Forum Support Services · Forum Health Assessment
SoCal XX
2026 round · Completed August 20, 2026 3 of 3 responded Anonymous · answers never attributed to a member
At a glance
| ● | Trust is steady: candour, real backup, connection beyond meetings |
| ● | Strain is craft: update prep, advice creeping in, thin variety |
| ● | Members want fewer topics, held longer |
| ● | To settle together: retreat dates, meeting length |
IHow the forum rated itself
Each dot is one point on the scale, from 1 at the struggling end to 6 at the healthy end, sized by how many members chose it, with the count beneath from two upward. Look for splits, not averages: a forum of 2s and 6s is not a forum of 4s. Maroon items are worth the group’s attention: someone on the struggling end, or a wide spread.
Knowing each other & trust |
| 1Knowledge of members’ backgrounds | | split |
| 2Knowledge of members’ aspirations | | |
| 3Openness and vulnerability | | |
| 4Confidentiality | | |
| 5Trust in members | | |
| 6Unspoken issues | | |
The meeting itself |
| 7Meeting depth | | |
| 8Meeting content variety | | |
| 9Update preparation | | |
| 10Presentations | | |
| 11Experience share vs. advice | | |
| 12Listening and judgment | | |
| 13Conflict and clearing the air | | |
| 14Airtime | | split |
Commitment & leadership |
| 15Forum depth | | |
| 16Attendance | | |
| 17Punctuality | | |
| 18Moderator effectiveness | | |
| 19Shared leadership | | |
What members take home |
| 20Personal take-home value | | |
| 21Professional take-home value | | |
IIIn their own words
Every response, verbatim. Within each question the responses are shuffled, so order never identifies a member.
What's going well in the forum?
Great group of people who are really diverse in thought, backgrounds, interests, industries, personalities. Helpful shared experiences and suggestions. Have met up on a personal level with some forum members
Everyone's participation
This new forum has provided meaningful backup for me in my decisions and I feel it has done so for each of us.
What's not going well?
Not enough time, a member wants a shorter time period due to personal reasons. Pressure to follow a particular agenda instead of going deeper or just sticking with 1-2 topics each time (and dropping others if there isn't enough time)
As a new forum we are still learning the ropes. We are not perfect at sharing our own perspective and not giving advice. Far from it. But we have established a mutual care and trust that makes it safe and ok for each of us to figure our process out imperfectly together.
Presentation topics, individual preparation about updates
What would you like to see change?
Fewer topics, go deeper. Be able to meet for 4 hours. More responsiveness from Whatsapp chat group (or whatever platform).
I just aspire to be a more thoughtful contributor.
How could your moderator(s) improve their leadership of the forum?
He's killing it. No notes!
Great moderator, leans towards inclusion of group always, could take a stand on how to moderate and not necessarily get input first, try then pivot
Anything else — concerns or opportunities — that would be helpful for your forum to discuss as a group?
Finalize our retreat! Hard with the calendars etc but we have to do it. Start to set dates for 2027
I think we have a good foundation.
Your question · written by the forum, answered by the forum
What should we name our forum?
Shenanigans
let's brainstorm!
IIIForum facts, from the moderator
The moderator fact sheet (membership changes, meeting count, attendance, retreat, norms, and roles) wasn’t completed this round. An honest gap is more useful to the forum than a remembered number. It’s a five-minute form; next round these facts appear here.
IVPractices worth trying
Possible experiments suggested by your responses, not prescriptions. Three members is a conversation, not a diagnosis. The small plot repeats your forum’s answers on the item that prompted each one.
Prompted by item 6 · Unspoken issues
Every long-term forum hits a rupture. A repaired rupture deepens trust more than years of smooth meetings.
Prompted by item 11 · Experience share vs. advice
What’s really happening when we want to help — the no-advice guideline as a doorway into the two most revealing questions a forum can ask.
Prompted by item 1 · Knowledge of members’ backgrounds
Four quadrants that explain why forum works — and what happens when you share what you’ve been holding back.
VWhat happens next
This report is built for a forum conversation. Bring it to a meeting, pick one or two items where the dots spread, and let the forum choose its own next step. Exercises for most of what surfaces here live at forumsupport.org/resources/exercises.
Forum Support Services · forumsupport.org | Prepared for SoCal XX and its moderator |