Time

Time is an important factor in at least four different senses.

• First, there can be a good or poor timing in relation to the political or administrative context and the policymaking cycle. Right 'timing' means in this sense finding the moment when a participatory process can have the greatest influence on decision making. This might mean aligning the process in such a way that its results can inform the work on new laws, projects or programmes. There is nothing more frustrating for everybody than sending citizens’ recommendations to the public institution after all the important decisions have been taken.
• Secondly, timing might refer to organisational aspects. This means taking into consideration the presence of other relevant events, not just because they can support yours or create competition, but also because they might determine the availability of your collaborators.
• Thirdly, it relates to the availability of participants, though in different ways for different groups of citizens. Farmers follow a very tight schedule, and it might be best to organise events with their participation during holidays, especially religious ones, which are often the only days they do not work. People who work will be busy during the day. Involving young families or children will have to take into consideration the school calendar.
• Finally, there are environmental considerations. To make sure participants can see the pollinators you will have to carry out the activities during a specific time of the year - but also during specific hours of the day.

Another set of considerations relates to developing the agenda of meetings with citizens.

• First issue is how much time you will need to achieve your objectives. This, however, needs to be defined in relation to how much time you can expect the participants will be able to dedicate to the process. This, in turn, might depend on how much support you can provide (e.g., by offering childcare).
• Then you need to consider how to pace the process - whether to meet citizens for one big event, or to split the work over several shorter meetings. And if so, how many and how long should the breaks between them be. Making them too close might not give participants enough time to 'digest' the conversations they took part in; if too far from one another, participants might start forgetting and losing interest.
• To not overload participants with meetings, you can consider which activities can be done in a-synchronous way, so that they can work in their own pace and whenever they find time.
• When splitting the process consider the emotional impact the discussion can have on participants. For instance, if you finish a day with a session on mapping the obstacles, this might leave participants with a sense of hopelessness. This, in turn, might increase a drop-out rate between the meetings.

Place

In line with the idea of material deliberation, the location of the activity should be in the first place meaningful. There are two dimensions to this. First, it should be possible to directly engage with the issue where the meetings take place. If you want to discuss pollinators and farming, what could be a better place to do that than a farm? At the same time, the location should ideally be meaningful to the participants, allowing them to bring in their experience and knowledge. Citizens of a given neighbourhood know it intimately, so it might make more sense to take a walk through the familiar streets and parks then to discuss it in a meeting room. Carrying out activities in a familiar location will not only make it easier to discuss the topic. It will also make it easier for the participants, who, being 'on their own turf', will likely be more confident and relaxed, thus better able to focus on the matter at hand rather than trying to figure out how to navigate an unfamiliar space.

With these two considerations in mind, there is little limit on the type of places and spaces where a participatory event can take place. The activities run as part of the pilot projects on which these guidelines are built took place on farms and in private gardens, in restaurants, conference centres, museums, libraries, botanical gardens, on city streets and in public parks, across fields, forests and pastures. Sometimes participants deliberated in well-equipped seminar rooms, other times in a barn or at picnic tables in a nature area. 

While staying open to the location and making the best of what it has to offer, there are practical considerations to make when selecting and preparing a place for your meetings:

• If more than one location is involved, how will participants move around?
• Is the place accessible to all your participants?
• While no location will be perfect for everyone, think how a given choice will encourage or discourage some participants.
• Weather is an important factor, so even if you plan to have your workshop outdoors, make sure there is a plan B location where you can take shelter with your participants. And this applies not just to rain and cold but also sun and heat!

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