This is a simple form to collect volunteer "notetakers" (ie. scribes) who will record notes tied to the Breakout Session (6-7PM, the first 1hr of this hr meeting) at the Wednesday 10/725 Select Board (Johnson) Workshop (@ Kennedy Middle School).
Meeting Flow:
[1] Breakout Sessions (60min) ** notetakers needed for just this 1-hour portion **
[2] Sharing Sessions (60min)
[3] Open Discussion (60min)
HEADLINES:
Simple Description of Task: You will be a notetaker for the 1st 1-hour (6-7PM "breakout session") and then a regular workshop participant for the final 2-hours (7-9PM). You are passively recording notes to type-up / create a post-meeting deliverable -- you are *not* being asked to be an active notetaker who's facilitating the workshop or leading/assisting the group discussion.
Deliverable: a concise and structured set of notes (ideal = ~1 page, max of 2 pages) by Saturday 10/11/25 -- sent to communications@natickma.org
Goal: ensure a set of consistent notes across 5 separate breakout sessions that will serve as inputs to create an AI-based, post-workshop report (as well as enabling the Select Board members to focus on their facilitator role). This report will be part of the materials to be presented post-workshop @ an October Select Board meeting (date TBD).
Notetaker Recruitment:
5 notetakers will be identified on a first-come, first-serve basis (i.e. the first four form/survey responders will be selected as notetakers)
Town staff will notify ~1-2 alternates as back-ups, as well as notify all other "non-selected" responders ("thanks, but we already filled the notetaker roles")
If there are <5 notetaker volunteers (e.g. 4 identified residents and 0 alternates) -- Town staff members will be used to fulfill the notetaker quota.
Direction on Notes:
Keep all submitted notes to ~1 page (ideal) and do not exceed 2 pages (max)
Keep the workshop goal in mind (“discuss potential scenarios & components (ie. future uses at Johnson) and refine a scope that will inform a consultant-led effort to calculate estimated financials”)
Plan on making shorthand notes during the 10/7/25 Breakout Sessions and then spending a bit of time summarizing your notes -- see categorization below
Submit as a viewable Google Doc or a common document type (eg. Word/docx or PDF)
Submit summarized workshop notes by Saturday 10/11/25 via email to communications@natickma.org
KEY CATEGORIES of notes to delineate within the 1-page summary (to ensure consistent inputs for AI-based post-workshop report)
#1 - THEMES Top-4 themes from the respective breakout session
#2 - VERBATIMS -- compelling statements to reflect group commentary (please capture verbatims that reflect the group, v. individual)
#3 - OPEN QUESTIONS - -to develop an archive of questions to consider/answer at a future point
^ these 3 categories should be listed as "headers" in the submitted notes (to ensure that the AI can accurately process all inputs)
FYI (1) - If selected, you will be asked to show up by 5:30PM on Tuesday 10/7/25 (to allow for a brief chat ahead of the 6-9PM workshop)
FYI (2) - all raw notes (5) will be made available to the public (goal = transparency)
FYI (3) - a number of residents have asked (a great question) about using AI/tech to record notes each breakout session (v. a resident volunteers). For this particular meeting with multiple breakrooms, varying tech familiarity, and the added hurdle of interrupting an interactive session with "talk into the mic" interruptions... Town staff has opted to go with the old-school human approach. You got this!
FYI (4) - Town staff will take photos to document all poster board materials (ie. notepad questions/comments and all voting/stickers exercises, ie. put stickers on ideas that you like most) to capture/archive all workshop information, so the notetakers are only being asked to capture the thematic group sentiment and some verbatims.
10/7/25 Select Board Workshop information: https://www.natickma.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=12194
Have a question or comment?
Please email Town staff: communications@natickma.org
