Orion/2. Areas/Sapien/knowledge/Sapien Meeting Notes 5-18-26 Readout.md

---
type: meeting-readout
source: "Sapien Meeting Notes 5-18-26.docx"
meeting-date: 2026-05-18
batch: 3/7
processed: 2026-09-05
---

# Sapien Team Meeting — 2026-05-18 (Readout)

## 1. Decisions

| decision | who | date |
|---|---|---|
| **No public Sapien Telegram** — it confuses people about whether they're members; members-only group instead | Mackenze / team | 2026-05-18 |
| Guest policy: each individual may come **twice as a guest**, then must buy their own passes ($25 day pass) | Jenelle | 2026-05-18 |
| **Cold plunges are dead**: Chinese parts can't be replaced; not plug-&-play; will be relocated (by the other house); new set = $8-10k incl. ozone system; supplier won't stock showroom models | Mackenze / team | 2026-05-18 |
| Event prep: **6 layout templates** — text the group "Layout 1" and everyone knows what to do | Poly | 2026-05-18 |
| Daily checklists get re-prioritized + laminated (laminator ordered) | Jen | 2026-05-18 |
| **Recurring classes on hold** until facilities are functional (kettlebells, plunges); yoga + tai chi possible but facilitator-membership question unresolved | Jenelle / team | 2026-05-18 |
| Facilitator economic model (discussed, not adopted): day pass $25 + $35 class fee is unrealistic (next-door pilates = $40 drop-in); preferred: flat rate with **70/30 split** (70 facilitator / 30 venue); all day-pass holders must sign policies (liability) | Jenelle | 2026-05-18 |
| Event-hosting requests route to **Jen or Mackenze** via a form (Poly: not the website — "we don't want too many submissions") | Jen / Poly | 2026-05-18 |
| Lab484 house rule: "if you bring something out, it has to go back"; bootcamp people must clean up after themselves | team | 2026-05-18 |
| Archipelago bookings go through **Eliza directly** (the May 30 "Drake" 3-hr dinner for 30 was on the wrong calendar) | team | 2026-05-18 |
| Syntropy **restructured**: new name coming; Corbin & Kaleb have moved on (may return after their quest); going forward: **Jan, Eliza, Jenelle, Allen** | Jenelle | 2026-05-18 |
| Brian's stuff (spices, art, meat) gets relocated to the other house; doghouse junked; extra metal moved to the side | Mackenze / team | 2026-05-18 |

**Cross-check vs 06-DECISIONS:**
- ⚠️ **Reversal**: 4/27 said "anything with membership needs working plunges as a baseline" — plunges are now declared unfixable and being removed. The $350 tier's "sauna & gym" baseline is eroding.
- ⚠️ **Reversal**: 4/24 festival/Syntropy plans assumed Kaleb & Corbin (Dr. Brothers) at the center; 5/18 says both moved on. Syntropy leadership = Jan, Eliza, Jenelle, Allen.
- Event pricing shared "for awareness": "$2500 for 3 hours, $300 for 4 hours, sliding scale" [LOW CONFIDENCE — the 3-hr number looks transposed; likely $250/3-hr — needs Jen's one-pager to confirm].

## 2. Action Items

| owner | task | due date | project | status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVERYONE | If no calendar access / unsure → check with Eliza or Allen | ongoing | Sapien / Calendar | open |
| EVERYONE | Message **Jay** with items to be scheduled | ongoing | Sapien / Calendar | open |
| Jay | Check w/ Mackenze, Eliza, Jen, Poly for outstanding events not on calendar | NO DATE | Sapien / Calendar | open |
| Jay | Review current calendar items — still active/accurate? | NO DATE | Sapien / Calendar | open |
| Jen | Re-order daily checklists by priority (most critical first) | NO DATE | Sapien / Ops | open |
| Jen | Order laminator (checklists + signage) | NO DATE | Sapien / Ops | open |
| Jay & Tom | Add calendar events for event prep; **reach out for extra help to Apollo, Asif, Dawei, and Avi**; enlist Catnip & Dharma when available; alert team to important things not getting done | before events | Sapien / Events | open |
| Jay | Additional signage (drill charts, "don't drop your weights," cigarette-butt no-litter, memes); laminate when laminator arrives | NO DATE | Sapien / Signage | open |
| Jenelle | Provide Jay & Tom the policy/community-guidelines info (rewritten with Jen last week) | NO DATE | Sapien / Policy | open |
| Jen | Order big visible ashtrays; add emptying ashtrays to daily SOP | NO DATE | Sapien / Ops | open |
| Jay + Asif | Move the dead cold plunges (carefully) | NO DATE | Sapien / Facilities | open |
| UNASSIGNED | Talk to Brian about removing plunges (sunk-cost attachment) | NO DATE | Sapien / Facilities | open |
| Mackenze | Alternating wellness week / tech week plan — "not ready for next week; need stability underneath us first" | NO DATE | Sapien / Events | blocked |
| Jenelle | Wellness Wednesdays (she leads + women's group) — premature, on hold | NO DATE | Sapien / Wellness | on hold |
| Poly | Engage Margaret (Decentralize) co-hosted event over summer; 7 food-truck tickets; days before/after the 11th | NO DATE | L484 / Events | in progress |
| Allen | Connect Justin to the calendar (done for Asprey event) | done | Sapien / Calendar | done |

## 3. Project Links

- **Sapien** → new project candidate
- **Syntropy** → new project candidate (leadership transition this meeting)
- **Decentralize** (Margaret's org, open-source dev community) — partner candidate
- **Fast Friends** — not in this note (appears 5/29)
- Keynctr ([[keynctr 1]]) — not mentioned

## 4. Knowledge

- Calendar state: Castle Cathedral calendar exists, "no one using it"; canceled events still listed; scheduled-but-unconfirmed events; Jay is now the de-facto calendar manager.
- Jay & Tom capacity: 3-4 hrs/day of physical labor — "too tired to do what isn't getting done."
- Dharma: always asks to help; Jenelle: "her offers are coming from a wound of not feeling worthy unless she's providing… love on her"; bought a server, Poly is migrating her data, month pass after. Catnip: paid for a pass, always offers to help.
- Plunge economics: even new chiller + pump doesn't include ozone; $8-10k; supplier "never had a showroom model sell."
- Brian: half a dozen people grandfathered in (he sent the list); as long as he pays 20% and "we're late on all the payments, we can't do anything about it."
- Drako: was Brian's partner, out for a year, **not a decision-maker**.
- Margaret/Decentralize: known 2 years; met Jay at her Houston event; pivoted to Futo (acoustics issues there); "if she does events here, we get all the open-source devs in Austin"; willing to buy 7 food-truck tickets; cross-promotes membership.
- Wellness reality: not enough kettlebells, plunges dead — "things are not functioning compared to other places in town"; next-door pilates $40 drop-in is the comp.
- Syntropy: "destiny is in our own hands" (Jenelle).

## 5. Troubleshooting

- **Calendar fragmentation** — multiple calendars (Castle Cathedral, Archipelago, personal); fix: Jay as single point, everyone messages him; Archipelago bookings → Eliza.
- **SOP adherence** — daily + pre-event checklists "intermittently happening"; fix: laminated, prioritized checklists, scheduled event times, proactive help requests.
- **Plunge parts unavailability** — no fix; remove and relocate.
- **Wellness sellability** — equipment gap; fix path: fix-or-buy equipment + facilitator membership model (70/30) + signed policies for liability.
- **Mess from lab/bootcamp users** — behavioral; fix: "bring it out, take it back" rule + increased effort on Jay/Tom (flagged as falling heavily on them).

## 6. Open Questions

- Who is the "calendar manager" that can be texted (Poly's ask) — Jay in practice, not formalized.
- Facilitator-membership question (Poly wants facilitators to be members; Jenelle: "we haven't evolved to that point yet") — unresolved.
- Wednesday rave: not decided (decided 5/25).
- What does "wellness week" look like (Jenelle's question to Mackenze — no answer, "not ready").
- Event pricing figures (the $2500-for-3-hours anomaly).

## 7. Gaps

- Event pricing one-pager referenced ("Jen has the one-pager on this") but the numbers in the notes conflict.
- No owner for the $8-10k plunge replacement decision (remove vs buy).
- Margaret event: no date locked ("days before and after the 11th" — of what month? [LOW CONFIDENCE]).
- Syntropy's new name and scope not defined.
- The "Sapien public Telegram" question spawned a decision, but the **members-only Telegram** creation has no owner/date.

## 8. My Follow-Ups (Avi)

1. **Avi is on the event-prep help roster**: Jay & Tom are to "reach out for extra help to Apollo, Asif, Dawei, and **Avi**" for event setup. Expect pings before events; respond fast.
2. Adjacent [INFERRED]: Jay's calendar-manager role + Jay's knowledge graph (5/11) mean Avi's best leverage is reliable event-show-up + feeding the graph with accurate asset/location data.

## Email Summary

5/18 tightened Sapien's operations: Jay becomes the de-facto calendar manager (message him to schedule; Archipelago bookings go to Eliza), daily checklists get prioritized and laminated, and event prep standardizes on 6 text-able layout templates with Apollo, Asif, Dawei, and Avi as the extra-hands roster. Two hard calls: the cold plunges are unfixable (unavailable Chinese parts, $8-10k to replace) and are being moved out, and recurring wellness classes stay on hold until equipment and the facilitator-membership model (70/30 split proposed) are sorted. Syntropy was restructured — Corbin and Kaleb have moved on; it's now Jan, Eliza, Jenelle, and Allen, with a new name coming. Brian's stuff relocates to the other house, and Poly is working a summer co-hosted event with Margaret at Decentralize (open-source dev audience, 7 food-truck tickets, cross-promotion).