Greeter Committee

Greeters

Having Greeters at the door to welcome people has worked very well at hackerspaces around the world.

The purpose of the Greeter Committee is to create a system and processes that welcome everyone to Noisebridge who would like to see how Noisebridge can benefit them and how they can contribute to Noisebridge, thus attracting people who belong at Noisebridge.

In addition, the purpose is to keep out people who do not belong at Noisebridge.

Meeting notes: Tuesday, 12-Aug-2014

Greeters & Noisebridge Open Hours

It's up to Greeters to welcome people to Noisebridge,
give tours of Noisebridge for new people (including showing them what Noisebridge is about, and what it is not about, including activities and conduct). Greeters also keep people out who don't belong at Noisebridge. This filters unpleasant noise at the earliest stage.

• Greeters are also the point person for people at Noisebridge to go to when there is a problem in the space

Noisebridge will have hours when we are open to the public
and hours when Noisebridge is only open to Members in good standing and their guests.

• A possible start for Open Hours: 8am to 11pm (if we can have enough Greeters to commit to shifts during these hours)
• Noisebridge is only open to the public when there is at least one Greeter at the door
• When Noisebridge is not open to the public, only Members in good standing and their guests are allowed in Noisebridge
• Before the last Greeter of the night leaves, they go around and ensure that only Members in good standing and their guests remain in the space

How do we decide who belongs at Noisebridge and who doesn't?

• Need to be contributing to and benefitting from Noisebridge
• Zero tolerance for intolerant people
• Must be willing to change behavior when people in the Noisebridge community see their behavior as unexcellent
• Greeters will need to use their judgment
• (this topic needs more discussion)
• If someone rings the bell when Noisebridge is not open to the public, then any Member in good standing can (if they want to -- but there is no obligation for anyone to do so) let them in as their guest, but only if the Member is willing to take personal responsibility for that person for as long as the person is in the space (and the Member must ask the person to leave if the Member leaves the space -- or find another Member to take personal responsibility for the person as their guest)

Who is the ideal Noisebridge person? There are many ways that people can be excellent at Noisebridge.

• Attends a class
• Teaches a class that people like
• Works on cool projects
• Idea: create some cartoon avatars of several examples of ideal Noisebridge community people (as a fun way to give examples to people on what is excellent)

We need Greeters who are:

• Respected by the community
• Not liable to power-trip
• Able to read people
• Able to be assertive when necessary
• Willing to take responsibility when they mess up

We need a formalized process for vetting new Greeters:

• Nomination of people for the role
• Background check
• Training process (including roll-playing sessions)

We need a way to identify Members in good standing -- perhaps:

• Treasurer gives Greeters updated list of Members in good standing each week (check against photo ID if the Greeter is unsure)
• RFID cards for Members
• NFC on phone can check RFID cards
• Multiple methods would be ideal

Where do we go from here?

• We'll have some set open hours: 8-11 is a good target to start with
• It would be ideal to have two Greeters here at a time, each with 4-hour, overlapping shifts (this would also be a good way to vet new greeters, if a new Greeter is always overlapping with an experienced Greeter)
• If there is at least one Greeter at the door (preferably 2 Greeters), we can keep Noisebridge open to the public.
• When Noisebridge is not open to the public, a Member needs to step up to take the visitor under their wing as their guest, and be personally responsible for them for as long as they are in the space (and the Member must be present at the space while their guest is in the space).

TODO:

• List of people who are banned (preferably with pictures)
• Wiki page describing the responsibilities of the greeters
• Card with an outline of what Noisebridge is about (and not about)
• A few fictitious "profiles" to illustrate the ideal noisebridge-er(?)