McNeil Open-Ended / Open-Sourced Town Halls a sample

An Open Ended and Open Sourced Town Hall Meeting (Instructions from the cook)

This Town Hall will be “Open-Ended, and Open-Sourced.” This means we will collect comments from all the tables from time to time. We will pose a question and ask you to discuss it at your table. As you discuss, your DATA MANAGER (the volunteer with the computer) will enter your ideas into the computer. The computer loads the ideas from every table into The Hive. All comments will instantly appear on the large screen in the front of the room. Open-Ended means that your comments will be the ones written down by the Data Manager. We will not do any editing of the comments. Open-Source means that the comments / questions / votes etc. come from any table at any time. They will be anonymous, and not tracked either to individuals or to tables.

Our experience has been that Open-Ended and Open-Sourced meetings really help participants to see “the group mind” on any given issue and enable them to move toward consensus. Will it mean that we will all agree? No, and we are not striving for total agreement. We want to show the diversity of thought, so that we might together find common ground where we can move forward together.

In addition, we also have the ability to do “Instant Open Polling.” Sometimes we might do this with the laptops, and at other times, we use the clickers that are on your table. When we use the clickers, each person in the room will have an opportunity to vote on a particular issue. This will give us an instant read on the issue at hand. We can decide whether we want to discuss the issue further, or table it for a future time.
We will also have the opportunity to share an “Open Microphone.” This allows summary statements to be made by a spokesperson at the tables. Many times this adds significant value to the discussion by hearing directly the content as well as the passion of the spokesperson.
In addition, you will also have the ability to comment on the content of the meeting after the meeting has ended. We can keep the site alive for awhile, allowing individuals to comment on the particular issues.


Roles
The Following are the roles of the players at a large Open-Ended / Open-Sourced Town Hall Meeting:

Interested, Active, and Engaged Participant - Show up, pay attention, and engage your fellow table mates by listening and making comments. As facilitators of the meeting, we are constantly gauging the energy in the room. If there is a lot of energy around a particular topic, our tendency is to allow the participants to explore the topic as fully as possible in the time allowed. Remember you can only act in one of three ways:
1) You can initiate ideas by being active.
2) You can wait until someone else initiates and idea, and be reactive.
3) You can be passive, listening to the comments of others.
All three are important in group discussions.

Table Facilitator - (Volunteer from the community) - The Table Facilitator’s main tasks are to keep the conversation moving, keep it on target, and to ensure that everyone at the table can make comments, and that these comments are heard by the others at the table. Facilitators watch the conversation and the clock, making sure the table stays to the time limits, and that the conversation involves everyone. Facilitators take their lead from the presenters. Sometimes the discussion will be focused on getting ideas to be loaded into The Hive by the Data Manager. Other times facilitators will monitor an open discussion. Other times, the facilitators may direct the group members to pick up their clicker and vote on a particular issue.

Data Manager / Scribe - (Volunteer from the community) - The Data Manager / Scribe role is critical to a good Town Hall Meeting. He or she types ideas, ideas, comments, and / or questions into the Laptop, being careful to not to edit comments. This content is relayed instantly to The Hive and then published to all the participants. Sometimes the table will be asked to come up with summary points or conclusions to the table’s discussion. The Data Manager needs good typing skills combined with good listening skills.

The Theme Team - (Volunteers selected from a cross section of all those attending the meeting) - The Theme Team summarizes the comments as they are coming across the network from The Hive. Comments coming from all the participants are sorted by the Theme team into what’s Core, Common, and Consistent in the data. The Theme Team presents the summary back to the Town Hall Participants. Participants are asked to confirm the Theme Team’s work. Sometimes the participants may be asked to prioritize the summary of the Theme Team. Example: Of the five options presented by the Theme Team, which one is most critical to you? Often, after the Theme  Team presents, the presenters go to a short Open Microphone session to hear comments on the summary from the table groups.

Presenters / Meeting Owners - Your presenters are the content experts. The are responsible for designing and executing the meeting. They share their content and invite participation in the form of discussions and structured feedback. Often the presenters make use of Powerpoint, hand outs, presentation boards with sticky notes, and specific exercises with instructions.  Their job is to inform the audience while leaving room for discussion, participation, comments and questions. Every Town Hall Meeting been thoroughly designed beforehand so that the maximum participation can occur with a minimum of distraction / interference. They present and encourage, questions, dialogue, debate with the aim of moving towards consensus and finding common ground. Sometimes reaching a solution is the aim, other times, it’s more about gathering data, so that more informative decisions can be made in the future.

The Design Team - (Chosen by the Meeting Owners) - Prior to the Meeting, the Design Team holds a series of meetings to determine what needs to be covered and how participation will occur at the Town Hall. The Design Team works with the Lead Facilitators, and the Presenters to create a sequence of exercises and events that ensure accurate information is given and that those attending can actively engage and participate fully. The Design Team formulates the announcements, determines if any pre-work needs to be done by those attending, choreographs the meeting sequence, and monitors the follow-up after the meeting. For example following a large Town Hall Meeting, the Design Team may determine that a survey be created and sent to the larger community to confirm the data collected at the Town Hall Meeting.

Lead Facilitators - The Town Hall is also staffed by a number of Lead Facilitators. Their job is to keep the meeting on track, follow the designed sequence, monitor the technology, answer process questions, and create seamless transitions between and among the activities and exercises. Their style can be both directive, and non-directive depending on the goals of the activity or exercise. Sometimes the lead facilitators determine that a meeting needs an additional exercise because of something critical that is discovered in the moment. After a quick consult with the meeting owners, the Lead Facilitators may design on the spot a quick exercise / set of questions, or activity calling for input from the participants, that will shed additional light on the critical issue.