WoGAN -- Worcester Global Action Network

"Decriminalizing Resistance" Organizing Working Group's Evaluation:

December 1, 2004

Thoughts about translation from the translation coordinator: (download the Rich Text Format document HERE).

What went well:

• excited to be there, engaged, great energy
• learning from experiences of others
• diversity of speakers Friday night, specific struggles
• diversity good for networking, meeting people and getting on the same page
• good not to have a whole new project
• closure brought people together
• lots of people who were there to learn in Gender Wkshp and Solidarity Economy, facilitators did a good job opening up space for sharing
• Friday lots of Worcester, Saturday lots of out-of-town, good ballance
• WAG was good space and they were excited about hosting us
• Supported each other as organizers, everything went smoothly (from outsiders perspective)
• the conference was rich because so many people were working together to create the conference
• topic important to many movements at this time
• breadth/focus good
• youth workshops kicked ass! Go Walter!
• housing working groups was so on top of things! Go Stephanie and Jen!
• good attendance in every workshop (except health/water one?)
• indigenous struggles, immigrant rights, urban/police/racism issues, youth focus shows a real commitment to locally-based diverse movement
• international guests energy great

• hard to go into depth because people were so diverse, takes a while for people to get on the same page, limited time too
• where exactly was at, flyer was missing detailed info yet too busy
• title can frame it so people w/o activist vocabulary
• book rooms earlier
• if more people, need bigger spaces
• more thought about what workshops would achieve, coordinate better with facilitators
• more schedule
• focus on an action plan (2nd one important), consultative towards an action or project
• events/actions list wasn't consistent or followed-through
• Dinner; forgot about it
• Translation could have been better coordinated for some workshops, Maggie will send some ideas about how to do it better next time.
• we didn't effectively use having Claudia here for Stop Seaboard Campaign
• we didn't effectively use Soledad and Neka (argentina) for micro-enterprise discussion
• Is Worcester Harm Free Zone group moving forward? Did we take advantage of having Kai and others from Critical Resistance here?
• local outreach lacked follow-through, Spanish flyer sooner, local events flyering, more calls, needs bigger working group
• title misleading/too complex/shifted to "security"
• good focus on grassroots low-income groups of color for outreach, could have also included "global justice" activists better
• integrate youth into larger conference better, incentives to stay until the end?
• if larger next year... two lunch serving areas?
• bring together reports from workshops in closing
• triple check rooms with campus police 2 days before
• Friday night running late, WAG was kinda far, lost lot of people, rides.