Welcomers

The welcomers are the persons who take over the task to inform new people about everything that is important to know, when joining biketour. This involves general biketour stuff and history, as well as decisions taken on the respective year's biketour so far.

Here's a collection of topics and sub points that welcomers can use as a guide:

HISTORY OF BIKETOUR

• 1989, Ecotopia Camp and bike tour to the camp
• independent project, different routes and themes
• ...

VALUES AND ETHOS

• focus on the respective year's participation guidelines
• low impact living / travelling (practical issues, such as rubbish)
• sourcing food/stuff (quality, locality, price, vendor power considerations; DIY factor)
• ...

COMMUNICATION AND ORGANISATION

• explain the (philosophical/political) concept of consensus
• explain and practise the practical techniques of consensus decision making agreed upon in the respective year (hand signs, strucutre of decision focused meetings, etc.)
• circles
• facilitation
• language issues (possibility of translation any time, request to use easy language, translation options, practical techniques of fostering multilinguality...)
• liasion roles (passing on information from external people - e.g. in projects visited - to the group; techniques and agreements)
• information deposit and display (folders, folder bag, zine library, rota / task list, timetables, etc., "village green"/"central square")
• calling attention (e.g. gesture, shouted slogan or loud sound)
• buddy groups (controle of presence or arrival, making sure everyone has got food)
• PR, flyers, visibility, blogging
• BT phone (who is carrying it, number(s))
• route signs (how, how not, having chalk)
• ...

ROLES / TASKS

• explain the roles / tasks on the task list / rota
• explain interdependence (e.g.: don't sign up for food team, when you are on the cleaning team. or: don't take a trailor, when you are a scout on the route team, etc.)
• explain all other tasks that might have informally developed but are not on the task list (e.g. preparing further sections of the route or being in contact with projects / places; preparing the project for next year, etc.)
• facilitation
• ...

CAMP / SPATIAL ARRANGEMENTS

• "village green" / central square / plaza (place in the camp where all the communal stuff is gathered, so that it is easily accessible and overviewable and so that it can be secured at night (animals!) or against the rain)
• shit pit (toilet and organic waste disposal agreement)
• smoking, nudity (apart/invisible or in the group)
• ...

EQUIPMENT

• show all communal equipment and show that it is marked with a b sign
• explain about details (e.g. rocket stove pots are black outside from the smoke, so don't hold them against your clothes; order for things while being transported, ...)
• mention common stuff that people carry in their private bags (e.g. non-vegan or alergetic stuff that was donated to the group but should not be mixed with the common meals)
• make sure there is a frequent "show and tell" from all participants to explain what they have or can offer which can be used by everyone (material and immaterial)
• BT stuff and hosts' stuff should never be mixed to avoid confusion and "robbery" when cleaning up
• especially hosts' equipment should be treated extra nicely!!! (e.g. no shiny pots on the rocket stove!)
• show how to put on the trailers, and secure their parts upon arrival

TIMING

• day types (e.g. cycling days, project visit days and rest days)
  • and what that means in terms of differing schedule
  • wake up calls (how to and on which days; possibly agreement to let people sleep in on certain days)
• going to bed agreements (e.g. no music after a specific time or a silent area for early sleepers)
• ...

MONEY

• contribution system (when, who)
• donation system (decisions, who)
• savings system for the BT project (decisions, amount)
• always bring receipts and collect them during the whole bike tour!
• ...

FOOD

• NO GOs
• meal times, cooking times and meal types (e.g. packed lunch)
• diet agreed upon, how to deal with different habits
• saving portions for absent or sleeping people (how and where)
• food storage and preservation techniques
• leftover handling
• waste disposal
• general hygene rules

CYCLING

• route signs and re-marking
• respecting the scouts
• safety (no sudden stopping when cycling together, hand sign for indicating hazards for people behind, ...)
• traffic rules and/or subversion techniques
• ...

ACTIVITIES

• outside actions (demos, parties, cricital masses, etc.)
• internal affairs (workshops, etc.)
• ...

CULTURAL AND PERSONAL BOUNDARIES

• respect boundaries! No means no!
• be watchful, careful and open minded!
• group decisions (e.g. how to deal with (partial) nudity, body contact, smoking/drinking, etc.)
• ...

PRIVACY / DATA PROTECTION

• general points of awareness (philosophical, political, legal)
• decisions about photos/videos, etc. (taking policy, storing/sharing/uploading policy)
• FLOSS use
• ...

BT ORGANISATION BETWEEN THE SUMMMERS

• communication channels
• coordination team (how to apply, what are the tasks)
• autumn and spring meeting
• ways of getting involved decentrally
• ...