuss at the next board meeting. Feel free to write up a statement that to be discussed and possibly used on the website for this next board meeting.
5. Council of Circles – Thanks go out to George for working on ways to advertise and get the information to the MCM Community to sign up for these workshops. There is a cost and scholarships are being offered.
   a. We need a minimum of 6 people to have the course happen.
6. Mini Series:
   a. Charles will facilitate the next session on Grief, Jan 22, 2021 from 7-9PM
   b. The next session is on February 25, 2021. George offered to facilitate this session on Non-Violent Communication.
   c. Future mini-series sessions will be March 26 and April 22, 2021. The Board feels that series is important to help men from MCM stay connected. The series averages between 15-20 men and the feedback has been very supportive. Facilitators will be needed for sessions in the future. A possible suggestion for a session is “How are you doing living with the Covid Virus”
7. Tanglewood: David spoke with Patti our contact with Tanglewood and we are still on the books for the May and October Retreats. Tanglewood is not currently open for weekend gathering but may be by May depending on what the status is on the virus. Tanglewood will decide what they will require and develop procedure to help men stay safe.
   a. MCM board discussed our obligation to our members and expressed that we will wait and see what the state guidelines and recommendations are for meeting. The decision to have the May weekend Retreat will need to be made by March 25, 2021 to give the board tome to prepare for the retreat. This discussion will continue at the next board meeting. Our top priority is safety.
8. Next Board meeting will be Feb 17,2021 at 6:30-8:30 Via Zoom

Minutes accepted Feb 17, 2021

Zoom Meeting. (Zoom Master) Maine Bob
Present: David Hanc, John Bangeman, Maine Bob O’Connor, Tomas Levesque, George Aguiar, Joss Coggeshall

1. Check-In
2. Update from Brad. Brad is resigning from the MCM Board due to personal issues.  Thanks go out to him for his many years of being on the board
3. Treasurer’s Report. Nothing new to report at this time.
4. Review MCM Board minutes from 10/21/2020. Minutes Approved.
5. Mini-Series Update and discussion
   Tomas: “no registration needed; first come, first serve”. This is in response to an earlier suggestion to have men register for each mini-series presentation.
   MaineBob: “go ahead w/series schedule we have put together – timing is good”. We will do labels. Mail Chimp information can go out. 150 postcards made. Bob will print 130 labels and print 2 return address labels. David to talk w/MaineBob about post cards. We will use Tomas’ address as the return address on the postcards.
   a. Description of “QuaranTeaming”
   i. How do I (we) find people to bring into the “pod”?
   b. MCM website discussion – Invite Dan K to share the new website. Be sure to provide him feedback.
6. What still needs to be figured out for the Dec. 17 Mini Series faciloitated by George on Quran Teaming.
   a. Need Mail Chimp message – encourage men to go to MCM website
   b. Write-up for the website. MaineBob will format the Mail Chimp and put  a Zoom link on the Mail Chimp. If the man isn’t on the MCM mailing list, have them send an email to Tomas and he will send the person a link.
   c. Directions or assistance on how to use the Zoom link. The person can contact MaineBob if having problems getting Zoom connection. David will pull the postcard together, then send it to MaineBob to check for technical issues.
   d. Board decided that no registration is needed.
   e. Registering for all workshops?  The issue made moot by “d.”.
7. George offered to the Board two new workshop suggestions: Non-Violent Communication and Council of Circles. Possible date for the Non-violent Communication workshop would be Feb. 25^th, 2021 date.
   a. “How to prevent a Coup”. George: Robert Jensen book; Marshall Rosenberg-Non-violent Communication; Joanna Macy – modernize Non-violent work; George Lake? – Quaker.
   b. Council of Circles
   i. Attendees 6-8 MCM members. $80/person.
   Question on who would pay for attending. MCM? The person? No final decision made for non members of MCM
   ii. Theme: “People aren’t good and bad – People do good and bad things”.
   iii. “Spontaneous Communication”: offer this to MCM community. Put the information out on the MCM website, on Mail Chimp.
8. Other: David and MaineBob to discuss postcard tomorrow. George to contact the Council of Circles and let them know MCM is interested. MaineBob – didn’t get a corporate account for MCM set up yet – continue going ahead with that action.
9. Next meeting: December 9^th, 2020 at 630pm (Zoom meeting).

Minutes accepted Jan 14, 2021

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

1. Check In
2. Treasurer’s Report – Creating a bookkeeping ledger is a work in progress (John)
3. Review minutes from September 24, 2020 and October 8, 2020 MCM Board Meeting – Minutes were approved.
4. Discuss MCM future events
   It was decided that we would present a mini-series on topics that men may be interested in. We will start with 4 sessions.
   a. Format for a 2-hour event
   Check in, Presentation, Discussion, possible check out
   Facilitator will run the session
   Host will control the Zoom technical end
   Maine Bob could also create “co-host”
   b. MCM will buy its own Corporate Zoom account. Cost – $120/year.
   Maine Bob will set up account and email address to be used. The decision to establish an MCM Zoom account was voted on and approved.
   c. Etiquette during Zoom event will be in introduction of event. Time is limited so check in should be about how you are doing, Other members will not be able to ask questions or turn this into a discussion time but could use the “chat” to privately check in with a man during this session.
   d. The facilitator will determine how to run the check in for his session. We could just go in rotation, men could raise their hand to speak, facilitator can call on next man with hand raised.
   e. Limit number of people who can participate is 20 people
   f. Possible Topics
5. TOPICS
   a. Frances Weller – Grief
   “Pick a topic that we’re excited about leading”
   b. “Quaran team” (pod idea)
   c. Building Men’s Zoom Group – David to expand this more
   d. Live Presentations: Tom J, Chuck N
   20 minute presentations
   David to talk to Tom and Chuck
   e. A 2-hour time to just talk about a subject
   f. What nights:
   1^st Session: Friday, Nov. 20^th 7-9 pm. George A volunteers to be moderator for “Quaran Teams”
   2^nd Session: Thursday, Dec. 17^th 7-9 pm. Check-In: Open Topic. Facilitated by David Hanc
   3^rd Session: Friday, Jan 22^nd 7-9 pm Tom Jamrog to moderate Frances Weller – Grief
   4^th Session: Thursday, Feb 25^th 7-9 pm Check – In event
   5^th Session: March date not chosen yet
   g. George to put together a write-up of what’s going to take place in the Nov. 20^th Zoom session;
   Maine Bob to email Zoom link
   i. Moderator/Facilitator – needs Training? Do we have a trained moderator do this? Host does the technology piece of the event
6. Advertising. It was decided that we will invite MCM members and their friends only at this time. These session will not be advertised via the paper or radio until we have a handle on how these will go.
   Focus on MCM Community and friends;
   Information will be sent out via mail chimp and postcard.
   “What we’re doing; First four sessions; Watch for email about the events; Check your email; Mark your calendars!; stick this postcard on your refrigerator to remember the dates!”
   David Hanc and John Bangeman to produce the postcard and get it sent out. Maine Bob  to send labels to David
7. Next meeting:
   David to contact Dan Kirchoff and Tom Beal to let them know what we’re planning and thinking. Next MCM Board “Zoom” meeting on Wed, Nov. 11^th Check – In at 630pm.

Minutes Accepted Nov 11, 2020

In Attendance: Charles, David, Ian, John B., Maine Bob, George, Brad, Tomas, Joss and guest Tom Jamrog
Minutes Submitted by: David

This meeting was set to try out a format of a Zoom event that we can offer to the general membership of MCM.

Charles was the facilitator and the topic was “Francis Weller on Grief 2018”.  Men were asked to watch the 15 min film and if they wanted to to do a follow up with one of the hour presentations.

It looks like we accomplished what we set out to do. We tried out the format and it seems to work fine… maybe some tweaks along the way.

We will proceed with a 2 hour event
Check In
Discussion
Possible check out

-Need to decide the rules of check in
-Pick a theme or central starting point
-(WE could have men check in with the theme in mind)
-Live presentation or film. (viewed before or during the 2 hour segment)
-Need a facilitator to keep things moving 
-Should we do one session and then present a series or do we just set up a series?
-MCM may just want to introduce a “check in” hour or two – maybe where men can talk about what is happening in their lives and members can ask questions

Think of possible themes, things to tweak, all suggestions are always welcomed.
Nothing is set in stone.

Minutes accepted Oct 21, 2021

Next Meeting will be October 21, 2020. 6:30-8:30 Use same Zoom address that we had for the past two meetings

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
   1^st one – check in only
   2^nd one – live presentation
   3^rd 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 30^th @ 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