I want to put a positive face on the Boquete Community input on the Tuesday Morning Meetings. I posted on Boquete Guide, BoqueteNing and used Noticas to reach in excess of four thousand people who either live in Boquete or are interested enough to read those resources. As of now sixty six people have responded to the poll, another twenty seven have left comments on this site.
Less that 2.5% of those contacted cared enough about the future of the Tuesday meetings to respond. Of those who did respond eleven said they never go to the meetings. That would indicate that the meetings, a long tradition in this community, are only important to about one hundred people in Boquete; I know that is wrong. When we have a topic of interest the community packs the house.
Boquete Community Meeting
Of those who did respond with comments there were many useful suggestions. One of the ideas is to allow commercial meetings and let the vendor pay the BCP, eliminating the $1 per person fee at the door, a great idea and the BCP has told me they will consider that option.
Dianne and I have been donating time and effort to this meeting. Dianne has been doing this for years, me only for a few months. I will not call the work thankless because many people do thank us.
I was not a regular attendee of the meetings in the past. I went when the topic was of interest to me; the way it should be. Now I go to most meetings because I introduce the speaker unless Dianne does the deed. Most meetings have fifty or fewer people present, rarely a full house in an expat community of thousands. It is clear most topics are not of great interest to people here. The question is why try to maintain a schedule of weekly meetings unless there are topics of interest to at least one hundred in the community.
What is needed is more speakers who are willing to donate an hour of their time to educate those in the community on something of interest. Most of our requests to groups in the community fall on deaf ears. In the past I have tried to get people to talk about alternative health care, only Gilberto stepped forward. I have tried to get people to speak on tourism, no one local was willing. I have tried to get some of the local groups who do hiking, birdwatching etc to speak, nada. When people make suggestions for speakers they are usually unwilling to contact the speaker and ask for them to speak. It is not my job to beg people to speak. I do ask, but I am unwilling to be a gadfly.
I have decided to allow the meetings to be less frequent and reduce the pressure on both Dianne and I. When we have good speakers we will have meetings. We will try a bi or trimonthly tourist and newbies meeting as suggested in comments. If the BCP decides to allow paid commercial presentations they will fill the time slot.
In the beginning the meetings helped create the critical mass needed for the market. Now I believe the market stands on it’s own and will grow and expand regardless of whether we have speakers or not.
The new reality is fewer speakers, perhaps commercial speakers and more efforts at newbie related meetings with no speakers. I am still looking for input and speakers and if someone else has a better idea I am open to all suggestions.
My vote: First Tuesday of the month…ExPat Information Exchange…open meeting where people can ask questions of fellow residents and get answers from fellow residents. Encourage more experienced residents to attend on this specific Tuesday of the month to add more wizened comments.
My vote: Third Tuesday of the month….a speaker of interest. Maybe with a reduced schedule, more people will come up with a speaker of interest.
My vote: Go back to Dianne’s meeting minutes publication of several years ago and revisit some of those topics.
My opinion…..I cannot imagine BCP having the resources to find speakers and get them to pay to speak.
Thanks Lee…your hard work is always appreciated….your impact on us is always amazing.
I just now saw the poll and voted. I must have overlooked the other messages. Thanks to you and Dianne for all your work.
I have found the meetings to be very informative and an excellent source of community networking.
We attend whenever we are in Boquete.
Please keep up the good work.
Thank You
Alan Nilsen
Hi Lee,
Many expats are probably more acculturated and that´s why they don´t need a weekly meeting.
Saludos a todos,
Hilda
One limiting factor: even if there were a large turnout, the facility holds only 110 people. Tuesday market would prevent any overflow crowd in the Hex Room.
It very well could be that the expat growth in Boquete has stopped. I really do not know. If it has slowed or stopped, then I would have to agree that re-hashing old information probably will not draw a crowd. But, when I read this Ning forum, it seems to me that there are still a million questions coming, some asked a thousand times before and some new, but still coming.
And every time I read a Ning post about “is this available” or “where do I get this” or “how do I do that”, I think to myself that entrepreneurs are missing the target. Why wouldn’t they want to bring it to TCM and sell it to people who want it?
Bill’s comment above is well-taken. It could be that the new influx of people has slowed/stopped, at least in terms of those purchasing land and making long-term plans. It seems many more are renters and snow-birds. Also, as Hilda mentioned, others are probably more acculturated to Panama. The area has also acculturated to the gringos, opening stores like Do-It and Conway in recent years. The difference in “how business is done” between Panama and the US will probably remain a mystery.
It will be interesting to see how the new concept works, and it is a good thing that not just anyone with a pulse will be put on stage to fill the slot for that week.
Although there was a web forum in the past for idea exchange, it turned into an unmoderated monopolization by one individual. Ning has filled a lot of the information exchange gap that the community needs. Thanks again, Lee.
Hi Lee,
Thanks for all of your hard work (Dianne too). I’d go for the first Tuesday of each month and if someone else wants to organize a weekly Farmer’s Market, then so be it.
I foresee quiet a scene at the Info Exchange meeting you have planneed. Since there are so many “experts” here, you may need a Referee to sort out the squabbles. Or a third-grade school teacher with a big stick.
As a person considering the possibility of retiring in Panama, I look forward to the information sent out by the Boquete Panama Guide and all of the readers that comment on the content. It helps me gain perspective as to who and what is living there. My wife and I are planning a trip to the area latter this year and hope to attend a Tuesday morning meeting for new residents. This will allow us to personally ask those of you who live there the in and outs of a relocation move. ( I know it’s the same old questions you get asked all of the time, but we have to start somewhere and would like the first hand experiences of someone who has been there and done that).
Thanks for all of the information, it is appreciated.
Thanks Lee. Couldn’t agree more. Times have changed in Boquete and the frequency of the meetings need to reflect that.
Dlh
I try to go to the meetings ever chance I get, even if the topic doesn’t necessarily apply to me. But by doing so I have learned some things I wouldn’t have otherwise. I like the idea of having commercial speakers pick up the tab to give their presentations. In that way, only people/businesses that are willing to pay for their “advertisement” would be presenting. As businesses, they will find out in short order if their BCP presence is profitable for them. The most recent presentation I really liked that was both commercial and informational was by Brian of Nature Tours who talked about some of the less known fun and beautiful places to visit in Panama.
Thanks to Lee, Dianne, and the others behind the scenes in putting together the Tuesday Community Meetings. It’s events like this that make a town truly a community.
Lee, I assume you thought taking on this venture would not be as difficult, as it has turned out for the past months. Someone who decides to take the position such as this one needs to step outside the bubble and expand if you want speakers. I knew the undertaking of this position would not be an easy task and knew eventually you would bring your complaint to us. I for one have seen you sometimes sitting in a Tuesday meeting very bored.
I lead a hiking group twice a week here in Boquete and the topic of hiking would not be of interest for the 99%, hence my decision not to speak. On any given day, we may have 20 people who hike and on another day only five or less. Being a leader is not an easy task to take on whether it’s hiking or leading a community meeting. Many in my group have repeated over and over again to others, that I lead some very tough hikes, as it turns many do not return. But the on the other hand people who are new to Boquete just want meet other expats from here, they hike two or three times, then find other interests. That’s why, I understand your frustration. All I can say is hang in there, Lee, I’m going to.
Lee (Diane, Jason and Sylvan..and Judy Sacco for the 1st “Handbook”..),
We are all the richer for your tireless dedication to tne “Newbies”.
Yes, that was the original intent of the Tuesday Morning Meetings. Newbies/Info.
In 2004 when we 1st visited..this was the place we were directed to by our hotel.
We fell inlove with Boquete and its people and moved here in 2005.
Since then the meeting has moved..a Market has evolved.
The Biggest change from then ..when every meeting was attended “no matter what the topic!”..to now is ..The Myriad forms of Communication about living in Boquete.
Back in 2004/2005 we hungered for any info we could get. ….It was Hard!
Now, the internet and people like Lee with Boquete Guide.com, ning.com, Diane and her Guidebook,plus Chiriqui Chatter, Tom Brymers Panama Perspective, Don Winners Panamguilde
fill us with useful information..and the area has developed.
When BCP started in 2005 with 45 people…who knew that volunteers would be “managing/running” a complex/center/theater/.market??
But aren’t we in the community all the more fortunate?
Best of luck with descisions for the future of the meetings…they are for “Newbies” an Anchor….and perhaps we could create a Newcomers Forum? With Locals, Newcomers (those of us not here 50 years!) and Newbies ?? Once a Month??
Gracias por todo …. in the U.S.right now..home soon Yea!! Erin