The Meeting Where Two Chairs Stayed Empty

Our street committee met at seven every Monday. The same six people usually attended, and we often complained that nobody else cared about local projects. When we planned a weekend street event, we invited two shop workers to help. Both accepted, but their chairs remained empty at the meeting.

The chairperson wanted to remove them from the planning list. I suggested asking what had happened first. One worker finished at half past seven, and the other looked after a relative on Monday evenings. They had accepted the project, not the assumption that every decision had to happen at our usual meeting.

We sent them a short list of choices by message and arranged a brief conversation during their lunch break. Their suggestions changed the event's opening time and helped us choose a better place for deliveries. I began to wonder how many earlier invitations had failed for the same practical reasons.

We did not abandon regular meetings, because some decisions needed discussion. Instead, we shared questions in advance and recorded clear decisions afterwards. At the event, both shop workers helped at the welcome table. Their empty chairs had looked like a lack of interest, but we had been measuring attendance more carefully than we measured actual contribution.