I can't believe I'm the first one to admit going to this meeting. Or at least I don't see where anyone else has. It was a 3 hour video stream from Patterson. The first bit was used to set up the need. About 1000 Halls in the US that are severely overcrowded, many to the point of retarding growth in the area. The 3 metro areas with the most acute need are LA, Miami, and Dallas.
Then next bit was used to crack the whip and get the troops in line. Lots of the brothers who have been extensively used in RBC will no longer be used. Things aren't going to be done the way they used to be. Get over it. Work on whatever level you are allowed and don't moan about the good old days.
Creating standards to facilitate growth: Moving forward there will be a single design for Kingdom Halls in the U.S. They will come in small, standard, and large. That's it. The rendering looked not so bad, for a commercial building. It actually looks like a modern free-standing dentist's office. Improvements are: Lots of windows, flat roof with mechanicals on the roof to keep the bad guys from stealing them, monitors all around the interior, and the replacement of the literature and magazine desks with oversize literature trollys.
They expect this standardization to save them 20% of the cost of the building. They spent a lot of time talking about the heirarchy of the various design and build entities, and explained the 5 levels of volunteering available. There was also a lot of information regarding the maintenance of Halls, and how that they would soon send out trainers to teach the congregations how to properly upkeep the property.
The subtext throughout the whole thing was, this is no longer in your hands. You have virtually zero say now, it's all up to the LDC. That's all I can write about this, maybe someone else who was there can pick up the ball.