<div dir="ltr">I agree with the points you raise. However, there is also the financial concerns to be considered. We should elect people by quality, not ability to take time off from work or to pay for travel. (I gained the first and lost the second by leaving my job, but plan to make/borrow enough to make the meetings.) <div>
<br></div><div>I don't think (if my computer was faster, or working well, I'd check) there's anything stopping us from holding meetings more often. Why not continue to hold meetings in person at the same frequency we have been, and add additional video meetings? This would, hopefully, allow for doing less controversial work via email ballots, since we'd be having at least synchronous meetings more often.<br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr">Joshua A. Katz<div><br></div><div>Region 8 (Region of Badassdom) Alternate</div><div>Libertarian National Committee</div><div><br>Chair, Libertarian Party of Connecticut</div>
</div></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:02 AM, Scott L. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:scott73@earthlink.net" target="_blank">scott73@earthlink.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="blue">
<div>
<p><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black">Mr. Katz:<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black">There is no question that in-person meetings
are far, far, better than “videoconferences.”<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black">Considering that many of our members already
think the National Libertarian Party does not provide any added value to their
state LP affiliates, why would we want to risk making our Board meetings less
effective than they currently are?<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> </span></font><a href="http://www.wired.com/2011/08/can-online-social-networks-replace-real-socializing/" target="_blank">http://www.wired.com/2011/08/can-online-social-networks-replace-real-socializing/</a><u></u><u></u></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">“After
analyzing more than 35,000 different peer-reviewed papers and mapping the
location of every co-author, he found that scientists located closer together
produced papers of significantly higher quality, at least as measured by the
number of subsequent citations. In fact, <b><span style="font-weight:bold">the
best research was consistently done when scientists were working within roughly
30 feet of each other—that is, when they didn’t need to interact
via screens.<u></u><u></u></span></b></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">This
doesn’t mean that we should stop socializing on the web. But it does
suggest that we reconsider the purpose of our online networks. For too long,
we’ve imagined technology as a potential substitute for our analog life,
as if the phone or Google+ might let us avoid the hassle of getting together in
person.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">But
that won’t happen anytime soon<b><span style="font-weight:bold">: There
is simply too much value in face-to-face contact, in all the body language and
implicit information that doesn’t translate to the Internet</span></b>”<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana">
[I added the boldface font to those two sentences – they were not
boldface in the original – Scott L.]<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black"> </span></font><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black"> Scott Lieberman<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="black" face="Verdana"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">
<hr size="2" width="100%" align="center">
</span></font></div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">“</span></font>Following our SCC
meetings, in CT we used to spend 2-3 hours standing in the parking lot,
socializing and talking informally. When we went to quarterly in-person
meetings and monthly videoconference, I pointed out that "online there is
no parking lot." I proposed two remedies, and will leave it to you
to decide which is more reasonable. The first is to keep the conference
going, with people coming and going as they please, and talk informally.
The second was for everyone to form a Second Life account and, after our
meetings, log on there and find a parking lot to hang out in. (I'm a
vampire, by the way. My name is Godelfan if you're ever looking for me
there.) The former idea was adopted. <u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> </span></font>Joshua
A. Katz<font color="black"><span style="color:black">”</span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Lnc-business mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Lnc-business@hq.lp.org">Lnc-business@hq.lp.org</a><br>
<a href="http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org" target="_blank">http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div>