Democracy Helpline

Library: How-To Tips: Choosing Meeting Formats

Most successful democratic governance efforts combine meetings of different types and sizes. To help you decide what combination of meetings you want to organize, this section describes some of the main formats being used in democratic governance projects.

Large-group meetings

Large is a relative term: in a neighborhood, 30-50 people might be considered a large group, whereas a citywide forum might include hundreds of participants. Large forums are useful because they can disseminate information, amplify citizen opinions, attract decision-makers and the media, connect people with resources, and inspire collective confidence. The following list separates these different functions, but many large-group meetings are a combination of several of them.

Informational forums
Description:
  • Relies on speakers or an expert panel, followed by questions from the audience.
  • Most direct way of disseminating information to the community.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Ensuring that citizens are informed and connected.
Best when combined with:
  • Small-group meetings to help citizens better understand the information they receive.
Role of handout materials:
  • Generally, to inform participants.
Special requirements:
  • Expert speakers or panelists who are engaging, informative, and plainspoken.
  • Ensuring a balance of multiple perspectives on the panel.
Organizational resources to consult (see Resource section for contact information):
  • League of Women Voters
  • Public Forum Institute
Decision-making forums
Description:
  • Designed to foster communication among citizens, and sometimes between citizens and public officials, to influence a policy decision.
  • Often designed to be deliberative: to help people carefully consider different sides of an issue, and to uncover the values underneath different options.
  • Main policy options may have been spelled out beforehand, or they may be determined by the participants during the course of the meeting.
  • Often include small-group breakout sessions; these dialogues often adhere to the democratic small-group meeting format described in the next section.
  • May utilize technology, such as polling keypads, video projection, and laptops, to move between large- and small-group discussions and summarize conclusions quickly.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Involving citizens in important policy decisions, or in the development of a plan;
  • Sometimes combined with elements of an action forum to encourage and coordinate action efforts by citizens and citizen groups.
Best when combined with:
  • Focus groups or democratic small-group meetings that can be used as breakout sessions.
  • Smaller meetings can also be used as a lead-in to the forum.
Role of handout materials:
  • To provide background information.
  • To lay out the main views or options being considered.
  • May include questions to help stimulate thinking and discussion.
Special requirements:
  • To spell out main policy options beforehand, producing a guide (or adapting a national version) may be useful.
  • Need moderator with special training or professional expertise.
  • For versions that rely on technology, need software, hardware, site licenses, and/or professional expertise.
Organizational resources to consult:
  • AmericaSpeaks
  • Center for Deliberative Democracy (Stanford University)
  • National Issues Forums Institute
  • Study Circles Resource Center
Visioning forums
Description:
  • Similar to decision-making forums, but used for planning the "built environment": the buildings, parks, streets, and sidewalks of a neighborhood, city, or metro region.
  • Sometimes use tools that help citizens visualize proposals: maps, three-dimensional models, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data, etc.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Involving citizens in important planning decisions, or in the development of shared priorities;
  • Sometimes combined with elements of an action forum (see description below) to encourage and coordinate action efforts by citizens and citizen groups.
Best when combined with:
  • Focus groups or democratic small-group meetings that can be used as breakout sessions.
  • Smaller meetings can also be used as a lead-in to the forum.
Role of handout materials:
  • To provide background information.
  • To lay out the main views or options being considered.
  • May include questions to help stimulate thinking and discussion.
Special requirements:
  • Expertise of architects or planners for illustrating options, responding to public input, and ensuring that plans are feasible.
Organizational resources to consult:
  • AmericaSpeaks
  • National Charrette Institute
  • National Civic League
  • NeighborWorks Training Institute
Action forums
Description:
  • Often used after a series of small-group meetings to help citizens act on the ideas they generated in their discussions.
  • Sometimes used to help citizens move directly into action planning (action groups will usually require further support and assistance in order to succeed).
  • May have different elements: the opportunity for citizens to join committees or task forces to work on particular projects; the involvement of public officials or other decision-makers, who listen to citizen recommendations; booths set up by different organizations to recruit volunteers; or all of the above.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Encouraging and coordinating action efforts by citizens and citizen groups (including churches, businesses, nonprofits, and neighborhood associations)
Best when combined with:
  • Democratic small-group meetings as a lead-in.
  • Some events that incorporate action forum elements into decision-making forums.
Role of handout materials:
  • To provide background information.
  • To describe opportunities (either existing organizations and programs or new committees/task forces) available.
Special requirements:
  • Support of public officials and other decision-makers.
  • Involvement of public employees (police officers, planners, educators, etc.) and other professionals who work on public issues.
Organizational resources to consult:
  • NeighborWorks Training Institute
  • Study Circles Resource Center

Small-group meetings

Small-group public dialogues usually number about ten people, and the discussions are usually facilitated. Beyond those similarities, the key differences between small-group formats include: the purpose of the group; the specific role of the facilitator; the kind of discussion materials handed out; and the total amount of time spent in the discussion.

As a vehicle for public dialogue, small-group formats work best when large numbers of people are participating — in other words, when many small groups are meeting at the same time. Organizers will often then use large-group events to summarize and build on the conclusions of the small groups.

Effective small-group facilitators:

  • Are impartial; the facilitator's opinions are not part of the discussion.
  • Help the group set some ground rules and keep to them.
  • Help group members identify areas of agreement and disagreement.
  • Use the discussion materials to bring in points of view that haven't been talked about.
  • Create opportunities for everyone to participate.
  • Focus and help to clarify the discussion.
  • Summarize key points in the discussion, or ask others to do so.

Single event or sustained effort?

Whether they are large, small, or online, most meeting formats work best when they are part of a larger democratic governance project that includes different kinds of meetings. Depending on your goals, your project will probably be more successful if you give people a number of ways to participate over several weeks or months.

Democratic small-group meetings
Description:
  • Features an impartial facilitator, ground rules set by the group, and a guide that lays out open-ended questions and sample viewpoints to structure the dialogue.
  • Discussion usually begins with participants sharing their experiences with the topic.
  • Groups usually meet for several sessions, though not always; sometimes they take the form of breakout groups in the midst of large forums.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Single-session groups can be used to inform citizens and affect policy decisions by gathering information from the participants. However, a single session usually won't lead to greater consensus around a policy decision, or more willingness by citizens to help implement the policy.
  • With multiple sessions, groups can resolve conflicts, build consensus around policy decisions, encourage action efforts, and involve new people. However, a concluding large-group meeting is usually necessary to culminate the small-group sessions.
Role of facilitator:
  • Facilitator remains impartial, helps the group set ground rules, uses the guide to structure the discussion and introduce a range of arguments for consideration.
Role of handout materials:
  • In some cases, the guide is critical for structuring the sessions.
  • Questions in the beginning elicit relevant stories and experiences from participants (which helps the process of developing relationships and strengthening ongoing action).
  • Sample viewpoints or choices help the group consider larger, more abstract questions (What are the root causes of this problem? What are the policy options?).
  • Brainstorming exercises at the end help participants plan how they might take action.
Best when combined with:
  • Any of the large-group formats, depending on project goals. For affecting policy decisions, use informational forums at the beginning of the small-group sessions, and decision-making forums at the end. To encourage action efforts, use an action forum (see previous section).
Special requirements:
  • Writing a locally specific guide is ideal but can be difficult; guides are also provided by national organizations.
Organizational resources to consult:
  • National Issues Forums
  • NeighborWorks America
  • Public Conversations Project
  • Study Circles Resource Center
  • Viewpoint Learning
Focus groups
Description:
  • Used primarily as a way of gathering information.
  • Groups usually meet only once, for two hours or less.
  • Used instead of surveys, or in combination with them, because they can provide much more nuanced, comprehensive information about public views.
  • Sometimes used to "frame" the various views and options on an issue, in order to create a discussion guide to be used in one of the other formats.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Affecting policy decisions, mainly by helping decision makers understand what citizens think about an issue or plan.
Role of facilitator:
  • Expert interviewer who asks probing, thought-provoking questions without trying to bias the participants.
Role of handout materials:
  • To stimulate discussion; facilitator explores participants' reactions (materials could include pictures or video clips as well as written materials.)
Best when combined with:
  • A large-group forum to summarize the conclusions and explain to participants how the input will be used. Another forum could be held sometime later, after the decision was made, to explain how the input was influential (it is a mistake to expect that participants will get this information through the media or in some other way).
  • An action forum to help participants work on their own action plans.
Special requirements:
  • Trained focus group facilitators (usually paid professionals; occasionally graduate students).
  • An interview guide or "protocol" for facilitators to use.
Organizational resources to consult (see Resource section for contact information):
  • Public Agenda
  • NeighborWorks Training Institute
  • Harwood Institute
Structured conversations
Description:
  • Many different kinds of dialogues fall under this category: some are quite simple and easy to organize, while others are highly structured and require a specific kind of facilitation.
  • One common use of structured conversations is at the beginning of a public dialogue project, to engage a small number of people who will then work together to involve much larger numbers of citizens.
  • Variations include conversation cafés, wisdom councils, wisdom circles, and world cafés.
  • Sometimes used to "frame" the various views and options on an issue, in order to create a discussion guide to be used in one of the other formats.
Goals that can be achieved with this format:
  • Providing in-depth information to smaller numbers of people rather than basic information to larger numbers so they are well informed.
  • Resolving conflicts, though building in more action-related elements is critical for recruiting more than just a small set of participants.
Role of facilitator:
  • Depends on type; some don't require a facilitator at all; others require a trained facilitator who will direct the conversation.
Role of handout materials:
  • Depends on type; usually, to enrich and inform the discussion.
Best when combined with:
  • Any of the large-group or on-line formats can be complemented through the addition of structured conversations, as a way of deepening the dialogue and helping people learn more from each other.
Special requirements:
  • Depends on type.
Organizational resources to consult:
  • Conversation Café
  • Public Conversations Project
  • National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation also lists a number of organizations promoting various kinds of structured conversations.
[Excerpted from Changing the Way We Govern: Building Democratic Governance in Your Community, National League of Cities Democratic Governance Panel, 2006.]