Online Community Assembly

Important Things to Consider

Before you attempt to facilitate a People’s Assembly, please make sure you have at least attended one! But remember: it’s not rocket science. Give it a go! You’ll be great!

This script is just a starting point. As you do more, you’ll figure out your own way of saying what’s here. Don’t feel that this is the only way in which a People’s Assembly can be facilitated, although this method is based on many years of experience in PA’s by people from all over the World.

Other things to note:

Logistical Advice for Hosting Assemblies Online

For an online PA, it can be good to have 3 facilitators: 2 Assembly Facilitators, one of whom might also be the Assembly Note-taker. It is also helpful to have a Technical Facilitator, someone who manages the breakout rooms and muting people, but it isn't necessary and it isn't difficult.

BEFORE THE MEETING, SET ZOOM UP:
  1. Participants video: Start meetings with participant video on. Participants can change this during the meeting.

Mute participants upon entry Automatically mute all participants when they join the meeting. The host controls whether participants can unmute themselves.

  1. Chat: Allow meeting participants to send a message visible to all participants.

  2. Auto saving chats: If you wish to capture the chat, maybe as a way to get people to leave their emails for follow up etc, you can automatically save all in-meeting chats so that hosts do not need to manually save the text of the chat after the meeting starts.

  3. Co-host: Allow the host to add co-hosts. Co-hosts have the same in-meeting controls as the host. A technical facilitator managing breakout rooms will need to make the other facilitator co-hosts.

  4. Nonverbal feedback: Participants in a meeting can provide nonverbal feedback and express opinions by clicking on icons in the Participants panel.

  5. Breakout room: Allows the host to split meeting participants into separate, smaller rooms. For information on how to set them up, check the breakout room - technical advice section of the script below.

  6. Share screen: In the host controls, click the arrow next to Share Screen and click Advanced Sharing Options. Under “Who can share”; choose “Only Host.” If needed, this can be changed back to allowing others to screen share

Input Phase

FACILITATOR 1: Introduction

Welcome everyone and run through the use of the tech:

Facilitators introduce themselves, perhaps say a little of your background and experience with PA’s and Community Organising or Projects - Brief but inspiring!

Explain that People’s Assemblies have three ‘phases’:

Input Phase

During the input phase, we explain the process and structure of the assembly, we introduce the hand signals, and frame the focus of the assembly, as well as what will happen with the outcomes from the assembly.

(If you are having more input here than just presenting the topic for discussion, such as speakers, video etc you will explain that here too)

Deliberation Phase

During the Deliberation (discussion) phase, you will be placed in small groups for [insert chosen length of deliberation phase] minutes and discuss the question/topic of this assembly.

Integration Phase

At the end of the Deliberation phase, the groups will come back into the full assembly and feedback what was generated in their small discussion group.

Facilitator 2: Hand Signals

(Demonstrate the hand signals used in assembly to allow people to use them during the introduction and input phase of the assembly.)

We use hand signals to facilitate a discussion in which all voices get heard, no one dominates and we don’t speak over each other. We will outline the hand signals you will need to take part today. Don’t worry if you can’t remember them as they will be repeated later in the session.

(Hand signals rely on visuals, so be sure to explain possible on line alternatives to some of the hand signals, in case if anyone present doesn’t have a video, or has to turn their video off due to poor connection.)

HAND SIGNALS

(As you verbally outline the hand signals, physically show them to ensure people fully understand them).

FACILITATOR 1: Introduce the concept of a People’s Assembly

What is a People’s Assembly?

A people’s assembly is a structured way for a group of people to discuss issues, generate ideas and/or make decisions collectively in a manner in which all voices are heard and valued equally and no one person, or group, is able to dominate the process.

People's assemblies are 'self selected' meaning that anyone can choose to take part. They are not to be confused with Citizens Assemblies which are randomly selected from the population by the process of Sortition, to make sure it is representative in terms of key characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, education level and geography. Citizens’ Assembly members would learn about critical thinking before they hear balanced information from experts and stakeholders. They would then spend time deliberating in small facilitated groups, similar to the break-out groups we’re going to use in this People’s Assembly.

People’s Assemblies have been used throughout history and all over the world as a means to enable people to come together and achieve real social change:

In Ancient Athens, for example, a people’s assembly known as the ekklesia, which was open to all male citizens regardless of class, was where major decisions such as going to war, military strategy and the election of public officials were made.

More recently, in Rojava, Kurdistan, people’s assemblies have been at the centre of a democratic revolution. Decisions are made by the community, and the role of the elected representatives is simply to carry out these decisions. The community itself is the seat of power.

In Spain, the Spanish municipalist movement, known as the Indignados or 15-M movement, used PAs to discuss and protest against the government’s austerity policies. At the movement’s peak, 80 assemblies were being held each week alone in Madrid.

In 2014 the Y’en a Marre movement in Senegal helped oust the incumbent and corrupt President by mobilising the youth vote using people’s assemblies and hip-hop.

Closer to home there are the examples of Frome, Torridge and others, all of which are councils that have been reclaimed to some degree by residents in local elections. When councils are run by residents we see decisions get made that prioritise the needs of that community. To give a couple of brief examples, Frome has a Library of Things. This came from a small start up grant of £9000, which enabled over 300 things such as power tools, musical instruments, to be gathered for the whole community to borrow for a small fee. They also repurposed derelict buildings, solar panels sprung up everywhere, a local NHS initiative to prescribe volunteering plus the councils investment in civic and volunteer groups, this led to a 22% reduction in A&E attendances.

Inclusivity Statement:

Before we start a People’s Assembly, we like to read out this inclusivity statement:

“We value all voices equally in the assembly, as the aim is to hear the wisdom of the crowd gathered here and not to have the assembly dominated by individual voices or groups. We recognise that confident speakers are not always right and that those who are not confident speakers will often have the most useful ideas or opinions to put into the discussion. This is why we value all voices equally and we ask you to do the same. We do not tolerate any calling out, abuse or shaming. We welcome all people but not all behaviours.”

We want to hear your voice, if you want to speak, no matter what. Whatever age you are, wherever you are from and whatever you do.

The whole process will take about an hour and a half*, and we’d love you to stay for the whole of that, but feel free to go or come as you like or need.

(If you have the time, it’s good to do a TESTIFY at this point. It’ll add about 15-30 minutes to the overall length of the PA, but gets people talking about why they are at the PA before the main section of the assembly…)

Testify

Before we get into the section of the People’s Assembly where you will all be able to talk through our specific issue in a facilitated way, we first like to give anyone who would like an opportunity to talk about what has brought them here today.

QUESTION: What has brought you here today?

FACILITATOR 2: The Three Pillars

A people’s assembly differs from debate where one person is 'right' and the other is 'wrong' and from the typical discussion or conversation where people have a tendency to dominate with questions and interjections. The assembly allows each participant to be held with respect and full attention - and no judgement - whilst sharing from the heart and for each participant to get a turn.

It's ok not to actively share too. Witnessing the sharing of others' feelings and experiences is as important as expressing one's own.

In an assembly, the focus is on personal feelings and experiences. Each speaker is encouraged to say 'I' - rather than 'we' or 'they' whilst sharing with others.

This can be encapsulated within the three pillars, which are:

THREE PILLARS:

(Radical Inclusivity also means being aware of potential barriers to engagement and working with those affected to enable participation. Think about disabled access, sign language, whisper interpretation for those for whom English isn’t their first language and other possible means by which those barriers can be removed. Ask at the start of an assembly if there are any barriers to engagement that people need to identify and then request that the group work together to find ways to remove them.)

FACILITATOR 1: Framing the Topic - What is the aim of THIS people’s assembly?

BACKGROUND

Frame your assembly here:

QUESTION(S)

State your question or topic for discussion clearly here, and if possible write it up in the exact wording you use somewhere that will remain visible to all participants throughout the assembly.

Always ask for any clarifications at this point, and be open to working to reword the question/topic if needed You can ask for a ‘temperature check’ here to make sure the assembly agrees with the proposed wording.

A good question is worded in accessible language, not too long, and is broad enough to allow for free discussion, but not so broad that a structured conversation around it is difficult. Likewise a very specific question won’t generate a very diverse response.

For example, if you would like to engage people around the topic of buying local produce, you might ask:

‘Should we start a Food Hub?

This question is very narrow, and really requires a yes or no, so it is unlikely to generate a lot of great ideas.

‘How can we improve access to local produce?’

This question is broader, still focused on local access, gives scope for creativity. ‘What can we do to reduce food miles? - Too broad, this could encompass all manner of different approaches and likely to lead to the conversation jumping from local to regional to national issues.

Deliberation Phase

Breakout Room Technical Advice

Breakout Rooms

Create Rooms

Divide the number of participants in total by the number of people you want in the group, and ZOOM will automatically assign people to group rooms. Once you have done this, look at the lists to check that all rooms have the right number of people.

Options

FACILITATOR 2: How does a People’s Assembly work?

You will discuss the PA question in breakout groups of 8-10, then feedback to the entire assembly.

Each group needs a facilitator and a note taker:

For an online assembly you can share a live ‘Harvest Doc’ for each breakout room’s note taker to use. This keeps all the notes in one place and allows participants to look back at the notes from discussions in the other groups. You can make your own Harvest Doc or copy the Template here into a live doc (such as a Google Doc) to be shared and edited.

Use the hand signals to communicate in your groups and to ensure radical inclusivity. (recap hand signals here)

10 minutes before the end of your allocated time, the note-taker should summarise the group’s notes, then use temperature checks to identify the points that have the most support or acceptance.

The group should then work together to reach agreement on the main points to feed back to the Assembly.

Decide how you want the feedback to happen. For larger assemblies ensure each group has fewer points to feed back verbally.

Then decide what you will do with this feedback. Will the main assembly note taker make note of the most popular points? Or will the note takers from each breakout group give written points to the assembly Facilitator/Notetaker?

Ask for clarifications on the process and then restate the questions being discussed.]

Technical Facilitator under MANAGE PARTICIPANTS unmutes everyone (in preparation for break out rooms, so those getting to grips with zoom don't need to spend time looking for the unmute button).

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (send into break-out groups)

Discussion (25 mins or whatever your allocated time is)

Use BREAKOUT ROOMS > BROADCAST to give timings and other instructions to the groups.

After 25 minutes, warn groups that they need to round up: they have 10 minutes for…

When you click CLOSE GROUPS the default is that they will have 1 minute and then be automatically returned to the main group. You can change this in BREAKOUT ROOM settings.

Integration/Output Phase

FACILITATOR 1: Ending

Appendix 1 - Dealing with Difficult Interactions

A collection of thoughts and ideas on how to approach difficult interactions and behaviours:


Revision #3
Created 5 November 2020 08:04:44 by Alix Emery
Updated 18 November 2020 17:30:21 by raenyah