I don't recall if I'd updated this publicly before, but we ended up
changing the location of the February board meeting. At Wikimania last
year, our preliminary plan was to have the meeting in New York, but for
logistical reasons it proved to be more practical to use the office in
San Francisco. There was some mild disappointment from our European
board members who thus have farther to travel, but since the April
meeting will be in Berlin (combined with the chapters meeting), they get
a break next time. We do hope to hold a future meeting in a suitable
midway point like New York eventually, as we cycle around different
locations, although the office will always be a useful fallback.
Coincidentally, there happens to be a San Francisco meetup using the
office Saturday afternoon, so I hope the board members will stop in to
say hello when our day's work is done. One of the reasons I'd like to
meet in New York sometime is for something similar, as there are quite a
few people who could make a New York meetup that I would be eager to
finally meet in person.
Anyway, our agenda for this weekend is pretty simple, aside from minor
housekeeping items. We're devoting one day to board development and one
day to strategic planning discussion. The first part means defining and
understanding our role as a board, both what it is and what it isn't,
which we've needed as the organization matures. The board is trying to
mature along with the organization, which means both integrating our
newer members and having the longer-serving ones adapt to the direction
we are going. This will be important as we get closer to our full
capacity (things are progressing, slowly but surely, on the remaining
vacancy, we expect to interview some candidates in the coming weeks).
The strategic planning portion of the agenda is not approval of a final
plan yet, but the process has advanced significantly enough to be
looking at priorities and considering some recommendations. The task
forces and the planning team have generated a lot of information that's
being synthesized here, and I appreciate all the effort people have put
in. My nose has basically been buried in this for the past week
preparing for our meeting, but it wouldn't be possible to move this
forward if it was just the board and staff, many other people have done
a lot of hard work too. Thank you, all of you.
--Michael Snow