How are we going to do the initial outreach to all the new spaces?

The current plan is:

  1. Invite all the spaces to send two people to Discourse/Telegram(?)
  2. Have an election
  3. Profit

However we’ve not talked about how we’re actually going to pull off option (1). I suggested we email all the space trustees with a “hello we’re the foundation here’s what you need to do” email and we’ve been collecting space email addresses to that effect, but I’m not sure suddenly emailing them all is a great idea.

Proposal: Every two days we pick a space at random and contact them via email (if possible), explaining what we are, what we’re for, and how they can be involved. We personally talk to them until they either get on board or run away.

This would mean we’d get all the UK spaces on-board by new year without showing favouritism, and without dropping a confused-new-people bomb on the organisation. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s fair to have an election until they’re all in, so it would delay the election until the new year.

I’m not really sure about this, but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to just spam everyone simultaneously as it’ll be a hell of a lot of work for us. Thoughts?

[quote=“jonty, post:1, topic:35, full:true”]
Invite all the spaces to send two people to Discourse/Telegram(?)[/quote]

If we invite people to Discourse in the first instance, it should help the conversation be open, manageable, searchable and tracked.

I’d like to build on the above and propose:

  1. Finalise basic legalise and incorporate (with 2 “bootstrap” directors)
  2. Email to all spaces to:
    a. Outline what we’re up to, draft goals of the Foundation, etc inc. plan to incorporate/elect ASAP
    b. Invite to complete the Wave 1 survey (see drive: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vnsFEFNxrakR-A1Yn_5gX4YmZFCdzLi5yJclli51zVE/edit?usp=sharing)
    c. Invite to propose two people/contacts to add to the discussion
  3. Bring nominated people (from 1.c) into Discourse every couple of days (as fast as we can cope with)
  4. Have an election to replace bootstrap directors (although they may stand for re-election)
  5. Everything else

Step 0: supporting infrastructure to handle mass email comms:

  • Helpmonks setup and working, with a suitable reply address (e.g. contact@hackspace.org.uk)
  • Would be good to use a mail campaign tool to distribute the approach email and track opens, options I’ve used:
    • MailChimp
    • Send In Blue

Amunizp (via telegram) said: Phplist is recommened by fsfe.

1 Like

Also UK based company an free software.

Ref the above:

  1. HelpMonks was setup before xmas to aid with handling incoming mail
  2. Articles have been finalised (at least for v1) and @russ has filed for incorporation
  3. I’ve started drafting (along with @stanto’s help) a launch email and associated survey - additional comments/thoughts very welcome

The main call to action in the email is to complete the survey which includes nominating a spokesperson/representative to enter this forum. That should pave the way for step 3 - bring nominated people into the forum.

However, given we are incorporating, it seems we should be accepting membership applications before moving onto an election. Any other points of view?

If not, we’ll need our bootstrap directors (@russ and @jonty) to establish a member register and get ready to start handling membership requests! Which also means we need to clarify if an initial payment is required and/or if the definition of hackspace (for the sake of membership) is sufficiently developed.

[quote=“axford, post:7, topic:35”]
However, given we are incorporating, it seems we should be accepting membership applications before moving onto an election. Any other points of view?[/quote]

I think it’s more preferable to wait until we have a mostly-steady membership before running the first election.

However, I’m keen to get membership going as soon as possible, and it might take a while for the bank account to be set up. Might be worth saying that the first year’s membership is free (for individuals) until we get that all sorted.

Personally I’m in no rush for an election - would also rather get the membership fairly stable first. Especially as a lot of work has already gone into drafting the membership requirements, rules, etc. Think it’d be more useful to take an extra few weeks and get it right first time.

At a guess, it’ll take at least 6wks from now to issue the comms/survey and deal with the influx of people into discourse… which should/might be enough time to get the bank account setup? On that basis we’d be ready to start accepting membership applications for 1st March.

Which would also give us 6wks to hammer out remaining details on membership, the fee(s), etc

PS - although we could accelerate signing up individual memberships, there doesn’t seem to be a great benefit to doing so.

Have started writing the actual email wording and drafting the survey (using google forms). Thoughts/feedback welcome.

Gathered some feedback last week via telegram - email now sent via Helpmonks. Apologies for not pre-warning of that here in discourse.

seems sensible to post the same comms back to this forum (perhaps as a sticky thread), but does anyone (@jonty?) want to tweak the wording before doing so? will leave that thought hanging until tomorrow…

Sorry, not sure what you’re asking for me to tweak @axford? Happy to do whatever when pointed in the right direction.

this:
https://docs.google.com/a/axford.me.uk/document/d/1MXoCGTBf8lhW39elJCFxD7IxuraChXU0qggEO7iPFeI/edit?usp=sharing

just wondered if you wanted to make any changes to it before posting on the forum?

didn’t see any changes, so have posted to a new thread here: Rebooting the Hackspace Foundation