Page 141 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

All invitations should clearly explain the topic and where people’s input will go. A good learning from principles is to have an achievable task: perhaps this is agreeing a list of questions for an agency rather than a general outpouring of opinion. You should be framing the topic around problem solving. This means you can set the tone for the meeting as one where participants give you their views to help you solve a problem. This can be applied to any meeting even if not a Citizens’ Assembly. Too often, town-hall meetings are venting exercises where the only productive exercise is people getting things off of their chest. This is because happy people do not turn up. 139