TC39 meetings can get quite large. Sometimes we can have more than 60 people in a room, plus people joining in remotely. Because of this, we have some practices put in place to make things more manageable, and make it possible for everyone to be heard!
We have a Code of Conduct. Please read through the CoC and remember to be respectful and considerate when participating in meetings. It is key that we keep our discussion friendly, patient, and considerate as we are discussing proposals.
The committee operates using a model of complete consensus. This means that everyone has to agree in order for a proposal to move forward in the stages. This is something that the committee feels strongly about, and in past cases a single person disagreeing with a proposal has helped us rework and improve proposals rather than letting them through to the next stage. As such, breaking with consensus can be very disruptive and shouldn't be done unless necessary. For this reason you will often see delegates say that they might not like a solution very much, but will not break consensus unless other delegates are also not happy with a solution. Breaking consensus alone is a very strong signal.
If you find that you are unhappy with a proposal, try to think of a way to help the proposal address the issues you see with it, and articulate them. What are the limitations? Are there studies that the champions can do to help their case? What sort of improvements are needed? Have requirements been missed? Try to move the discussion in a positive direction!
We have a few tools that help us facilitate communication. They are as follows:
Purpose: A place for delegates to ask questions in a non vocal manner, useful if you need definitions or something similar!
How to use:
We use the #tc39-delegates room on Matrix during the meetings. This room is open to delegates. The public room #tc39-general is useful for outside communication that is not during meetings. You can find instructions for joining here.
Purpose: To organize people's responses to a topic, and make sure everyone is heard.
How to use:
When the meeting starts, a link to the tcq meeting will be added to the delegates Matrix room topic. At the top you will see "Agenda" and "Queue".
These links (and more helpful information) are also available on the pinned Reflector issue for the given plenary.
If you are interested in knowing what is coming up, you can take a look at the agenda page. However this is more useful for chairs, who can add agenda topics that are coming up next, and their associated time box.
During presentations, if you notice something a speaker says that you want a clarification of, or to make a comment, you can do this in the queue. There are three options: new topic, clarifying question, and point of order. It looks something like this:
At the top we have the agenda item that is being discussed, followed by the queue item that is being discussed. After that, we have a bunch of buttons!
If you are speaking, then you will also have the option to say that you are done speaking.
As for the other four buttons!
A new topic breaks with the current topic, and starts a new thread to which clarifying questions might be added. New topics are ordered by when they are added to the queue.
To discuss current topic is to reply to it. If you reply to the current topic, it will go immediately after the current speaker / any other replies that came before yours.
A clarifying question is used when you want to continue the current topic and ask something about it. For example, if someone uses an example that doesn't make sense to you, you can ask them to clarify what they meant. Clarifying questions will be added in the order they were entered into the queue.
A point of order is used to immediately bring up a point. For example, if a note taker has been kicked from the notepad, and needs people to pause for a moment, they might use a point of order, saying that the note taking service is down. This is added to the top of the queue, and will be the next thing addressed.
Purpose: To ensure that topics discussed on the agenda are timeboxed and that we do not go over time talking about a subject. It is enforced by the chair group.
How to use:
The timebox is used primarily to make sure we are on time with our topic. You can visit this page if you want to see how much time is left for a topic. If we go over time, let us know so that we can vote on if a topic needs more time!
Purpose: To record the meeting so that it can be shared with the public, and referenced in the future.
How to use:
Please remember: Never share this link publicly.
For every day of the meeting we have a new Google Docs URL that is shared in the delegates Matrix room.
Everyone is encouraged to help taking notes, and this is a good way to get involved if you are new. For more information, please take a look at our how to be a note taker documentation.
Purpose: To allow remote TC39 delegates to participate in the meeting.
How to use:
We use Jitsi (hosted on 8x8) to facilitate remote attendance, unless another solution is deemed a better fit for the situation. The link will be posted on a meeting by meeting basis. To attend, use the link posted at the top of the delegates Matrix room.
- If you are new and not sure what to do, consider becoming a note taker!
- Talk to people during the meetings, they can help you establish context for anything that seems strange.