Tribe Community Call - Agreements and Expectations

We ask that you honor the following agreements and expectations for the call:

  • Confidentiality 
    • Share your own experience, but not another person’s stories or experiences.
    • Be in a private space – no roommates or others passing by in your video or listening in to the audio.
  • Assume good intentions 
    • Keep this a safe space.
    • Help keep the discussion focused, e.g., responding to the prompt question, avoiding “rat-holes” and tangents.
    • Be mindful of time guidelines so everyone has a chance to participate.
  • Be responsible for your own safety, self-care, and learning
    • Each person is responsible for his or her experience.
    • Please do not drink alcohol or use recreational mind-altering drugs on the day of the event.
    • Support others seeking safety — e.g., if someone asks you to “Stop”, stop. (This rarely happens, for what it’s worth).
    • Actively listen, share, journal, participate, etc. to maximize learning. 
  • Be present 
    • Avoid walking, running, driving, cooking, or other activities during the call that prevent you from being present with others during the call, particularly during breakouts.
    • Once breakout groups start, plan to remain on the call for the rest of the meeting – please don’t “ghost” your breakout group, negatively impacting others.
    • If you choose to not participate in breakouts or must leave before the scheduled end of the call, inform the hosts before breakouts are formed.
    • We understand life happens, if an emergency calls you away, please depart in relationship with others by informing the large group chat or sharing with your small group.

While you’re probably a “Zoom expert” by now during COVID-19, we ask that you be responsible for your technology:

  • Before the Call
      • Confirm your Internet speed supports voice and video.  Visit www.speedtest.net and click on “Go” to test your Internet speed from the device and location where you’ll join our call.  Zoom recommends download speeds of at least 3 megabits per second, in our experience, 10 ensures an issue-free call.  If your test shows less than 10 megabits, try moving closer to your router and re-run the test, or when you join Zoom, join the Zoom audio conference via the “Phone Call” tab and call in as instructed instead of joining with Computer Audio:
      •  Share your video.  A laptop or computer with a webcam is preferred over a smartphone or tablet so you can share yourself and see more participants.  We understand some cannot do this, and that’s okay.  Do the best that you can.
      • Use a good mic.  In general, a headset microphone is preferred over a built-in laptop microphone. Consider a USB-plug-in or Bluetooth wireless headset or earbuds. Again, do the best you can.
      • Join the call five minutes early to say “Hi” and test out your camera, microphone, and Internet connection to minimize tech issues during the call. 
  • During the Call
      • Unmute to talk — When you join the call, you will be on mute
      • Mute when not talking — Especially when you are in the large meeting and not talking, mute yourself to minimize background sounds.  This is less important during breakouts.
      • Reach out for tech issues, by typing in the Zoom chat window or emailing inquiries@tribeofmen.com.
      • If your WiFi connection drops during the call, when you rejoin, call in using “Phone Call” audio conference options.

And, despite the best plans, tests, etc. we all understand “things happen”.  Please be compassionate with yourself and others when the inevitable tech issues play out.

Anyone is welcome to join the call even without the recommended tech gear, acknowledging they may need some accommodation, for example, if one cannot be reliably heard or seen, they might just listen in.  We ask everyone to be compassionate and work together to find the best solution in these situations.

We’ll ask everyone to confirm their alignment at the start of the call, so if you have any questions or concerns, please email them in advance to inquiries@tribeofmen.com to save meeting time.