Democracy is an everyday practice and good communication is the key both online and in our meetings and gatherings. To achieve our goals we should hear the different opinions and include them in our decision making process to generate the wisdom of our crowd. The guideline is recommended for all meetings, especially should they have more than 5 people.
- Meeting language: The language in which most people feel comfortable speaking in should be chosen. The chosen language should be kept as simple as possible to include everyone. Whispered translation can be a solution if there is no common language for all participants.
- Moderator: A person moderating the meeting should be appointed.
- Sign language: The moderator should keep an eye on the signs. The most important and constructive signs should be explained if not familiar to everybody:
- Raise a hand/finger to signal motivation to speak (in Zoom meetings the raise hand function can be used if the video of a participant is not available)
- Raise both hands/fingers to signal an immediate reply to the current question/topic or request a further explanation
- Shake both hands upwards to add weight to the current speaker
- Minute taker: Appoint a person who writes conclusion points with the approval of the group. People who were not able to attend to the meeting can stay informed about the most important discussion points and decisions which have been taken. The conclusion points from last meeting should be read aloud, if needed for a continuous working process.
- Agenda: The minute taker should write down an agenda on which points can be added by everyone attending the meeting.
- Time: A finishing time and an approximate time per agenda point should be agreed upon. The moderator should keep track of the time. Ideally the official part of the meeting is one hour and should not last not more than 90 minutes.
- Constructive communication: The participants should be reminded to be aware of taking a step back and listen when they take too much space, to give everybody the chance to participate. The way of communication should be respectful and arguments should be put forward in a constructive manner.
This communication guideline assists us to provide structure and keep our work both democratic and effective. Moderator and minute taker can change to give several people the opportunity to test themselves and gain experience. This helps to empower us to raise our voices for DiEM25.
An informal time for exchange after the end of the meeting is recommended to get to know each other. Face to face meetings should be appointed whenever possible. It helps us to develop the trust we need to have in each other when working on achieving our common goals. And last but not least keep in mind: Patience and humour are utterly important!