Dem Clubs in the Time of Coronavirus
How we can meet, vote, hold elections, and organize - while social distancing
In this most difficult of times, our thoughts go out to the members of our community who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are battling this coronavirus: Kelvin Barrios, Jehoan Espinoza, Steve Padilla and our Chair, William Rodriguez-Kennedy.
We also keep in mind the front-line professionals who are caring for our friends and yet are having to appeal for donations of basic protective equipment!
How we got to this situation is regrettable, but as Democrats we’re called upon to lead and develop evidence-based solutions to the problems at hand.
This moment underscores the importance of Democratic Clubs based in and of our communities. We’re looking out for each other, identifying areas where we can contribute and organizing to help the most vulnerable among us.
This past weekend would have been the CADEM E-Board meeting in Visalia. Instead, the Party organized a teleconference call. At the start of it, CDP Chair Rusty Hicks, confirmed that remotely held meetings are permissible for Democratic Clubs and County Central Committees.
Robert’s Rules of Order (11th edition, 2011) has no prohibition on running meetings remotely. There are restrictions if you want to vote by e-mail - unless your club bylaws specifically allow for that (e.g. the SDCDP Bylaws permit email voting for the E-Board only). [Thanks to clubmember Mike Thaller for reviewing the ins and outs.]
Remote meetings can be held over a phone conference call, but the use of video conferencing software provides better engagement and participation.
There are (at least) five popular audio/video software tools that Democratic clubs are using for holding remote meetings:
Zoom - Easy to use, reliable, many useful features
Google Hangouts Meet - Google is offering free premium services through July 1
Skype or Microsoft Teams - Included as part of MS Office 365 subscription
FreeConferenceCall.com - Least expensive, lacks some features
They all have pros and cons. The platform your club chooses may be dictated by your clubmembers, or your Chief Techie Officer.
If you don’t have a technical member of your club and you need help in choosing and configuring a platform, please reach out to clubs@sddemocrats.org for help.
If you’re looking for a recommendation most folks seem to prefer Zoom for ease of use, stability (even with lots of participants) and features (raise a hand, vote Yes/No).
If you’re new to using video conferencing software, we recommend you start by first hosting your E-Board meeting, or an informal coffee (or happy hour) meeting - something less formal than your regular monthly meeting. That way you can try out the features, and get your club officers up to speed on the technology, before you try it out on all of your clubmembers.
In addition to hosting remote meetings, clubs can also share agendas and meeting minutes using an online service such as Google Docs. Documents become interactive and can be commented on by clubmembers or directly edited, depending on permissions.
Some of the most popular online document tools are Google Docs, MS Office 365, Dropbox and iCloud. There are other great sharing tools from Notion, Coda and Airtable.
If you need help configuring and learning, reach out to clubs@sddemocrats.org and we’ll hook you up with other clubmembers who can help.
If you are a techie volunteer to help your clubmembers learn these tools
All of these tools require a learning curve. If you feel you can help others come up to speed, please sign up with this form indicating your areas of expertise. We’ll hook you up with clubs who are looking to expand their skills and knowledge.
Many of the companies provide online tutorials and instructions. Indivisible has shared an especially useful online document Resources for Organizing & Activism During Coronavirus, that includes sections on Organizing while Social Distancing and Video Conferencing Resources.
The next Council of Clubs is on April 18, 10AM. We will hold it virtually on Zoom, dedicated to training on how to host an online meeting. In order to get the most out of the meeting, it would be of maximum benefit if everyone tries out an online meeting before then. To help get us all up to speed, we’ll host online coffee meetings at 10AM each Saturday, March 28, April 4, and April 11. If you’re interested in joining, please email clubs@sddemocrats.org. We will send you details on how to join, but you have to bring your own coffee (BYOC).
You’re already on our email list, but for more real-time conversation you can join our Slack channel, and for community discussions join our Discourse.
Even though we’re having to stay home, we can organize, stay well and win in November.
John Loughlin |Director of Clubs| john@demclubs.org |(619) 302-4751 | www.demclubs.org