Community Meeting Transcript

Michael M: Hello. Can people hear me? Excellent. So, it’s the first time I’ve shared this, so I don’t know how many people are expecting. So, we’ll give it another 5 minutes or so for people to log in if people are happy. How’s everybody doing? It seems like it’s been another productive and busy week all around.

Daniela M S: Yeah.

Michael M: You don’t stop. It’s nonstop with you, Peter. It’s much appreciated.

Peter D: Extremely busy.

Peter D: I will stop at some point. I’m passing out more often than I should. But yeah, it’s more of a — I understand that I’m building things that’s pain once for years to come pleasure, so to speak. So, it’s building infrastructure projects that hopefully will make it so we don’t have to do things by hand for a very long time.

Peter D: And I have always thrown myself on the sword for that one a few times, but getting there.

Michael M: I guess that’s one of the core things I’ve learned about this event is there’s different times in the process where people are the star of the show and the busiest person and then the wheel turns and even once we get to the event the gates open and everything’s built there are certain teams where their busiest points are still to come and even after everyone’s done and everyone’s spent and the event was great, there’s still a whole bunch of people whose busiest work is about to come. And then even post-event, those people who have to do the admin and the finances and the receipts, it’s their time to shine.

Peter D: Wait. I’m on both ends of that table then. I didn’t play that right, I guess. Oops. That’s right. As long as I can be on another planet for a few days in the middle there, I’ll be happy.

Michael M: 28, 29 people all kind of rolling in.

Michael M: So I’ll briefly give a bit of a rundown as to the goal of tonight’s meeting. I’ve never shared this before and as you all know I’m quite a shy person who doesn’t like to talk very much. So it’s interesting — from the information Daniela has given me it looks like this meeting is a bit of a participation themed meeting. We’re going to have an update from arts. We’re going to have an update from volunteering. We’re going to have an update from barrios.

Michael M: All of which registration processes are live because essentially that’s what we’re here is to give the people those chances to participate. And then we’re also going to get an update from Shauna on comms and a ticketing update from Aaron. Oliver, are you ready to give your update when it comes to arts?

Oliver: Yes I am. Hello. Can you guys hear me? You can.

Michael M: We can.

Oliver: Okay, cool.

Oliver: So this is my cheat sheet and I’m going to try to get the message across. So first of all, I got good news. The art team has opened the art grant application process. So from now on all the artists that would like to bring art to the playa can apply for art grants. And we have a shiny new website and a great new tool to implement this art process.

Oliver: So we’re happy to just welcome everybody who wants to bring art. Apply and that’s a task for you also. So if you know someone who wants to bring art just tell them that we’re ready to go and bring art and help them. So we have a new website. Yeah, there’s the — Daniela just posted the link and there you find — you can download the art guide that explains everything to you, how art is being brought to the playa, how we support you, what kind of things you have to take care of. And it’s a totally new document. We worked hard on it. So if you want to reach us, it’s art at nobodies.team.

Oliver: There’s a lot of people trying to help the artists and everybody who wants to know something about art on the playa and we’re looking forward to it and we also got two applications till now so there’s going to be art on the playa I can promise.

Michael M: Amazing. And is it most of your team from last year are coming back as well again this year?

Oliver: So mostly we are 10-ish people and it’s all the good people from the last year.

Oliver: So we’re an experienced team and we know what to do and we are definitely eager to get things going.

Michael M: And aside from putting the word out and promoting art at Elsewhere, is there anything you need from us as general volunteers or people participating at the event?

Oliver: So right now, not really. We are event driven. So we’re trying to find the right people, give them money to get good projects on the playa. So, as of now, we’re just asking you to spread the word that the art grant process has started. And just promote Elsewhere. And you all know this, we could not for certain legal reasons get back to the artists from the last years and tell them about it. So, it’s super important that everybody just talks to their friends and tells them, hey, the art grant process has started.

Oliver: Please, if you want to do something — we need art, that’s why we go there, at least me — so just tell the people that the process has started and try to bring whatever is there. We also take recycled stuff from the last years, it doesn’t matter. We pay transportation cost no matter what. Just get art to the playa.

Michael M: Excellent. I mean, that’s just positive and enthusiastic, which is what we want to hear. And it’s amazing that you’re already getting people applying.

Michael M: And I think that’s something I’ve seen across every team this week. The shifts are starting to fill up. The documents, it’s all coming together.

Oliver: And I’m super positive for the event.

Oliver: So should you.

Michael M: This is my positive face. All right, then. Anything else? Are you happy for us to move on? Amazing. Thanks, Oliver, and the whole art team.

Oliver: Thank you.

Michael M: Is Case on the call from barrios?

Oliver: No, I’m good. Thank you so much. Just bring out the message. That’s all. Thanks.

Michael M: No. They’ll give us a shout when they turn up. Frank, are you on the call? You want to give an update?

Frank F: Very quick update on our new volunteering management system. So, since last Sunday, it has been open. People have been signing up. We have a lot of shifts. There’s still more to come. Work in progress. So yeah, if you’re planning to come and you got a ticket but haven’t signed up for anything, please do. It will give us a better idea of how many people are already committed to which time period. So then it helps us looking for the other people to fill the gap. If you have any questions, if you have any troubles, let me know. Or just write in the Humans channel on Discord. Also, you have the little feature of reporting problems which I know Peter loves everybody giving him feedback. That’s pretty much it.

Frank F: Thank you all for the energy you’re giving so far and yeah let’s make it official with dedicating ourselves these particular days.

Michael M: Yeah, I’m going to echo what Frank said and actually give special props to Peter and Frank and the whole team for getting this system up and live and running in such a short space of time and managing to get all these little bugs fixed. Complaining about the old system seems to be an event tradition. So, it’s been pretty amazing to see people take what was good about it and get it built up. I’m looking at the volunteering dashboard now. 20% of gate event time shifts are already filled. So, things are starting to trickle in. We’re getting a lot of enthusiastic volunteers. Lots of people who came back from last year are trickling in bit by bit. Lots of people who came for the first time last year. We’ve had a couple of people who came last year for the first time and are coming back earlier and more excited. And we’ve had some new people reach out and get in touch with us.

Michael M: If you need any help getting your volunteering rostering things signed up, get in touch and do reach out to people. That is one of the things that we do hear from volunteers is that they sign up or they click for some shifts and then they tend to think that they’re done. So, show some appreciation. We put the word out that we need everyone’s help for Elsewhere to make it happen this year. People are turning out in spades. Even sending people a polite holding email. We made a volunteer survival guide for Elsewhere this year. Sometimes if all you do is send someone a copy of that and just ask some simple questions, cut and paste some standard questions relevant for your team, then just send it back to people. If you have any targeted needs, get in touch with us.

Michael M: So, for example, for barrios, I’ve reached out to my camp and other camps that are not coming this year. So there’s a whole bunch of people who like to come to the event every year who aren’t coming. So their barrio might not be coming. So they may be really keen to come and help. A lot of the focus at the minute I think is going to be really trying to push the early first crew period. So essentially the week of the 15th of June up until Saturday, that first crew period is probably the area that I think we might find it hardest to fill. These are the dedicated people who have three weeks spare and tend to come out quite early. So during that period, cantina is up and running or getting started. The power crew are laying out the grid.

Michael M: Production on site getting things set up and also it’s a lot of the infrastructure core construction work including unloading containers and one key area we’re really in need of is placement GPS flagging team. Last year Diego and Rebar were just amazing, they were on site day one dropping the GPS. As we get closer to the event we’re going to do more recruitment pushes and we’ll check in.

Michael M: Shauna for a comms update in a bit about targeted different areas including the event time, but for now it looks like getting at least some people confirmed who are coming, booked in for the first crew side of things. But your work is paying off guys. Volunteers are trickling in. The site is up and running. So whatever you’re doing is working. Keep it up. Are there any questions?

Paul H: Goodbye, Nurse. I’m taking over now.

Daniela M S: I think Nurse is frozen at the moment.

Paul H: Yeah. Yeah.

Daniela M S: There was a question in the chat that says how do I sign up for individual setup general volunteer shifts if for some days I’m already booked on other stuff. I don’t know if maybe Peter or Frank can take on that. Or Paul, you’re there.

Paul H: The easy option is yeah — what are you trying to override? Because you can select it, it should have a start and an end date on the thing when you’re trying to sign up for setup stuff. If it’s failing then I don’t know. That’s a Frank and Peter question. But you’re asking — you’re having a problem doing something that I haven’t had a problem doing.

Paul H: Yay software.

Daniela M S: Okay. So while we wait for Nurse to be back, maybe Shauna can give the comms update.

Michael M: I’m back.

Daniela M S: You’re right back. Let’s give it to Shauna.

Shauna B: No. Do you have anything else to add or should I go with comms?

Daniela M S: Here it comes.

Michael M: Go for comms.

Shauna B: I didn’t see that. So, hi everyone. Basically we’re starting by kind of pushing the same channels of the WhatsApp and Telegram. I hope that you all have been seeing them and our desperate plea to share with your friends. So continue doing that. We’ve also started our newsletter which is going to be the place that we really communicate vital info. So please make sure people are signed up for that as well. And then the fun part of this is we’re starting an Instagram which we really don’t want to have to use for information because we have other places to get that. We really instead want to focus on what makes this such a magical experience that we keep on putting in so much work to make happen every year.

Michael M: Yeah.

Shauna B: So, we want to focus on art, the barrios. We’re going to be reaching out to a bunch of different groups. And we also invite everyone — we’re going to be putting out a call after the logo competition is over to ask people for little cute stories of magic on the playa or what brings them to do this year after year. And we can put them to cool photos and videos. We’re going to make it a whole thing. And so, we hope that you will participate in that with us and more information to come. And then the last thing is today is our last day of the logo competition. Last time I checked we had 13 submissions. So hopefully soon we will have a new visual identity.

Michael M: Amazing.

Shauna B: And yeah, that’s it for comms.

Michael M: Is Case here from barrios? Let us know. We’re also going to get a bit of a finance update, but does anybody have any general questions about volunteering, participation, or comms at present?

Peter D: I just threw one in the chat there. It was part of our thing with Google. They declared us nonprofit and said one of the things we can get from them is a bit of AdWords advertising. And I’ve asked a few people on the side and some people were like, “Yeah, sure. It’s free. Why not?” Other people were like, “Absolutely no.” So it felt more of a community type decision. Obviously we would not spam keywords like “festival Spain” or something like that, but there might be a very particular keyword we would want to use which might help drive traffic for people randomly googling to us. So that was the thought. If we had some free allocation from Google, would we want to use it?

Peter D: I don’t know the actual numbers. It’s probably a few hundred but few thousand impressions I think. Does anybody have an opinion?

Shauna B: Comms has talked about this a lot over the years and we’ve always kind of come to a pretty strong no about it as well. But I see your point about making sure that we don’t do the festival stuff. I do see there’s maybe a way we could do it, right? But as a basis, I think it’s not how we want to attract a community.

Peter D: And my thought is more catching the community that can’t find us yet. Specifically off the “nowhere” keyword would be my personal thought on this.

Aaron R: Open.

Peter D: And partially because the current message at the front of the Going Nowhere website is kind of a brick wall which I think would confuse people that are more than two levels of misdirection from us. So, that was a thought if this is a free thing we can use and throw some ads up and we can also stop using it if we don’t like how it’s working. But it’s something that’s out there that I requested from Google and we’ll get an answer back in a day or two from their normal process. So, something we can use, it can’t be too crazy. And apparently if the ads aren’t effective, they pull it anyway.

Peter D: So we have to do things that people want to click on. But yeah, so just an idea.

Michael M: I know I think over the years it may have given people a certain amount of ick, that sort of stuff. But we’ve had 20 years of people being dirt rave Jehovah’s witnesses and talking about Nowhere incessantly, not to mention amongst all of the global Burning Man regional events. So if somebody does decide, “Hey, I’d love to go to Nowhere this year,” if they can’t find us, then are we — you could argue, is it a way to actively include people and make us easier to find? Please.

Curious Creatures: Sounds like a very smart thing to do.

Peter D: That works for me though.

Peter D: All right. So, I’ll pass on — well, the people that need to know are on the call. Once I find out what they give us or whatever, I’ll pass it on and we can maybe catch a few Nobodies that are lost. To that end, should I do a little finance thing? Okay, I made a spreadsheet because people ask questions. Let me see if I can figure out how to get the right tab in here. My god, it is not happy — I have it open in the wrong profile. This is going to be a problem. I have different profiles and it doesn’t want to share this one. There we go.

Peter D: So this is taking a relatively reasonable view of last year’s event expenses and doing them over time. It’s actually by week internally here and I hid the weeks because it doesn’t fit on the screen but you can see for each section when money was spent. And the intention here was to get a little bit more clarity on cash flow. I’ve removed some rows here that don’t apply to us. I’ve altered some rows to be more accurate for what’s actually happened. And somehow got the numbers to add up to the €17 profit, which I thought was just about appropriate.

Peter D: So this is kind of meant — this is still a placeholder because it’s still guessing based on last year’s numbers, but after talking with Daniela today, I think I’ve come up with a way I can add in department budgets into Humans. And that’ll be coming over the next couple days to early next week. And that will effectively replace the similar concept of the previous spreadsheets from the past. The thought is we will allocate each department their top level number based on last year, then hopefully they can fill out the detail. So if a department got five grand then they could say I’m going to spend 1,400 on this and roughly this is when those numbers are going to get spent.

Peter D: So you put a date on the expected purchase times and then that will all get rolled up into a view like this organisation-wide and then that can pull in — we’re already pulling in ticket numbers and money from Stripe. So that can all get updated. As this thing goes from left to right over the burn period, it’ll basically self-update. The predicted numbers will turn into actuals. And we’ll have nice little dials and gauges about where we are percentage-wise through the event. I think the agreed design right now is meta leads can see each other’s departments and then general volunteers would see the high-level percentages kind of thing to keep the data at appropriate levels. Obviously some parts we can’t share specifically because it’s like salary or other personal information.

Peter D: But we should be able to get — not real time, but updated every day — a view of what our budget allocation is by department. And essentially a gauge, like a speedometer type thing, of how much we’ve spent so far this year of our budget. Would that make everybody happy when it comes to financing? One of those things that it’s impossible to get everybody, but we’ll try to make it as inclusive as possible with giving people reasonable amounts of information. In some ways, there’s also information overload that can happen with numbers. I also randomly reminded myself today that our first actual expense this year is going to be a VAT payment of almost 20 grand at the end of April.

Peter D: So that’s our first expense of the year based on the ticketing sales that we’ve had so far. And those kind of things are more cash flow-related, but they all matter because if we don’t have the money to pay that at the right time, then we get in trouble. And we don’t want to be paying fines right now. So that’s basically where it’s at. I’m happy to have any questions. And more to be coming soon. Okay.

Michael M: Any feedback or questions or comments from the finance side of things from people? You’ve stunned them into silence with your bureaucratic efficiency.

Peter D: I talk fast sometimes and it takes people time to process. So yeah, happy. Let me know if you have questions and some people ping me on the side. Yeah, ultimately our focus as an organisation now is getting our friends and neighbours and relatives to buy their tickets. And then everything else works and we adjust as necessary to make that happen. So…

Michael M: Speaking of which — Aaron, like an old school séance, I’m going to see if the voice of Aaron is in the room with us.

Aaron R: The voice and the face.

Michael M: There we go. Hello.

Aaron R: Hello. Apologies for wearing a shirt. I think I’m probably the only person on this call wearing a shirt, but I have just got back from work. Ticket sales — much more exciting. And you’ve heard all the wonderful things that are happening this year and ticket sales basically is what makes it all happen. Really pleased with the numbers that we’re hitting so far. Lots of questions that we’ve been firing off, round about in 24-hour response. Which is fantastic. And a lot of those questions are now being automated. So, do feel free to ask any questions via the tickets email and we’ll come back to you.

Aaron R: There are approximately 49 people on this call. I’m going to guess that most of you have a ticket. But if you haven’t already, this is my plug to get your ticket. So we’ve had by far and away more than that number and we are setting a limit for wave 1. So wave 1 is our fully discounted price. That’s €275 and that will expire on the 14th of April or when we hit our golden wave 1 threshold. So if you’ve got anybody that’s on the fence, please do get them to buy tickets sooner rather than later. Because we do want to make sure that they get in at the right price. There’s been some questions around low income — it’s got its own email address and a fantastic team that’s running that.

Aaron R: But the bottom line is if you’re applying for low income now, we will make sure that wave 1 ticket pricing is reserved if you’re unsuccessful in low income. So don’t worry about that. If you apply for low income, we will make sure that’s preserved. Lots of questions around the actual number of ticket sales and quite a bit of discussion internally as to whether or not we should share that absolute number. We’ve decided at the moment not to. Now we are fully transparent. You’ve just seen Peter’s spreadsheet that’s got all the numbers on there. The main reason that we don’t share absolute numbers on ticket sales is because the first thing anyone does is multiply that by the face value and in isolation you’ve got a large number and without seeing Peter’s sheet of all the costs then that number can be slightly misleading. So we don’t share the absolute number. The other reason is that if you are at the beginning of an event you don’t want people sitting on the fence saying I’m just going to wait until that number comes up to make sure that all my friends are going.

Aaron R: We need ticket sales early because that helps us forecast everything from when to spend money to cover those initial costs that Peter’s been highlighting and to predict exactly how many portaloos we’ve got. To give you some idea of the scale here, anyone who was observant on the last sheet where Peter shared his numbers, 11% of all revenue is spent on toilets. So it’s not an incidental number. But we need to know exactly how many people are going to be there to be able to forecast. Do make sure that you buy your tickets early. Encourage everyone else to. And keep questions — before I get to questions, buses are happening. Still got some details to finalise. We’re just hammering out the detail. We’ll get the bus tickets to you. It’ll be roughly the same as last year. So if you got a bus last year, you’ll be able to get a bus this year.

Aaron R: Any questions? Perfect. In that case, over to you, Michael.

Michael M: There we go. Yeah, I think that’s just the core message you really need to get out there is that we are just buying our tickets. If anybody’s not bought their ticket yet and wants to name and shame themselves in the call, feel free. I think communications-wise, it’s probably payday for a lot of people who are salaried. The end of the month between last week and this week is probably when a big chunk of people are getting paid. So, I think if you’re able to, pass the message along.

Michael M: There was talk in the coordinators’ call the other day of having a viability meeting probably around this time next month where we’re going to have a look and see as to where we’re at when it comes to ticket sales, finance, all of those things. So hopefully we’ll be able to get a good understanding as to where we’re at from then. And I appreciate the work you guys have done trying to explain the reasons for not putting out the numbers. I think it’s a difficult one as to what the right decision is. So kudos to you guys for that one. I’m going to try again. Is Case on this call or anyone from barrio support? No.

Michael M: I checked in with them earlier during the week on a couple of fronts. The barrios are starting to register. Looks like we even already had some new barrios which are registering. Anyone who’s coming from here with a barrio — but from the sounds of the conversation with the barrio team earlier in the week, things are going to be as it was before. Got the team on hand. They’re going to support. Cupcake and the team are looking at the power grid. So is there anyone from barrios or anyone running a barrio who wants to comment or ask anything at this point?

Tancredi T: Yeah, not sure about that yet but still sort of confused — on whether I’m confused because I didn’t ask yet — but do we know what are the clear expectations and sort of responsibilities of the barrio? I think a lot of that was partly set by the structure of the association and the legalities of it. And so it’d be great to know requirements to register a barrio and what will be expected from it. Basically, if someone is in a small sort of team and wants to understand if it’s the case of registering or not or getting other infrastructure, is there an updated document or have I just missed it? Possible. Maybe other people here too.

Michael M: No, by all accounts, they’re finishing the barrio survival guide. They’re tidying those things up. The requirements placed on a barrio pretty much are the same as before. There are certain requirements around — especially things to do with — lots of our permit requirements interact with barrios. So, as to where you guys are placed, having the fire extinguishers — there’s a question around the benefits of people who want to free camp in a large group versus register as a barrio. Some of that will come down to choosing where to place yourself.

Michael M: Some of that will come down to choosing when it comes to, if you’re in an area that doesn’t allow certain things — the best thing I would say is if you reach out to the barrio support team and have a chat with them about what works for you. If you’re a small group of 12 doing free camping, that might not be what you want. But if you want to get some placement with some frontage and be plugged into power grids and all that stuff, get support when it comes to water, ice, and those things, maybe just talk to the barrio support team themselves. You haven’t missed anything. Everything’s just going live in the past two weeks. We’re assembling the plane while we’re flying it, as it were.

Tancredi T: It’s just awesome to know that we’re on time.

Michael M: There is no time.

Tancredi T: Everything’s on time in being late together. Yeah. Cheers.

Peter D: Yeah. I think there’s a water cube for 30 people and a shower for each camp. That’s like — and the fire extinguishers for anything that makes fire.

Peter D: Those are the big requirement type things. If you build something over two and a half metres, it needs to be safe.

Curious Creatures: And you need a flag.

Tancredi T: We got a flag. No, I was worried about things like there were certifications for electricity, then there were certain leads that would take legal responsibility for certain key things if I remember.

Daniela M S: Yeah. Yeah.

Daniela M S: Those are the same because those are permit-related. So they have to do with the permit we get to do the event.

Tancredi T: Okay. Cool. Yeah, that’s really important to know. Thank you.

Daniela M S: Yeah, you can just check it out there and just message barrios at nobodies.team or on Discord and they will get back to you. And the barrio guide is almost ready. They’ve been at it for a couple weeks. So, next week hopefully you will be getting that.

Tancredi T: Sure.

Joao T: Related to this, I’ve been to Nowhere many times. I went to Borderland for the first time last year and was surprised that their approach to what a barrio is, is very different to our approach. Because there essentially any group of five people has a place on the map and it’s called a barrio. And I don’t know if we have some particular bureaucracy related to the permit. I understand this — even though we’re an association, we have to attend to the same requirements. I understand last year there was no fire drill. I don’t know if that is going to happen this year or not.

Tancredi T: There was a fire drill.

Daniela M S: Yeah, I can explain.

Tancredi T: There just wasn’t a full evacuation. But there was one.

Daniela M S: So there is a fire drill activity. So last year what managed to happen is that only the simulation with the nomads and the teams took part. And we’re maintaining that for this year. That’s kind of the same. We just didn’t need to take all of the people out but it did happen. That’s part of the inspection during the permit process.

Joao T: So it’s going to be the same thing this year. There’s going to be a drill, but we don’t have to evacuate everyone. Okay.

Daniela M S: It’s the same.

Michael M: The authorities want to see that in a situation the event is able to demonstrate command. They’ve seen us evacuate everyone from site before so they’re not making us go through that pantomime, but they watch from the hill. So, they’re up on the hill seeing how we handle it.

Daniela M S: And in terms of what you were asking about the permit and the barrios, the way that we’re set up and the way that this area works, groups of people that form a barrio, they need to comply with permit stuff. It’s a safety requirement. It’s just the law here. So probably that’s why it’s different from other events.

Joao T: Right. But because we have this situation of camps that are not called a barrio but are essentially a barrio — if you have a group of 20 people that behave like a barrio but have not registered as a barrio. It just gets to this silly bit. I understand last year there were situations where groups were considered barrios. But for example last year they had a water cube then. But at the same time you could be connected to power if you just get in touch with the right people without being a barrio. But I understand that as this year we’re still going to be on the same site under the same government regulations, it’s probably not worth bringing up a discussion particularly at this point in time about changing things.

Joao T: But I think on the new site we should probably revisit our approach to barrios. But my question was if the permits and regulations are due to the permit, so we’re going to keep with all that. And then the barrios I think the situation has been the same.

Michael M: I mean I think also it’s important to know barrios are one of the core parts of the event and they provide a huge service.

Michael M: At Borderland, a lot more people are living local, easier to get down. The largest number of our population live in barrios. They’re very inclusive. A lot of no-camp camps tend to be a smaller group of friends who are coming and those people are camped together and that’s great. Whereas actually a huge number of our barrios are incredibly welcoming. They make space for new people. Most of us when we come to the event for the first time, we participate in a barrio.

Michael M: And so especially some of those bigger barrios that are all required to be participatory as part of it, they get extra support and help with power, logistics, all of that stuff. So they operate a huge core element of the event and give quite a bit. So I think that’s why the registration is there, and also a lot of that process is to help them. If you’re 25 people coming for the first time and managing to put on something like that, all of you coming from another country, then the barrio registration process means there’s a team that helps them with their gas, with their permits. It’s not a bureaucracy.

Michael M: It’s not “you must sign this form to camp together.” It’s just recognising the amazing work they do and seeing what support we can give them as an event because without them — I like working, but there’s not much of an event without them.

Joao T: And while I recognise the value of the barrios and their importance, it just sounds a bit counterintuitive that if you want to be considered a barrio, you need more bureaucracy. But if you just have 25 people come together with no registration, there’s no bureaucracy, even though it looks kind of the same, right? But I don’t think we need to continue this topic particularly because due to the regulations we’re not going to change anything. But that’s something — once we are on the new site, maybe under different regulations, we should revisit.

Peter D: Yeah, I mean that’s more Spain. Spain just has these requirements that come in the permit. So that’s just the way it is. And Borderland owns their land so they can do whatever they want. As for the other side though, I mean two of the benefits of being a barrio officially are placement — you get to actually pick your spot — and then there’s effectively a barrio services where certain things can be facilitated for the barrio. Water, tickets, container movement. There’s a list of 15 things.

Peter D: And then, having run a barrio for a number of years, it’s handy to come to site and have the gas and all that stuff already there. And not have to go pick it up in town and deal with the Spanish regulations about buying a can of propane at the supermarket. Yeah, it definitely helps.

Curious Creatures: Yeah, there is no bureaucracy. It’s so lightweight. Don’t worry too much about it. It’s more service than bureaucracy. Don’t make this all too complicated starting a camp or barrio. It’s really lightweight.

Curious Creatures: I can really say that as someone who has done it since 2018.

Tancredi T: Guys, the question was answered brilliantly in the first 15 seconds. Thank you. Yeah.

Michael M: Is there anyone else here who wants to share some of the good work their team or their barrio has been doing so far this year? I think it’s an open shout out for anyone who deserves some praise or some props at this point. But it’s just been amazing to see where everyone’s at and how much is getting done. Does anyone want to call anyone out? Is there anyone in the chat who has any questions? Is there anything that’s not being clear or transparent or anyone have any concerns about anything? Most of the people involved in things are here and we’re all here to answer your questions.

Paul H: I’ve got a really quick one. Hello cat. Great timing. But on the volunteering, I know we spoke earlier about the number of people needed to come early and do early things. I was talking to Prosper earlier this week about cantina and they’re very desperate for leads. So, all of the people whose barrios said they’d step up and do some kitchening — maybe you guys don’t have to build a kitchen. Maybe you just have to come and cook in ours. Wouldn’t that be easy? But yeah, we need early people who can lead a team. So, if you’ve got experienced barrio cooks who want to play in the crew kitchen, hit up Prosper, let them know because they’re very keen to get people.

Shauna B: Paul, I have good news for you. I’ve been talking to volunteers today about how to get that message out. And we decided our next newsletter is going to be all about early build and what all that means and when people are needed. And Michael has been putting a lot of effort into some cool docs. So, that is going to be our first campaign that we’re going to send out. And then the follow-up one is going to be the cantina.

Paul H: Thanks. Question answered.

Michael M: I think also it’s important to note that sometimes from the outside it can seem like there’s some weird divide between the org side and the barrios. Some of the people who are our most ardent volunteers and the keenest most helpful people are people who come work for the setup crew, do the early setup period and then go off and join their barrio. So if you’re running a barrio do feel free to let anyone in your camp know if they want to come early they can turn up, they can volunteer, and whenever they’re ready to leave they can just go and join their camp. We sometimes have people come and cook for two or three days and then head off to join their barrio.

Michael M: So I think that’s where we work best as an event is where the lines are blurred. At a certain point in the event there’s no org, there’s no barrios, everyone’s just helping each other. So if you do have people who are keen to come earlier, let them know. Or if you’ve got friends whose barrios are not coming, we have one of our cooks from another camp who comes early to just cook and doesn’t attend the main event and she’s potentially going to join us. So we’re welcome. And even if somebody wants to come for one or two days before their barrio arrives and cook or do a particular job, we’re happy to take their help. This is a year where I think we all pulled together and it looks like we’re doing it pretty well.

Michael M: So it’s at the 45 minute mark. I feel like these calls are getting shorter and shorter once the drama of “can we have the event?” and the naming question has died down. Now that we’re just into event logistics, these meetings seem to be getting shorter.

Peter D: I think the transparency reports for the board meetings and other things going out — so, things are more transparent. I guess you don’t have to show up here basically to find out what’s going on. There’s a lot more avenues now.

Paul H: That’s all right. They’ll get longer again towards event time.

Paul H: How often do these meetings happen? There you go. Weekly.

Michael M: Yeah. I think this is just an open community meeting where people can come and listen in and watch or listen as they see fit. Does anybody have anything else to add or should we close the meeting? Or we can just leave the chat open if people just want to chat and hang out. And Shoval just had a question about how to connect with the Barcelona Euro burner scene.

Shauna B: I think you’re all great.

Michael M: We’ve also had some volunteers message us from Zaragoza.

Michael M: That is an interesting one actually. Is there a section on the Discord or is there scope to have an area that’s focused on Barcelona or Spain or Spanish language for people who are participating? It’s a question.

Shauna B: We have a burner meetup here that happens once a month. There’s also a WhatsApp group that kind of held on and became our burner chat. I can reach out specifically. But yeah, a big thing — I don’t know about putting a WhatsApp number online, but there are quite a few of us. I think there’s Barcelona Burners on Facebook and our meeting is monthly at Metamorphosis.

Michael M: All right, then that’s all the business. Good chat and good to get updates from everyone on this real participation focus. But yeah, the barrios are coming, the volunteers are signing up, the artists are registering. It looks like it’s all going. Have a nice evening everyone. Thanks for all your help so far.

Hannah B: Hi. Thank you.

Pepe C: Thank you.

Basem: Bye bye.

Daniela M S: Thank you. Thank you for sharing.

Michael M: No problem. Someone else can do it next time.

Daniela M S: Yes, please. Fun. Yes.

Oliver: Bye-bye everyone. Bye-bye. Ciao.

Julie S: Bye-bye.

Michael M: Is that you eating chicken at Frank’s house?

Daniela M S: Yeah. Yeah.

Frank F: Help yourself.

Michael M: Enjoying that chicken.

Tancredi T: What’s going on?

Frank F: Don’t be jealous. Hey, can you hear me?

Tancredi T: On it.

Frank F: That’s what Nurse said about the different times to do jobs because we’ve got nothing to do right now while everybody else does lots and lots of work. But it’s good.

Michael M: Why don’t you get yourself down to site and start building some shade then?

Frank F: I went yesterday but you weren’t there so I came back because I left my phone here and I wanted to call you.

Frank F: Tank and Joelle. You guys go to the same stylist.

Tancredi T: Clearly. No, no, but we’re chatting about this. Yeah. We’re trying to make just amazing handlebars. Now we’re running, right? By the way, if you’ve got folks that are looking — we’re hiring. Yeah.

Meeting ended after 00:52:41