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National Issues Forum

Moderator Training. National Issues Forum. Purpose of Deliberative Issues Forums. Provide safe spaces for public discourse on complex issues. Identify underlying values that inform our ideas. (Not just what , but why .). A Return to the Civic: what does it mean to be a citizen?.

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National Issues Forum

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  1. Moderator Training National Issues Forum

  2. Purpose of Deliberative Issues Forums • Provide safe spaces for public discourse on complex issues. • Identify underlying values that inform our ideas. (Not just what, but why.)

  3. A Return to the Civic: what does it mean to be a citizen? • Be more than “one who votes.” • Work with others to solve common problems. • Understand other points of view. • Actively seek common ground for greater good (solutions that address everyone’s concern).

  4. Structure of a National Issues Forum • Establish moderator and recorder • Review ground rules • Discuss personal stake • Provide equal time for each approach • Incorporate personal and group reflection

  5. Ground Rules • Provide charge to participants (i.e., it’s the work of citizens to make choices about public issues) • Understand format is deliberation, not debate. • Encourage everyone to participate. • Do not let one or two individuals dominate. • Focus discussion on the choices. • Consider all positions on the issue. • Maintain an atmosphere conducive for discussion. • Listen to each other.

  6. Personal Stake • What is your personal experience with the issue? • What concerns you most about the issue?

  7. Role of the Moderator • Guide (don’t lead) the deliberation. • The less said, the better • Encourage participants to talk to each other, not to you • Present the essence of each approach. Then, ask a starter question to turn the work over to the group. • Permit periods of silence between speakers. It’s okay. • Reference: “Facilitating Public Issues: Best Practices” in ANGEL course readings folder for more on moderator styles and practices.

  8. Issues Framing People normally approach difficult decisions by: • looking at the options available to them • weighing advantages and disadvantages of each option • selecting the option most consistent with what they value

  9. Framing Questions for Deliberation: • What concerns people when they think about an issue? (In other words, what is valuable?) • Given these concerns, what types of actions would they favor? • What benefits and/or negative consequences might result? (In other words, what tradeoffs must be considered?)

  10. Core Values • Security • Fairness and Equality • Freedom and Self-determination

  11. Ten Characteristics of Effective Framing 1. Name each issue in a way that does not favor a particular approach. 2. Provide options for action that reflect the things that people consider valuable. 3. Clearly expose the tensions between the advantages and disadvantages of each option. 4. Avoid frameworks that lend themselves from selecting “all of the above.” 5. Describe consequences in terms of their effects on what is valuable, not just practical.

  12. Ten Characteristics of Effective Framing (cont.) 6. Recognize unpopular points of view. 7. Present each option in the most positive light 8. Avoid making the pros of one option into the cons of another. 9. Avoid prompting the usual conversations. 10. Allow people to “stew” and recognize the undesirable results of their favored option.

  13. Questions the Moderator Can Ask • Why is this important to you? • How could that be accomplished? • Whose voice is not represented here? • What do/don’t you like about this approach? • What underlying values are important to people who favor this approach? • What are the costs, consequences, and trade-offs? • Reference: “Facilitating Public Issues: Best Practices” in ANGEL course readings folder for tips about successful questioning techniques.

  14. Post-Forum Reflection Personal Reflection • How has your thinking about issue changed? • What have you learned that surprised you? Group Reflection • Is there a shared sense of direction or common ground? Tensions • What are we still struggling with as a group? • What do we still need to talk about? • Which trade offs are we (or are we not) willing to make? • Whose voice was not at the table? • What will we do with what we learned today?

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