Summary

Forum is a program within our FOOM. We breakout into groups of 7-10 in a “keeper’s league” style in order to build deep relationships within our Forum groups. In these groups, participants will engage in private and Confidential meetings to share wins, experiences, and barriers. The following are critical to having a good Forum group 1) authenticity/vulnerability, 2) engagement/participation, and confidentiality/respect.

The following presentation will provide an introduction to the program however FOOM leadership and Forum leadership will be continuously improving the program.

Resources

Sample Forum sheet/dashboard – Do not edit this – instead copy to your own drive and create a shared folder for your Forum

Format:

• 3:00pm Review and agree upon agenda – Confidentiality Reminder
• 3:05pm Updates – Best & Worst (Work/Investment, family, personal) or Rose/Bud/Thorn (Win/opportunity ahead/issues) 3 min each all – Prepared in advance via chart below.  There may be different forms used for this process. One word open… what is your feelings?
• 
• 3:30pm Prior month’s Hot Seat give a 2-5 minute update and review of their action plan
• 3:40pm Scheduled Hot Seat 45 minutes – See Hot Seat Format for details below
• 4:20pm 10 Minute Break
• 4:30pm Hot Seat #2 – 45 minutes – See Hot Seat Format for details below
• 5:15pm Parking Lot Update – What did we learn?  What worked and what did not? Pick from initial share of peoples issues they are tracking for next Hot Seat selections.
• 5:20pm Housekeeping – membership, scheduling, upcoming events, presentations/coaching, attendance review, protocol review.
• 5:30pm Adjourn Leave for dinner/social time

16. Hot Seat Format Standard

Hot Seat to be determined one month in advance – Flowmaster to determine exceptions.  Flowmaster to create an annual Hot Seat schedule.

1. Hot Seat/Flowmaster leads Icebreaker question that somehow relates to theme of Hot Seat. 1 Min per person.
2. Hot Seat indicates what he/she expects from the group. 1 minute
3. Flowmaster repeats the presenter’s objective ensuring group understanding.
4. Hot Seat describes the situation without interruption. 10-15 minutes or less
5. Clarifying Question and Answer period. max 3-5 minutes
6. 1 minute of silence (all) so everyone can get in correct state
7. Flowmaster calls upon members in the order in which they raise their hands or clockwise/counter clockwise order.
8. Experience sharing – this is where each member of the group gives their relevant experience, that which answers the presenters objective in two to three minutes each. The first person to speak is the person to the immediate left of the presenter or otherwise determined by Flowmaster – you may pass or skip to come back to.  It is critical that there are no interruptions and that there is not interaction or rebuttal after each summary. Experience share is as much for the presenter on the hot seat as the other participants – really we are just using the Hot Seat to initiate and draw out experiences for the group to gain.
   1. Optional – Instead of the structured order (above) groups may elect for a less formal process that we call “popcorn” where there is no speaking order and there is more flexibility in rebuttals with the person on the hot seat. FOOM Staff recommends the formal structured order with no interruptions because it creates more value for other participants listening in to which they might be self reflecting their own situation or offering contrasting viewpoints as the order of speaker comes to their turn. This subtle aspect would be lost in a “popcorn” format. See also minimalistic format below.
   2. When giving your input it might be less confrontational (advice-y) to address the group as a whole. Reminder we are not giving advice we are “experience sharing.” This means reframe from saying things like “you should”, “if I were you” – Flowmaster or designated should police the group of these infractions. When someone has the speaking floor to share please do not interrupt especially if you are not on the hot seat.
   3. We want to minimize a few people to monopolizing all of the “talk time” and therefore the formal time allotments for each participant and non-interruption policy is designed to all people to speak their mind and draw out their experiences. Every Forum may choose to run their groups how they wish but when brining in new people or if the value of the meetings decrease for all we suggest you go back to the basics.
9. Take Away value (Hot Seat Presenter) – 3 minutes
10. One word close by Hot Seat Presenter
11. Presentation is over.
12. A member who gives a repetitive presentation (same issue brough up more than twice) will be required to list 3 actions steps for the resolution of this issue with a time line.

Other Considerations

1. Forum groups are optional and on top of our existing FOOM bi-weekly calls.
2. FORUM calls will not be recorded
3. Participants will be split into Forum group based on goals, net worth, and when they entered FOOM. We overpopulate the groups knowing that 10-25% of participants might go through a season in life where they are busy and life gets in the way – at that point those members will be removed from those groups after ~2 no shows.

4. Emergency Meetings — Attendance if possible. In case of scheduled meeting, Flowmaster makes decision.

5. Conflict Resolution – Conflicts between members should first attempt to be resolved between the individual members involved.  Conflicts that are not resolved individually will meet with the Flowmaster for a resolution.  Unresolved conflicts that include the Flowmaster will use the backup Flowmaster to resolve the conflict.  FOOM staff will be on call to help with conflict… and possible reshuffling of Members.

6. Business within the Forum – to protect the trust, relationships, and the value of the Forum experience business between FOOM Forum members is not permitted (unless initiated by buyer).  

7. Potential Headwind: Unlike other mastermind groups out there where participants are raging entrepreneurs our FOOM consists of participants who are well more “passive”  where there connection/changes/idea that are inspired by our mastermind are often the 2 or 3rd focus. Family first and potentially your profession (if you have not checked out yet). FOOM staff expects a varying level of participation in Forum gatherings. On the one had it is better if everyone is bought in (makes every meeting to build continuity) but we still want to leave things up to individual Forum group on the exception for that. To ensure optimal group size of 5-8 participants on each Forum call we would look to initially overloading groups to ensure we get that target number as there are issues with too many people and too little – therefore its a moving target and we welcome feedback to create the best experience. We will address this in the coming months on a path forward with what fits with FOOM groups.
8. If your group is not a good fit please let the FOOM staff know and we will allow for one migration. 
9. Participants will only be in one Forum group unless approved by FOOM staff for purposes of getting new Forum groups in-doctorated. If you are not getting full involvement from your Forum-mates please take ownership and invest more into your group. Or get the FOOM staff involved so we can help you steer the ship. When participants commit to a group, are open minded, and invest in each other via participating and playing full out magical things will happen!
10. The biggest mistake is not being consistent about when and where you have your weekly mastermind calls. Once you find a time that works for your first call, try and stick with that same time for all calls. Google Calendar makes this easy as you can send a recurring invite.
11. Expecting immediate results. Masterminds can take a couple of months before they really get going and build trust between members.
12. Not taking any action on the feedback you receive. If someone brings up the same issues multiple times after a dedicated hot seat then we suggest a formal action plan held accountable by that Forum group.
13. A few annual meetings will be completed within our normal Mastermind timeslot. However feel free to meeting as needed. Knowing most participants are busy professionals so meeting more than once a month will likely be too much.
14. Concentrate all messaging in the FOOM Discord channel. We feel other communication channels such as other Discord groups, text/email message threads, whatsApp, etc will become too much noise for our demographic. Again your Forum group was think otherwise and enjoy conversing in long text thread like a bunch of teenagers but just be aware that you will alienate though who are trying to live simpler unplugged lives and you will detract from the authentic experiences in your routine Forum meetings.
15. Other Mastermind tips here.

Meeting Logistics

1. Forum group decides to do meetings in-person or virtually. We recommend virtually to start with once in-person gathering a year.
2. A meal can take place during a meeting. Participant tabs can be settled individually or there can be rotating person who picks up the tab.
3. During in-person meeting instruct restaurant staff to serve only at set times or as instructed. Having one spilling their emotions or confidential information and being interrupted by someone filling water glasses should not happen. Meeting venues that are idea are private dining areas.
4. During virtual meetings the danger will be outside distractions which will lead to sub-par results.

Option 2: LITE Forum Format

The above format is recommended to provide structure for collaboration. Some Forums might find it too restrictive however we recommend to give it a try as it is a time tested format. That said you are welcome to run your Forum the way you want so here is another format.

Mini-mastermind leader will be give the freedom to tailor the format based on feedback of participants.

• Rotate the order of the first person on the hot seat
• The first 15-25 minutes of the call is for accountability check-ins where everyone takes a few minutes to share their progress since the last call.
• The meat of the 1-hour time meeting is dedicated to two hot seats (15-20 min 2x each). This will allow a dive deep into a goal or challenge that they want to work through and have the other members on the call give them feedback on. 
• The mini mastermind leader will be the timekeeper

Alternative LITE Forum Format

Every member takes 10-20 minutes to request feedback from the attendees. After a quick round of clarifying questions, experience shares are given. 

Option 3: Foom Forums Virtual Issue Processing Format

1. Updates 3 minutes per person: grade 1-10 on Health, Relationships, Working for Money, Money working for you, and list issues you would like feedback on

2. Once everyone has given 3-min updates, compile issues and try to consolidate issues amongst group. Member who does not have a topic will play the role of flowmaster.

3. Member describes issue in this format – Topic time spent 10-15 min, rotate to next topic

Other Best Practices:

Here are some tips on how to prepare for when it’s your turn on the hot seat.

• The ideal format is 2-5 minutes to describe your specific challenge or problem. Then, 15-18 minutes for group feedback.
• Since you have limited time on the hot seat, use your time wisely. For example, if you want feedback on vetting a specific deal or infinite banking plan, send it to your mastermind a couple of days beforehand.
• Listening is as important as ‘presenting’. Don’t use up all your time explaining your problem and then questioning or disagreeing with the feedback you receive. 
• Some Forum groups are locked with participants from the same geographic regions to lead to in-person meetings. However, some groups will lack routine participation from members and geographically separated over many time zones. In these cases there will be FORUM groups created with a larger list of at-large members.

In addition, here are some great questions that you can ask to get better feedback when you’re on the hot seat.  

• Do you think I’m paying attention to the right metrics to reach my goals?
• Can you see any blind spots that I might be missing?
• What would you do if you were in my shoes?