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From: Steve Hood
Date: 10/8/01
Time: 4:16:23 PM
Remote Name: 199.33.133.50
Hi, Jim
Yep !!! I am sure that Russ and Lee can do magnificent preparation in far less time than it would take more of the rest of us. And two of them spending 15 minutes together, is a combined planning time of 30 minutes, so they get "two for the price of one."
Although I helped co-found our chapter, and although my name is still associated with it for "address and phone number purposes" -- I see my role as that of a MEMBER, and not really a co-leader. My role is as an NSA member and not as an SLP, although from time to time I take my turn helping as a facilitator, the same way others do.
My feeling about preparation for NSA is similar to times in the past when I have been directly involved in "formal group therapy." I believe that the success of any given meeting is really not directly related to the amount of time I spend in preparation... Far from it. I think the success of the meetings depends upon the interaction of (1) the actual topic, and (2) whether the topic catches the attention and stimulates the interests and curiosities of those members who are present that night, and (3) the willingness on any given night for those assempled to really bond with the topics and bring some degree of passion to the discussions. It seems that some nights we really click and some nights we do not click.
In years past, we were larger and better attended than now. We have lost some good members who moved away, and not been as succesful as we would like in replacing them. We need to to some additional marketing. We are also going to experiment with different days and times, and probably also some different formats.
Although I am envious of the fantastic turnouts that Bernie and Jim and their group gets up in Michigan, and of Russ, Joseph, Chris and the Dallas/Plano contingent, I really am not sure it is really the preparation time, per se, that does the trick.