European CSC 06

The European Collective was the first European Collective. It was held close to Vienna, Austria.

The wiki used for work in Eisenstadt can be found on www.couchsurfing-phoenix.com.

Lessons learned at the collective

Now that the Collective is over it is high time to debate about the lessons to remember from Eisenstadt in order to organise future European CSCs. Avoid rough criticism and concentrate on the organisational and logistical aspects of the Collective and offer solutions or gather best practises!

Major points that were raised up to now (August 28):

What form should the collective adopt?

How long

How much time should it last? Is the whole summer too long? Was one week too short? Which length would offer the best opportunity for all the members interested to join in?

It seems good to have the Collective going on for a couple of months. So people get to know eachother and are able to get work done. It also allows many people to join in.

Where

In what part of Europe should the Collective be held? Should the location change and how often and how do we find a new one?

In a part where there are many available couches. Probably somewhere in the center, so that people from all parts can easily go there, by car, train, bike or hitchhiking. Cheap airline connectivity is good as well.

Who

Who is in charge of all the preparatory work? How many people are needed and is it needed that they’re all locals from the area of the Collective? Otherwise how could volunteers all around Europe help throughout the next year to prepare the next Collective?

How efficiently organize a CSC

How do we organise CSCs in a way that work is done efficiently? What preparatory work is needed? How do we match people/skills/interests? Debates can include all the attendants but also be worked on in smaller groups - what is the most efficient according to the type of subject dealt with? How do we organise those so they don't overlap and people can attend to most of them or keep updated if they miss one? During the CSCs, how do we integrate newcomers and update them with the work and discussions under process so they can involve quickly and efficiently? What needs to be done daily (e.g. meetings minutes and such) and who should be in charge?

Communication between CSCs

How should various CSCs communicate together and split the work between them all? How should CSCs communicate efficiently to the "outside" i.e. all the members that are not directly involved and how could we get some participation and feedback from them DURING the CSCs themselves so we can work on it?

Other ideas

It would be cool to link Collective to a big hospitality exchange camp. Some people at the Collective could be involved in setting that up.

Those questions are currently debated in the [http://www.couchsurfing.com/group_read.html?gid=3356