Committee Meeting Management

Owned by Jacqueline Cardoso
Last updated: Nov 10, 2020 by Christina Harter
5 min read

Overview

Each committee defines what the specifics of their committee management will look like based on a consensus among the committee Chairperson/Lead and the committee members; along with any applicable charter (such as the LF AI & Data Charter or a Technical Project Charter) requirements. Below is an overview of the components that are required per open source project best practices and typical charter guidance. Also included are examples and other tips for reference. For any questions, please reach email info@lfaidata.foundation.

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Documentation

  • Committees commonly have either a wiki space, a GitHub repo, or both, for documentation purposes - In some cases for committees where participation is reserved for eligible members, a wiki files section in the mail list via Groups.io would be used - Meeting management details are included within these spaces
  • The meeting management details should include the details of how to participate in meeting, the process for setting meeting agendas/minutes, past meeting content, and any other applicable information
  • If you are not sure where your committee is currently documenting their work please reach out to the committee Chairperson/Lead, otherwise please reach out to LF AI & Data for additional help to find out
  • Example Collaboration Spaces:

Mail Lists

  • LF AI committees primarily utilize their designated mail lists for communications
  • You can subscribe to the various mail lists of your interest via LF AI & Data Groups.io

Project Meeting Calendars

  • All committees should document how to participate in committee meetings - Documentation should live in their committee wiki space, GitHub repo, or other collaboration space as applicable
  • For committee management of group calendars, the committee Chairperson/Lead will be set as a moderator to be able to manage a group calendar for the committee if one is utilized
  • Please visit the LF AI & Data Foundation - Community Meetings and Calendars page for an overview which includes information on meeting management, eligibility requirements for authorized meeting hosts, instructions, FAQ, etc. 
  • If you are not sure where your committee is currently managing their calendar please reach out to the committee Chairperson/Lead, otherwise please reach out to LF AI & Data for additional help to find out
  • Example Group Calendars: TAC - Community Meetings & Calendar, Acumos TSC Group Calendar, ONNX - Community Meetings & Calendar

Meeting Coordination

  • Typically the meeting coordination is led by the committee Chair/Lead and a Meeting Coordinator from the committee but each committee will determine the process that works best for them based on committee consensus - Below is an example coordination plan for meeting management for a committee that meets monthly. 
    • Example meeting management documentation: Acumos TSC
    • General Example Meeting Process
      • Meeting Prep
        • Bi-weekly meetings or email syncs to include Chair and other committee member with the role of Meeting Coordinator - Update any agenda tracking spaces for upcoming meetings
          • Discuss upcoming agenda, presenter(s) confirmation, presenter(s) content, deck/slides or other form of content sharing, and any other applicable items
        • Chair/Coordinator should share agenda for next meeting with the committee in advance of the meeting based on the process decided by the committee
          • Sending meeting agenda and meeting details via the committee mail list works well across most committees
        • Chair/Coordinator to follow up on meeting next steps as agreed upon during sync meeting
        • Chair/Coordinator to own pipeline of presentations, update agenda tracking as applicable, with feedback from other committee members 
        • Chair/Coordinator will respond to any approved guest presenters with confirmation meeting slot reserved, including deadlines for content submissions
          • Deadline for presenters to send final content is usually 2-3 days prior to meeting if reviewing and/or sending in advance of the meeting 
        • Chair/Coordinator will send direct meeting invite to confirmed presenters, or request they subscribe to group calendar as applicable
        • Chair/Coordinator to provide feedback/questions to presenter on their submitted content, with goal to provide as soon as possible to meet target deadlines for getting decks sent to mail lists in advance of the meeting
        • Chair/Coordinator will gather meeting content, add to draft deck/slides or other agenda/content location, or other agreed upon content consolidation method
        • Chair/Coordinator will send final agenda and meeting content to applicable committee mail lists upon finalizing deck content
          • Best practice is to send upcoming agenda and/or content 2-3 days prior to the meeting to provide time for committee members to review in advance of the meeting
        • Chair/Coordinator will update/cancel any meetings in Groups.io (which feeds to Confluence/Wiki group calendar), if a group calendar is used, for any meeting that needs to be updated/ cancelled 
    • During the Meeting
      • Chair will host the meeting and lead the community through the meeting agenda/content with help from the Meeting Coordinator if applicable
      • Chair/Coordinator should be Zoom host (LF AI & Data will provide credentials to Zoom account when needed and as applicable) for the committee meeting 
      • Chair/Coordinator will start and stop the recording and will be required to login into Zoom if the committee is designated for recordings
      • Chair/Coordinator should monitor Zoom chat for questions
      • Chair/Coordinator will take minutes and document in either their wiki, GitHub repo, or in cases where participation is tied to membership eligibility a Word doc and PDF will be used
    • After the Meeting
      • Chair/Coordinator will post final meeting deck/slides or other agenda content, minutes, and recording (if the committee is designated for recordings) to their applicable collaboration space
      • Chair/Coordinator will the committee mail list with a notice that meeting content is available on their collaboration space and include a text copy of the minutes at the bottom of the email
        • The text copy ensures original minutes are immutable to which updates can be made later if needed by request to the Chair/Meeting Coordinator

How to Run a Vote

  • When a vote is required, quorum check should be validated, and if quorum is reached the vote can proceed. Votes can usually be taken during a meeting or via email, please refer to the committee charter for verification. 
  • The following are verbiage guidelines on running a vote:

  • Read the text of the resolution (almost always included in the slides in advance), or describe it

  • Ask, “Would somebody like to make a motion?”

    1. A voting member answers “I’ll make the motion,” or "First motion" and they state their name

    2. The name is recorded in the minutes

  • Ask, “Would somebody like to second the motion?”

    1. A different voting member answers “I’ll second the motion,” or "Second motion" and they state their name

    2. The name is recorded in the minutes

  • Say, “All in favor, say ‘Aye’”

    1. Give time for everyone to come off mute and respond.

    2. Responses recorded in the minutes

  • Say, “Any opposed?”

    1. Give time for them to respond - Responses recorded in the minutes

  • Say, “Any abstains?”

    1. Give time for them to respond - Responses recorded in the minutes

  • If there were enough “Ayes,” say “The motion carries,” or "The motion is approved" - If there were not enough votes in favor then the motion is not approved
    1. Results recorded in the minutes