VATUSA Town Hall Meeting

[Don Desfosse]

VATUSA is pleased to announce a Town Hall meeting, Sunday 25 Sep at 8:30pm EDT, 7:30pm CDT, 6:30pm MDT, 5:30pm PDT, 4:30pm AKDT, 3:30pm HDT, 26 Sep at 0030Z, etc. -- pick your favorite time zone.

Don Desfosse, VATUSA Division Director, will host a brief discussion highlighting some recent VATUSA highlights, projects, challenges and opportunities, turn the mic over to various VATUSA staff members to add a little color, and then open the forum for general conversation, questions and answers.

The meeting will take place in the VATUSA Teamspeak server.  The following credentials will be in place shortly prior to the meeting.

The TeamSpeak server address is: ts.vatusa.net:9989
Password:  freedom
Please use your full name and facility (e.g. John Doe - ZXX) in the nickname login line.

Meeting will be held in the Archie W. League Conference Room.  If you're a minute or two early and don't know who Archie W. League is, read the description on the right side of the page.

Hope to see lots of folks there!

[Don Desfosse]

Reminder:  This is just under 26 hours away.  Look forward to talking to you all tomorrow evening.

[Don Desfosse]

I'd like to thank everyone who came out for tonight's Town Hall Meeting.  I hope it was helpful, and hope it allows folks to better align with the Division's strategy, and determine next steps to help get us there.  I love doing these, as I really enjoy getting "the word" to lots of folks, and getting to talk to lots of folks as well.

[Kyle Kaestner]

Is there a link of the recording for those of us that couldn't attend?

Thanks in advance.

[Wesley Miles]

Is there a link of the recording for those of us that couldn't attend?

Thanks in advance.

What he said.  We had our event last evening and couldn't participate in the fun.

[Ira Robinson]

I want to thank everyone who attended the Town Hall last night.  It was good to hear people sharing thoughts and ideas.  It was also great to see how relaxed everyone one in that setting.

As a follow up to what Don has said, I want to point out that the atmosphere you experienced last night is exactly what Don is talking about.  You logged on, got comfortable, and in-between Don’s presentation there was a general conversation in a relaxed atmosphere, where everyone took part and nobody was made to feel as if they weren’t part of why we were there.This is what Don is talking about. 

I am fortunate in that I come from an ARTCC were more often than not there are a dozen controllers hanging out on Team Speak and shooting the, well, you know what.  They are also talking about controlling and helping each other to learn.  And they tease each other and encourage each other and they welcome the new guys to the group.It’s where training goes on, both formally and informally, and where ideas are shared, bitching and moaning and whining are encouraged and dealt with by the crew.  Not the Staff, the crew, because it’s a self-policing environment.  Everyone is there to learn how to control, but they are also there to have fun.  And one of the ways they learn is when a senior controller stops by and turns a general conversation into a class room environment.  Because when a controller with five years’ experience shows up and doesn’t simply ignore or talk down to the new guys that goes a long way to making everyone feel welcome.

What all this is about is being comfortable with your fellow controllers. And to this end you will recall I mentioned that when I get back from my vacation later this month I am planning to visit your Team Speak. And I hope you will welcome me because I want to hear what you think about what you heard here today. And frankly, I want to get the measure of your Team Speak and what part it plays in your ARTCC.  Don talked about “that magic”. Well for many of you I’m sure it already exists. For those where it doesn’t we need to find it – and I am convinced that we will.

So thank you again for coming last  night. I look forward to meeting each and every one of you in the very near future.

[Don Desfosse]

Still need to figure out how to shrink the recording from it's 1.5GB size and then I can ask Daniel how to get that onto the new site.  I used to know how to do that with the old site, but not so much any more.  Will post it as soon as I can figure that all out.

[Alex Ying]

I saw the post in the Division Updates forum that contains the slide deck, but it appears I can't download the attachment. I can see a little paperclip, but no clickable links. It'd be great if that could also be posted with the recording.

[Don Desfosse]

Alex, not sure why that is...  I can download it and it looks like 16 others have already downloaded it so far.

[Alex Ying]

Alex, not sure why that is...  I can download it and it looks like 16 others have already downloaded it so far.

Interesting, it seems to have somehow auto-magically appeared now.

[Don Desfosse]

Cool!  Magic is good!