View source for Board/Minutes/2021-02-S2S/Encouraging more volunteers to join other working groups

= Encouraging more volunteers to join other working groups =

<font color="blue"> Notes by participants. Might be enriched.</font><br>

''This session took place in parallel with "[[Board/Minutes/2021-02-S2S/Reality-based_assessment_of_risks_and_opportunities_of_collaboration_of_work_with_other_OSM_actors|Reality-based assessment of risks and opportunities of collaboration of work with other OSM actors]]". A summary was provided to the other group.''

[[Acronyms]]

== Participants ==
'''Board members'''
* Allan Mustard
* Eugene Alvin Villar
* Guillaume Rischard
* Jean-Marc Liotier ''(facilitator for this session)''

''The rest of the board members participated in the parallel session.''

[https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Board_Member_Bios&oldid=7907 Biographies].

Also present: Doro<nowiki>thea Kaz</nowiki>azi ''(administrative assistant)''

== Collaborative notes ==

Not an unusual problem in non-profits - maybe no magic solution.

Lack of actual participation compounds the low membership numbers.

Reasons for lack of volunteers in [[Working_Groups|Working Groups]] (WGs):
* Lack of interest, actually a good thing when people do things without bothering with Working Group bureaucracy.
* Lack of knowledge of working group.
** Lack of awareness that the working group even exists.
** Ignorance of the fun problems.
** Fear of workload.
* Join working groups but leave demotivated or disgusted.
* Lack of appreciation - invisible work.
* Frustration with Board over veto, though actual veto is rare.

Recruiting and retention are distinct problems.

[https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team HOT] ran a campaign promoting HOT working groups - we should look into that.

=== Retention ===
* Periodical Working Group showcase making work visible and recognized.
* Working group active member roster.
* Token of appreciation ''(beers, chocolate, desk trophies etc.)''
* How to prevent burnout?
* Look at where engagement and retention succeeded - [[StateoftheMap_Organizing_Committee| State of the Map organising committee]] (SotM WG) for example.

=== Working group awareness campaign ===
* Interviews with Working Groups.
* Promote interview & article ([https://weeklyosm.eu/ WeeklyOSM] etc.).
* Show how working groups take initiative independent from the board.
* Each working group keep a list of specific tasks that need help. First concrete task can act as the onboarding scaffold.

=== Have interested Working Groups prepare for arrival of new members ===
* Express needs.
* Detail concrete tasks.
* Ready for multilingualism. Linguistic subgroups could liberate energies - needs an English-speaking liaison.
* On-boarding - make it obvious.
** [[Data_Working_Group| Data Working Group]] (DWG) has a new member primer, but such documentation gets obsolete fast.

=== Membership drive ===
* Banner.
* Mailing.
* Blog article.
* [https://weeklyosm.eu/ WeeklyOSM].
* (Use the same promotion steps that was done with the survey).
* [[StateoftheMap_Organizing_Committee| State of the Map organising committee]] (SotM WG) had a membership drive (and blog post) as part of the preparation for the [https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_Of_The_Map State of the Map conference].

== Decisions == 
* Create a volunteer appreciation program ''(buy and send tokens to valued community and Working Group volunteers)''.
* Start using Microsoft Translator + DeepL.

== Action items == 
* Eugene to ask HOT how their Working Group drive went.
* Guillaume to collect list of volunteers to send beers and chocolate and hats to.