FM24H-06

This post officially announces the second annual Faster Mustache 24 Hour Race and the format through which it will be conceived, planned, and operated.

As of 5.10.06, a group of FMers met and discussed when and how the second race will be developed over the next several months. Please read over the post thuroughly, as the format for the planning is somewhat abstract in its nonlinear development strategy.

What: Second Annual Faster Mustache 24 Hour Race
When: September 23, 2006 (the autumnal equinox!)
Where: Hosted by Estoria 97

Planning Format: Open Source

As many of you other nerds out there will understand, open source 'describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's sources. Some consider it as a philosophy, and others consider it as a pragmatic methodology'... we consider it the only true FM way to plan this race. For us, this means ANYBODY can have a considerably influential role in the critical planning of this event. There will be no core planning committee, no initially delegated coordinators or task representatives, no single moderator, or designated race planner! You can be anything you want to be, and if you want to have a large role in the planning of the race, get up, host a meeting, and make it happen. The format described forces leaders to emerge from our public forum of thought.

Here is how it works. From our experience of the previous race, we have developed a generallized checklist/topics that must be addressed. FMers will review the list, see where they think they can offer input, and host/participate in meetings which discuss and conclude issues within the topics. ANYBODY can do this. Debate and discussion is welcome on the FM.org, but face to face meetings must be conducted to make a final decision on any given issue. A user will plan in advance, post that they will host a meeting to discuss an issue(s) on the FM.org, host/moderate that meeting, take notes, and post the conclusions of that meeting the following day. Once each topic has been adequately represented, a final decission may be locked in stone, and no longer up for debate, but there must be adequate support to do so.

- A meeting can be hosted at a house, at a bar, over pizza, or coordinated with another host.
- All posts regarding the 24 hour race will be made in the FM24 race forum to allow for users to easily view only race related information.
- Keeping a list of attendees and votes made or reasoning for conclusions is recommended to give users who read meeting minutes a clear understanding of the outcomes. Maybe take some pictures too! We do like documentation of the process!

Note: this format forces you to take action. if someone hosts a race route meeting, and aventually the route is decided, but then you come in a week later with some sweet new ideas? well shit man, its too late. you should have said something when you had the chance. this is the ultimate diplomatic planning process and you can either be a part of it or not.

I will set up, briefly, a hypothetical meeting situation:

- User_03 announces he is intersted in hosting a meeting to begin discussion on the past race route, list concerns about a new route, draw on a map a possible proposed route or route objectives, and maybe ride a lap on the proposed route to later be analyzed and discussed at future meetings.
- User_03 says meet at his loft on Wednesday at 8pm to discuss. Some beer provided.
- User_03 has a meeting agenda. It is discussed, notes taken, and teh group rides the route afterwards.
- User_03 posts the meeting outcomes the next day for all to see. No details are left out.
- User_17 takes the outcomes of the meeting a hosts another race route analysis and test ride meeting a week later.
- In 3 weeks a route is decided and members can begin using the decided route for marketing/website/etc purposes allowing a progression in the entire race planning format.

Official Checklist:
note: the order here roughly suggests a order of planning. for example, the theme and graphics must be developed before the website can be made

1. hosting, coordination w/ host ESTORIA (this is the only topic in which one or two representative should be chose to lighten the load on Estoria)
site staging and logistics

2. theme, branding & graphics (t-shirts, swag, design etc)

3. safety
route
lap tracking system

4. website
publicity, promotion

5. registration (& team categories)

6. sponsors
prizes

7. SAG support

8. legal (waiver & more)

9. entertainment

10. figuring out how to fly daniel back from paris to participate in this race