Assembly Framing, Scope and Topic
Relevant teams: Your local group and ally organisations
The exact framing and scope for the assembly need to be agreed upon before any promotional work can occur. The destination and legitimacy of the results of the assembly should be discussed and decided upon prior to convening the assembly, and it is important that all assembly participants are made aware of this information before the assembly begins.
An Assembly for Sharing and Community Building
If, for example, you are planning to host an assembly designed to bring community members together to discuss issues that are important to them in the spirit of creating community bonds and finding common ground, then the framing and scope are as follows:
Framing: The event is open to all members of the community to provide space for discussion around local issues.
Scope: No decisions are being made, so the scope is limited and does not extend beyond the sharing of ideas and feelings. The ideas and issues generated in the assembly should be fed back to the community through social media and serve as a starting point for future conversations.An Assembly for Discussing a Specific Topic and Generating Ideas
If you are convening an assembly which focuses on specific issues and where what is discussed will be shared beyond the local community with an external body, such as a council, then the scope would be broader. Say, for example, a local sustainability group advertises an open assembly on their social media channels to discuss how the local council can act after declaring a Climate and Ecological Emergency, then the framing and scope would be as follows:
Framing: The event is open to anyone who chooses to participate to share their ideas on what the council can do.
Scope: The ideas and issues generated in the assembly could be published on the local group’s communication channels (i.e. their Facebook page or their newsletter), and also be emailed to the local Councillors asking them to take the suggestions to the next Council meeting.
An Assembly for Making Decisions and Proposals
Assemblies can also be convened to ask for the opinions of members of a group and to make decisions. Say, for example, a local group calls an assembly to discuss whether they join with a larger group for a day of action or create their own one locally, and they advertise it to all members through every channel of communication, then the framing and scope are as follows:
Framing: The event is open to the members of the group so they can share their ideas on what they would like their group to do in the action.
Scope: The assembly has the legitimacy to make the decision on behalf of that group, and the decision made during that assembly will be reported to the group and acted upon. The assembly, however, would not have the scope to make decisions beyond their own group. If, for example, that same group holds an assembly to decide if they, as a region, should combine with another region in the same manner, then the results of that assembly would be fed into a larger decision-making process that would affect other groups within the region as well.
Once you have decided on your assembly question or topic, make sure to display it clearly on your promotions materials and the assembly itself for all to see.
A good question is worded such that it is:
- In everyday language
- Not too long
- Broad enough to allow for free discussion, but not so broad that a structured conversation around it is difficult.