The following Protocol steps are in effect for all requests of any Themesis Principals for their participation in a meeting.
- Agenda. Only meetings with a clear agenda and time limit will be accepted. Requests should clearly state why the indicated Themesis Principal(s) should attend, and what the value to Themesis will be for their participation in the meeting.
- Participate Identification prior to meeting. The meeting invitation should clearly state who is to be invited, and the reason/role for their participation.
- Dossiers. The person who convenes the meeting is responsible for assembling a dossier for each person who will attend, if that person is not already well-known to the Themesis Principal(s) whose participation is (are) being requested. The dossier should include (1) a brief statement of their role, responsibility, or otherwise identify the value that they bring to the meeting, and (2) a brief summary of their three most pertinent recent publications. Full citations and links will be appreciated. The dossiers, for each person who will be in attendance, should be forwarded to Themesis at least two weeks prior to the scheduled meeting. If persons who have not previously been identified on the invitation list, or whose dossiers have not been properly prepared and forwarded, show at the meeting, then the Themesis Principal(s) will politely excuse themselves until the dossiers can be presented with ample time for review.
- Prior Preparation (by All Participants). Themesis will, at the request of the meeting convener, forward a set of recommended resources for other participants to review prior to the meeting. Themesis is only accepting requests for scientifically/technically-oriented meetings at this time. The participants should be thoroughly familiar with the Themesis-recommended papers and YouTubes, and preferably, have run the recommended code made available in publicly-available Themesis GitHub repositories. The discussions should commence with the understanding that all participants are thoroughly familiar with the technical work that Themesis has done and published. Any requests along the lines of “Dr. Maren [or other Themesis Principal], can you tell us a little about your work?” will be met with an invitation for the questioner attend to the resources that were provided earlier. The meeting convener is responsible for ensuring that all non-Themesis meeting invitees have been given access to the set of Themesis-recommended preparation materials, and that these invitees have had ample time to study these materials prior to the meeting. Should it be clear that invitees are not fully ready to discuss the Themesis work, the Themesis Principal(s) will immediately excuse themselves from the meeting. At the discretion of both the meeting convener and the Themesis Principal(s), the meeting can be potentially be rescheduled for a later date, when all invitees will have accomplished their reviews.
- Focus. The meeting must remain on-point and in accordance with the previously-established agenda, unless a divergence is formally offered by the meeting convener, and is accepted by all parties. Any divergence, by any meeting participant, will be given a 90-second countdown on the part of the Themesis Principal(s) in attendance. At the end of ninety (90) seconds, if the meeting has not returned to the agenda-specified topic, the Themesis Principal{s) will politely excuse themselves and leave.