Thanks, Diane for this detailed report. I will use this information that
you shared with the people I am meeting with tomorrow. And I will share
what we come up with.
Greetings from Berlin
mmp
Diane Brandon wrote:
Michael, An America Speaks event was held in Maine, USA a few years ago,
to look at health care issues, as part of the development of a state
health plan and health insurance programs. I volunteered to be one of
the facilitators, partly on my own time, partly with my community
coalition coordinator hat on.... let's see what my memory will dredge up!
I went through the training (perhaps 2 hours, plus reading the manual
and all). There were two locations for the gathering of citizens, one in
northern Maine (Orono, I think) and one in Portland Maine. They were
connected with teleconferencing technology, so people in both places
could see each other and the welcome by the governor and others was seen
live at the same time. (There was one winter date set, a blizzard hit,
so it was postponed... I think just to the next day.... which reduced
the numbers, but I think there were 150 or so at the Portland location.)
Everyone who came to participate was, ideally, to have read a booklet
they had received in the mail some time before the event. This gave them
the "facts" about costs, some "best practices" being used in other
places, and a list of options they were going to get to discuss and vote
on. (I did not like the preplanning of the voting options. In most
cases, I could not have happily voted for any option presented, wanting
to see combinations or options not on the list.)
In a gym at a community college, at round tables of 8 people, each
person had a small voting pad (it looks like a handheld calculator, with
a numerical keypad), and one person (a participant volunteer) had a
laptop to use to take notes on what people at the table said. (What was
being typed went live to a group of trained people in the room reviewing
that input, and they identified themes that were emerging.) The
facilitator did not have either one, but helped with the sharing and
listening process. (There were also wandering techies who helped with
any tech problems, and content experts who could be called over to
explain health system stuff people didn't understand.)
It was a day (maybe 9am to 3pm) of rounds of discussion and then voting,
with coffee breaks, bag lunches, and so on. I do love it that the issues
caught on the laptops resulted in a couple of emerging themes being
added to the preset voting lists, and one of the ones that came from the
participants was a "top three" in the final voting. (I think there were
questions after the event about just want the citizens meant when they
used certain words.... maybe those catching the emerging themes
misinterpreted what they were seeing, because of varying uses of the
same words.)
It was fun to see the opinions of those in the room turn into numbers
and graphs on the spot, but I didn't feel energized by the process, for
whatever that's worth.
Diane Brandon
di...@keysregion.org
www.keysregion.org
On Sep 24, 2007, at 10:01 AM, Michael M Pannwitz wrote:
Dear colleagues in the USA,
a couple of people in Berlin are looking into the possibility to start
something akin to "America Speaks" in these parts. There will be a
small meeting tomorrow...one never knows what will come of it.
Looking at the website of America Speaks gives me some information.
Much more important to me would be to hear something from some of you
who have been part of this. After looking at the videos, its already
clear to me that its not closely related to open space. I am curious
what your impressions, experiences, opinions, etc. are especially
against the neutrality claim of America Speaks (whenever I hear that
someone is neutral it starts confusing the hell out of me, for instance).
Have a wonderful day
Greetings from a warm late summerday in Berlin
mmp--
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
www.boscop.org www.michaelmpannwitz.de
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