The 5th Congressional District Green Party used a similar method for Q&A for our endorsing convention last year. The reasons for this were several.
1) It allows people who are too shy to speak up in large groups an equal chance to ask questions since someone else will be reading them. 2) It helps get more questions in because people keep their questions shorter and to the point if they have to write them out. This avoids the long rambling speeches with only a token question at the end. 3) It helps create better questions since people have to formulate them when writing them. 4) It was thought it would lead to more pressing questions since there is a degree of anonymity. I was reading many of the questions and there was a certain degree of editing or filtering. I would try to combine multiple questions into one if they were asking basically the same thing. I also tried to group questions together by similar topics. I was conscious about keeping the effect of this to a minimum, though. People were allowed to submit additional questions along the way as a way of asking follow-up questions. We also had a period of time after the Q&A where people could make either positive or negative comments about the candidate. The written submission format was only used for the Q&A. Overall, my opinion is that it worked pretty well. We had very pointed questions that really challenged some of the candidates. I know for sure that we also had questions from some people who very rarely every say anything in meetings. We also rarely ran out of time without covering every submitted question. Darrell Gerber Kingfield > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Nathan Hunstad > Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 6:58 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Mpls] DFL 10th Ward meeting last night > > > Anytime there is a such a filter, there is potential > > for manipulation. I'm not saying it was there, but > > some of the questions seemed a little softballish. > > I will admit that I was the person who asked a question that seemed > "softballish": the expansion of 35W through south Minneapolis. I support > this, > and I was looking for one of the candidates to support it as well. I was > a > little surprised that all four candidates in attendance dismissed it out > of > hand. Because everybody agreed, it may appear that the question was a > softball, but it certainly was not my intention. And even though they all > opposed it, the way they answered the question was illuminating. > > > We have enough fake "townhall meetings" on television. > > I want to see candidates grilled as thoroughly as > > possible to see who is toughest. > > So do I. That's what future candidate forums are for. For impromptu, > short, > "get to know the candidate"-type presentations, which the DFL meetup was, > I > think asking a few written questions was appropriate. > > === > Nathan Hunstad > CARAG > Minneapolis, MN > PGP DH/DSS public key -- > http://www.angelfire.com/mn/freakpower/nhpubkey.txt > ________________________________________________ > Do you Gonzo?! > http://www.angelfire.com/mn/freakpower > REMINDERS: > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e- > democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the > list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e- > democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E- > Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
