Some concern about the handling of past PR situations; I think these were very difficult situations, but I think an excellent version of the hotel would have handled these better
I think this is a little unfair. It would be good to know exactly what we (or an excellent version of the hotel) could’ve (would’ve) done better regarding the PR situations (I assume this is referring to the Economist and Times articles). Oliver Habryka says here “I still think something in this space went wrong”, but doesn’t say what (see my reply to Habryka for detail on what happened with the media). Jonas Vollmer says in reply to Habryka’s comment:
… “better than many did in the early stages (including myself in the early stages of EAF) but (due to lack of experience or training) considerably worse than most EA orgs would do these days.” There are many counterintuitive lessons to be learnt, many of which I still don’t fully understand, either.
but doesn’t elaborate. I have also talked to someone at CEA at length about media, including what happened with the hotel, and they didn’t suggest anything that we could’ve done better given the situation (of the media outlets publishing whether we liked it or not). So I’m genuinely curious here. Although, ok, I guess maybe we could’ve removed the flipboard sheet from the wall before the journalist came in, even though it was a surprise visit.
Hi Greg—from my perspective, CEA did discuss all of these points with you. For example, last week when you emailed and asked what the Hotel could have done better on media, I replied about something I saw as a mistake and what I thought should have been done differently. We’ve also discussed the staffing issue. I’m happy to discuss more by email or call if you’d like.
I understand we may view these situations differently and that you may disagree with CEA’s recommendations for improvements. We might also have different views about how much explicit direction (versus just advice) it’s appropriate for us to give an external org. I don’t think it’s accurate, though, to indicate that we haven’t provided feedback or suggestions.
Hi Julia, ok but to me the point you raised about media was tangential, i.e. it was not directly related to the PR situations themselves. For those curious—I missed a meeting with a professional communications advisor at EAG London last year, on account of missing an email (in which the meeting was arranged for me) sent the day before whilst I was driving to London. I was overwhelmed at the time with interest in the hotel, and that wasn’t the only email (or meeting) I missed.
The point I raised was not about the round of media stories from Sept 2018, but was about preparing for future media inquiries. So you’re right that it’s not about past media situations, but about how further situations might be handled.
Regarding explicit direction vs advice—for me it was the fact that something I thought had been dealt with acceptably seems to have—unbeknownst to me—remained a live issue in terms of it effecting funding decisions. More explicit direction at the time in terms of “if you want to get funding from CEA you need to do this” seems like it would’ve been better in hindsight.
From my perspective, I repeatedly gave you information about a situation that I saw as a problem. How you decided to handle the problem as the manager of the project was up to you. We don’t see it as a good idea for funders to make ultimatums about the staffing decisions of potential grantees. But as Nicole said, this was one of the things among many she considered when looking back at the history of the project.
After talking more with Greg, I realized I should clarify that I don’t mean I think something went badly wrong at the Hotel.
As Nicole said above, CEA would be happy to help the Hotel with finding an excellent Project and Community Manager, and to consider helping to fund these roles if there’s another source of general funding.
I have no objections to other donors supporting the Hotel. The default is that projects don’t get EA Grants, and this situation should be seen as “the default happened” rather than “the Hotel did something unusually bad to disqualify itself from funding it would otherwise have gotten.”
As Nicole said above, CEA would be happy to help the Hotel with finding an excellent Project and Community Manager, and to consider helping to fund these roles if there’s another source of general funding.
We now have general funding for the next few months and are hiring for both a Community & Projects Manager and an Operations Manager, with input from Nicole and others at CEA. Unfortunately with the winding down of EA Grants the possibility of funding for the Community & Projects Manager salary has gone. If anyone would like to top up the salaries for either the Community & Projects Manager or Operations Manager (currently ~£21.5k/yr pro rata including free accommodation and food), please get in touch!
We are still happy to help with hiring and to consider helping to fund the role if there’s enough general funding. We haven’t received new info from Greg about whether there is enough general funding that it’s worth moving forward hiring, so we’re currently on standby.
I think this is a little unfair. It would be good to know exactly what we (or an excellent version of the hotel) could’ve (would’ve) done better regarding the PR situations (I assume this is referring to the Economist and Times articles). Oliver Habryka says here “I still think something in this space went wrong”, but doesn’t say what (see my reply to Habryka for detail on what happened with the media). Jonas Vollmer says in reply to Habryka’s comment:
but doesn’t elaborate. I have also talked to someone at CEA at length about media, including what happened with the hotel, and they didn’t suggest anything that we could’ve done better given the situation (of the media outlets publishing whether we liked it or not). So I’m genuinely curious here. Although, ok, I guess maybe we could’ve removed the flipboard sheet from the wall before the journalist came in, even though it was a surprise visit.
Hi Greg—from my perspective, CEA did discuss all of these points with you. For example, last week when you emailed and asked what the Hotel could have done better on media, I replied about something I saw as a mistake and what I thought should have been done differently. We’ve also discussed the staffing issue. I’m happy to discuss more by email or call if you’d like.
I understand we may view these situations differently and that you may disagree with CEA’s recommendations for improvements. We might also have different views about how much explicit direction (versus just advice) it’s appropriate for us to give an external org. I don’t think it’s accurate, though, to indicate that we haven’t provided feedback or suggestions.
Hi Julia, ok but to me the point you raised about media was tangential, i.e. it was not directly related to the PR situations themselves. For those curious—I missed a meeting with a professional communications advisor at EAG London last year, on account of missing an email (in which the meeting was arranged for me) sent the day before whilst I was driving to London. I was overwhelmed at the time with interest in the hotel, and that wasn’t the only email (or meeting) I missed.
The point I raised was not about the round of media stories from Sept 2018, but was about preparing for future media inquiries. So you’re right that it’s not about past media situations, but about how further situations might be handled.
Fair point, but Nicole refers to:
Also it’s worth mentioning our actual subsequent track record over the past year (i.e. 0 further PR situations).
Regarding explicit direction vs advice—for me it was the fact that something I thought had been dealt with acceptably seems to have—unbeknownst to me—remained a live issue in terms of it effecting funding decisions. More explicit direction at the time in terms of “if you want to get funding from CEA you need to do this” seems like it would’ve been better in hindsight.
From my perspective, I repeatedly gave you information about a situation that I saw as a problem. How you decided to handle the problem as the manager of the project was up to you. We don’t see it as a good idea for funders to make ultimatums about the staffing decisions of potential grantees. But as Nicole said, this was one of the things among many she considered when looking back at the history of the project.
After talking more with Greg, I realized I should clarify that I don’t mean I think something went badly wrong at the Hotel.
As Nicole said above, CEA would be happy to help the Hotel with finding an excellent Project and Community Manager, and to consider helping to fund these roles if there’s another source of general funding.
I have no objections to other donors supporting the Hotel. The default is that projects don’t get EA Grants, and this situation should be seen as “the default happened” rather than “the Hotel did something unusually bad to disqualify itself from funding it would otherwise have gotten.”
Is CEA helping out with this?
We now have general funding for the next few months and are hiring for both a Community & Projects Manager and an Operations Manager, with input from Nicole and others at CEA. Unfortunately with the winding down of EA Grants the possibility of funding for the Community & Projects Manager salary has gone. If anyone would like to top up the salaries for either the Community & Projects Manager or Operations Manager (currently ~£21.5k/yr pro rata including free accommodation and food), please get in touch!
We are still happy to help with hiring and to consider helping to fund the role if there’s enough general funding. We haven’t received new info from Greg about whether there is enough general funding that it’s worth moving forward hiring, so we’re currently on standby.