Major themes from Vision Council, Vision Tele Council and Survey Feedback

(These are all things that were apparent before the council retreat in March, that were discussed during the course of the retreat, and some of the discussion and solutions):

1. First-time participants/buddy system/integration
2. Families need to be welcomed
3. Orientation (General orientation and Affinity Group orientation)
4. More space in schedule
5. Daily Council a good thing
6. Day Trippers needs clarity
7. Drug Policy needs clarity
8. Food issues need clarity around what we can and can’t do

How these items were addressed in the Council Winter Retreat:

1. We have established affinity groups for this year.  One of the affinity groups will be for first time participants.  It will include some experienced folks in addition to the affinity group leaders, to help buddy, share and talk about experiences as well as orient and assist those attending Phoenix Fire for the first time.  Acknowledged that we had many people from last year’s event Fire Circle Council who were enthusiastic to participate in this process and will include them by connecting them up with the affinity group.

2. Families – it was clear that more needs to be provided for families with children so that they feel welcome and adequately supported.  We will have a Families Affinity Group this year, so that community members with children can come together to support each other, share what’s working and not working, etc.  The Affinity Group Leaders of this group this year will be parents with older self-sufficient children who have been coming to PF and other gatherings with their children, and have experience in camping and attending festivals with kids.

3. Orientation needs:  It was obvious there was a group of people passionate about orientation and having something more cohesive and demonstrative about what we do.  Needs to be less boring and not in the dining hall.  Council discussed splitting up the important information about practical matters (ie. fire safety, kitchen rules, etc) and the fire circle orientation, into two different segments.  The practical info can still be announced at the first meal when we have everyone gathered in one place, and that setting is more conducive to this kind of information.  As for the location of the fire circle orientation, both the amphitheatre and the Village Circle have their pro’s and con’s.  Final location has not yet been determined; it will depend on our numbers and technical needs for both.  The Programming Committee is to appoint a team of community members to help put together an enlightening and informative orientation.  There were specific people who expressed interest in doing that.

4. More Space in Schedule – This year, we are focusing on “back to basics” so there won’t be workshop slots this year.  There will only be daily affinity group meetings.  This should provide more space and flexibility in the schedule for different groups to meet for what they want to do AND for more socializing and “hanging out”.  There will still be learning, but all done in the affinity group daily meetings, along with talking more about the circle and what is and is not working.

5. Daily Council:  Along with affinity groups, we’ll still have daily fire circle councils for the entire community, so that each affinity group can hear what the others have to share about the interactions in circle the previous night.  There will also still be a community Vision Council at some point during the gathering. (Note:  we also got great feedback about the Winter Community Vision Councils held in March, and plan to continue more of that throughout the year.)

6. Day Trippers needs clarity: It was very apparent that our “day-trippers” policy, although firmly expressed, was not firmly enforced, and had some exceptions, particularly for Advisory Board members.  Council talked at length about this and all agree that it is the best for the community and event to have a clear policy that is consistent and honored.  There was discussion of not having different rules for different folks.  The ranger will be talked to this year before we arrive about NOT doing any tours of guests during our event.  There was the question of arrival flexibility for Advisory Council.  We are talking to advisory council to get their thoughts and opinion on this issue.  We also acknowledged that there are last minute emergencies that require  some flexibility of gate closures, but those are exceptions, not the rule.  All in all, we are committed to being firm with gate closure times this year, being firm with the camp about guest tours AND we are talking to advisory council about what to do with the exception we made last year with them.  All final policies will be clearly stated on the website and registration materials.

7. Drug Policy needs clarity: It is clear that we need to make a clearer statement as to drug and substance policy on our website, publicly and in our registration materials.  Council discussed at length and agreed there are many complexities to this issue, particularly around behavior, personal safety, safety of others, fire safety and sacredness/energy brought to the circle.  Patrick is drafting an example of a more thorough substance policy that council will finalize and then will be posted on our materials about the event.

8. Food issues:  There is an increasingly larger portion of our population that has specific dietary needs.  We acknowledge that the spirit of including dinners and final breakfast in the registration was to foster community connection and at least one time a day that everyone is together in one place for announcements and such.  We also know that it feels unfair to some to pay for meals they can’t eat.  This year we have hired a new cook who we think will be SPECTACULAR and more understanding and flexible around dietary needs.  She will be in charge of the kitchen from VB days all the way through which should make managing the kitchen much easier on our volunteer staff.  She is used to working with volunteers in the kitchen.  All this should make the kitchen workload much more manageable.  In addition, we have pulled all the meals out of the registration price so those who don’t want to eat the prepared meals can bring their own food to prepare and not be paying for meals they won’t eat.  We are creatively working on some kind of way to provide an area near the kitchen for individuals to prep their own food so that we can still have everyone gather together at dinners.  We don’t have a full solution yet, but may enlist those who have interest in this setup to help contribute to figuring it out.