Too many public meetings — town halls, community gatherings, coalition sessions — turn into shouting matches or echo chambers where a few loud voices drown out everyone else. A Better Convening offers a proven, practical approach to designing meetings that include every voice, build trust across differences, and produce a credible record that leaders can't ignore or dismiss.
Whether you're a progressive organizer holding officials accountable, a community leader trying to make sense of a local challenge, or a facilitator looking for better tools — these resources are for you. The free downloads below are yours to use and share with anyone working to make public meetings more democratic, more representative, and more worth attending.
Public meetings were once places where people of genuinely different views came together to wrestle with hard problems in good faith. That spirit is worth reviving — and it is more possible than it might seem. A few deliberate design choices, made before the meeting begins, can transform a predictable performative ritual into a genuine community conversation.
The Quick Guide above is the fastest entry point — a five minute read that gives you the core innovations you can apply immediately. The Field Kit goes deeper, walking you through the strategic choices you need to make before you design anything and the four levels of intervention available to you, from a simple baseline poll to full small group dialogue.
Coming soon: a full Facilitator's Manual with everything a facilitation team needs to execute these methods across a wide range of meeting types, group sizes, and levels of technical support. If you want to be notified when it is available, enter your information in the community sign-up form on our home page.