Welcome
Basic Info
Welcome
For most participatory processes you will be working with a diversity of people who come from different backgrounds, have different experiences, possibly never participated in a process like this before. Indeed, often you want to get into the same room people who would never otherwise come together. This means first of all that you will need to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable. Secondly, that before the participants start to work together you must set the stage, so everyone is on the same page. This means clarifying the objectives, purposes and ways of working for the event and the rest of the process.
Stage: Opening
Format: In person, Online, Hybrid
Work Modality: Plenary
Location: Outdoor, Indoor
Duration: 20mins
Topic(s): Pollinators
Preparations
Make sure you have the list of participants, and someone is always available for contacting (or being contacted by) them in case they are late or have difficulties finding the location. If representatives of the commissioning body will be present, you will likely have to brief them about their role in the process. This might mean writing a formal briefing document or having a meeting with them.
Tools
Team
Comments on Team
Ideally all the core team members of the implementation team will be introduced at this stage, so participants know who to refer to with specific questions and who they will meet over the course of the event and the rest of the process. If you are carrying out a process on behalf of an institution, e.g., a local municipality or an NGO, the representatives of the commissioning institution should be there to present their motivation for running the project and its purpose.
Process
Even before the meeting officially begins, make sure you have a way to engage with those who arrive early – or those who arrive on time but must wait until all the remaining participants turn-up. This should create a welcoming atmosphere, keep participants active and create curiosity. For instance, you can ask participants to draw the food items they had that day that depend on pollinators or browse through pictures of pollinators to see which ones they recognise. Such activities already set the tone for the meeting, showing its interactivity, creativity and openness. If done online they can also help people get familiar with the functionalities of the platform you selected. Once everyone is in the room, begin by introducing who you are and explaining why you decided to organise the process and what its purpose is. Be brief, to the point and avoid long lectures. The point is to be transparent about who is behind the organisation of the process, what participants should expect and how the results will be used. Take some time to go through the agenda. You don’t need to give an in-depth presentation of all activities, but make sure participants understand what they will do, what is expected of them and what is the purpose of the different parts of the programme with respect to the final outcome. Finally, explain practicalities. At the end of the welcome, leave space for participants to ask questions either to the organiser or to the representatives of the commissioning institution.