It took me longer to read your 'hinglish'

I have to disagree on a few things.

1) I don't think we should force everybody to wear Indian dresses in the meeting. Yes, we do recommend/prefer it and it would be nice if everybody is dressed traditionally, but people without Indian dresses are as welcome as those with.

2) I don't agree that all proceedings should be in Hindi. The idea for Canadiandesi is to be inclusive for all desi communities, whether Indian or not. And even in India, there are many communities that don't speak Hindi, whether that is right or not is another debate. We don't want to exclude anybody. If all the proceedings are in Hindi, people who are not familiar with Hindi will feel left out.

We can't dictate what language people talk about privately amongst themselves, but all official proceedings should be in English.

3) I don't have kids so its not my problem, but what if someone with a kid younger than 10 can't leave them anywhere? I'll leave this call to people who have kids.

4) I don't agree with any Bhakti-sangeet as well, there should be no religious affiliations within Canadiandesi since this is not a Hindu organisation. Religion is nowhere on the Canadiandesi agenda and should not be.

Again, I feel that a lot of the things you mention are well-intentioned, however they're also exclusionary. And we should stay away from that.


As far as the contribution and the food go, I agree. The focus should not be on food, a few soft-drinks and light snacks will be served. However no elaborate meal-arrangment should be made because that is not the purpose of the meeting. I also don't think anybody should bring anything from home because it'll make the organisation that much more difficult.

If everybody contributes $5 (or whatever we decide) like people have recommended, I'm sure Bio and other organising members can make the arrangements for the light snacks (like cookies/chips) and paper plates. I strongly agree that the organiser should not have to spend any money from his pocket for this, offering a place for the meeting is generous enough.

Everybody is expected to help with any clean-up afterwards if required and I'm sure judging by the response of people here, that should not be an issue.

I think Garvo put up the agenda in his last post quite well. We can detail it a bit more as well go along and post something on the website a week before the meeting as suggested.

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Are you there?

^ I agree with BL on all points.

However, in two hours having a very long agenda will be next to impossible to stick to. Why not just deal with 3-5 starting points, basics being:

1. Everyone's formal intro in a group setting - say yr name, location, since when in Canada. We can use name tags or labels so that everyone remembers each others' names while talking. I'd say leave out job/qualifications from intro until people mix with each other a bit more and start to feel comfortable. If u have forty people introducing themselves, this part will take up about 20 minutes.

2. Break up the big group into two or three smaller ones. Keep it simple: people on left side of room are group A, people on right become group B, center is C.

3. Each group designates a minute-taker and a speaker. Each group is given a written set of talking points for its members to discuss with each other. This way, people get to know each other a bit more on a one-on-one basis.

Talking points:

A. Employment:
- lived where prior to coming to Canada?
- Qualifications and current job status (employed/seeking/student etc)
- previous work experience (just a very brief summary per person)
- what do u want to do now? future job expectations and how u r trying to achieve them (eg. taking classes, using job boards, etc..)

This part should take up 30 minutes.

B. Life, Home & Health:
- Single? Married? Have kids?
- Issues you have faced since arriving in Canada - list ONE or TWO only (allows everyone in the group to list major issues they have faced), and say how they were resolved (if resolved)
- Issues you are facing THIS WEEK - list ONE only, and say how you expect to get it resolved (allows someone with a similar experience to respond immediately)
- What questions do u have for the general members? List only ONE or TWO per group member.

This part should take up 30 minutes.

Then the groups disband and get together as one large group, and the speaker of each group summarizes what they have heard/learnt for the benefit of everyone else.

This part takes up 30 minutes.

The list of questions for the general members is then given to the hosts and they can either put the questions to the audience right then or gather them up and pose the questions on the Charcha forum later, or do a combination of both.

Then everyone can break for snacks and either stay to network (depends on biomed) or go home.

just my two cents worth.

As for bringing kids, parents with young children should designate which spouse is to take exclusive care of them, so that atleast one parent is attentive thruout the meeting and can share their experiences with the spouse when they get home. It is easier than two people going back and forth with kids' demands and each getting only half the benefit or less out of the meeting.

I suggest if anyone has teenagers, pls. bring them so that two or three teens can babysit the younger crowd together. This will be less disruptive than individual parents looking after their kids separately. And maybe as an added incentive, u don't take a gate fee for the teens.

btw, I hope u are aware that kids of any age will not stay hungry for two hours, or even one hour, without complaining about something or the other. It's alright to end the meeting with coffee and cookies for the adults, but if someone's parent is giving him a fruit juice pack brought from home other kids are going to go to their parents and be vocal about the unfairness. Then the whole meeting will turn into "I'm bored, I want to go home" outbursts. Better than that, if u plan to have kids at the party, also plan for a two large cheese pizzas, soda pop, neapolitan ice cream and a VERY recent Disney movie. This way, even without babysitters, they can ALL gather around the TV set and eat contentedly. Better not to have video games because then the girls will get bored and fidgety.

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i am back

Very good beautysalon but what a waste of time talking about the past
'Employment and Life, Home & Health'. The meeting should be more constructive and stressed on how an individual can help a newcomer or those seeking for advice on having a soft landing in Canada.
Personal issues and networking can be discussed during the snack break.

Beautysalon’s suggestion can be modified a bit to get more out of this meeting. How about making small group of participants along with atleast one Senior Desi. and let them interact with each other, this would help them to wider their network, share their valuable ideas regarding job search, after landing experience, how to get maximum out of government programs for new immigrants, etc. These sessions must have some sort of time limit.

Thanks and regards.
Biomed

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"Change before you have to" : Jack Welch

I would like to attend this meeting but had a question. Are there any students attending? I'm asking this because I'm a student and would like to know if students are also active in the canadiandesi community.
thanks

Quote:

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Orginally posted by isomet10

I would like to attend this meeting but had a question. Are there any students attending? I'm asking this because I'm a student and would like to know if students are also active in the canadiandesi community.
thanks

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"Change before you have to" : Jack Welch