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Quiet Meeting
Sep. 13th, 2018 07:37 pmAfter a fairly raucous, standing-room-only meeting last month, this month's meeting of the North Lyon County Fire Protection District was lightly attended and fairly quiet. But as usual, nobody but me seemed willing to sit in the front row.
Most people seem to want to huddle in the back. To that extent, it's like the WSFS Business Meeting. I read complaints this year from people complaining that they wanted to speak at WSFS who were never called upon. I'm reminded that when I presided in a large room back in 2015, I warned everyone who wanted to hide in the back (particularly behind the camera platform) or stand around the edges (even when there were chairs) that I was highly unlikely to call upon them and that only people sitting in the forward section of the hall were likely to be recognized. In San Jose, the stage lighting was such that if you didn't sit in the front portion of the room, the Chair couldn't see you and I'm pretty sure Tim Illingworth said so. Maybe people didn't catch that because Tim didn't say it forcefully enough, but he wasn't calling on "the usual suspects" only because they were "the usual suspects" — they were just the people he could see! Ironically, using a room larger than we actually needed (because Programming wasn't using it in the morning and it had the tech setup we needed) led to people being "procedurally invisible."
Most people seem to want to huddle in the back. To that extent, it's like the WSFS Business Meeting. I read complaints this year from people complaining that they wanted to speak at WSFS who were never called upon. I'm reminded that when I presided in a large room back in 2015, I warned everyone who wanted to hide in the back (particularly behind the camera platform) or stand around the edges (even when there were chairs) that I was highly unlikely to call upon them and that only people sitting in the forward section of the hall were likely to be recognized. In San Jose, the stage lighting was such that if you didn't sit in the front portion of the room, the Chair couldn't see you and I'm pretty sure Tim Illingworth said so. Maybe people didn't catch that because Tim didn't say it forcefully enough, but he wasn't calling on "the usual suspects" only because they were "the usual suspects" — they were just the people he could see! Ironically, using a room larger than we actually needed (because Programming wasn't using it in the morning and it had the tech setup we needed) led to people being "procedurally invisible."
